anadama bread

I've been a busy girl these past few days. I guess that I am combining two hobbies right now--baking and photography. This bread gets its warm color tones from the corn meal and molasses and sun.

In the book that was a Christmas gift from Pam and Hugh (The Breadbaker's Apprentice), the author suggests that one use the lightest molasses that can be found--because the taste is so strong and objectionable to some people. Well, I had already bought my molasses and it was very dark. I did NOT care for the smell of molasses. In fact, when I encountered the odor, I decided to put five tablespoons instead of six in the bread dough. However, the bread was extremely tasty--although not up to the standard set by yesterday's experiment--Multigrain Extraordinaire.

Usually when the afternoon sun streams through my kitchen windows, I close the blinds. But this time, the sunbeams fell on my golden bread and I thought . . . what a nice photo op.

Anadama bread fresh from my oven!

mama macgyver

Whenever there is need for creative thinking, I always remember Richard Dean Anderson's character on the '80s television show MacGyver. That guy could make a radio antenna out of gum wrappers. (His character was probably originally inspired by the Professor on Gilligan's Island).

My recipe called for wheat bran, but I could not find it anywhere in the grocery store. When I returned home and consulted the cookbook again, Peter Reinhart (author) said in a sidebar comment that wheat bran could be extracted by running whole wheat flour through a very fine sieve. Daaang. I was fresh out of very fine sieves, and it was 11:30 p.m., so I had to improvise. In order for me to be able to make this multi-grain extraordinaire bread tomorrow, I had to soak the grains tonight!

Bill had already gone to bed, so I quietly rummaged through my dresser drawer in the dark, searching for my stash of knee-hi stockings. Now, my wardrobe hasn't required knee-hi's for quite some time, but I eventually extracted one and returned to the kitchen. First, I slipped it over a large serving spoon. It was miraculous! After a few minutes' work, I had separated a small mound of bran. Underneath, in the spoon, was the rest of the wheat. However, at this rate, I would be harvesting grain all night long.

That is when I decided to build a tool with a larger surface area. The results can be seen below. It was a lot of work for two tablespoons of wheat bran, and wouldn't you know it, the multi-grain extraordinaire bread went on to become the family's favorite, so far. Daaaaaaang.


harvesting some wheat bran--eli whitney would be proud

tres baguettes

Today's project is to fashion baguettes. Actually, this was a two-day affair because I first had to make the pate fermentee. This is a mixture of flour, salt, yeast, and water that gets a day's headstart in order to imbue the bread with more flavor. Here is how it looks after a day of fermenting and just before it is incorporated into the main dough:


pate fermentee

My baguettes are quite pale in color. I believe that is because I used organic flour. The book says to add in some sort of barley additive if using organic flour to give it a darker color. Hrrrmph. Same ol' story. I don't happen to have barley whatchamacallit; fer cryin' out loud, I thought I was pretty hot stuff for having organic flour!


as the well-known French pirate Pepe le-Pop-Eye might say, "moi baguettes"

tools of the trade

Confession: I occasionally exhibit obsessive/compulsive tendencies. (mmmmm . . . from whence do they come?) Case in point: in order for me to enjoy this little baking hobby that has ambushed me, I need to have everything organized. Flour is quite messy and difficult to control. Here is how I have decided to store my ingredients. I have baked several loaves of bread w/my new storage system in place and it seems to be working out . . . perfectly. Mom, Dad, and Grandma? This is where I spent some of the Christmas money. Thank you.


Merry Christmas from Mom and Dad and Grandma!

season's greetings to you from us

We took this picture all by ourselves on our back patio with the help of the self-timer on my Nikon D50. It only took three different tries on three different days. This particular November day was chilly (50 degrees), and rainy.

the great noodle caper

Yesterday I was invited to my aunt and uncle's house for a delicious lunch. As we chatted after the meal, I drew a picture of a French style rolling pin. My brother and uncle went out to the woodshop and returned within 30 minutes with a redwood rolling pin. After treating it with mineral oil, I made my first ever batch of homemade noodles. Have I mentioned that the pounds have been packing on since I've begun this baking kick?


in the beginning . . . there was an egg, flour, and salt


the maiden voyage of the made-in-America, French style rolling pin


done with the rolling and cutting


too bad your computer monitor is not a scratch and sniff . . .

This dish is a really good meal to make if you happen to have fresh red peppers, scallions, baby bella mushrooms, sour cream, chicken broth and gruyere cheese in your chilly bin (that last term was in honor of my brother Matt who lives on the bottom of the world in that great country of New Zealand.)

my first baking adventure

my very first loaf of bread