yeast breads, count downs, and heavy rain

I'm not feeling like myself lately, the anticipation of my big move, the rather sudden (and flood induced) end of my previous job, and my tight finances are causing a shortness of temper and bouts of negativity that I am rather uncomfortable with.  I see it happening and so I am looking for ways to control it, deep breathing, long walks, lots of "me" time.  These things help; they're great actually, but inevitably something will trigger a new frustration: my dogs barking over and over again because of the roadwork happening outside (the same beeps and thumps and scrapes happen again and again and every time they go off as though there is an army at the gates); feeling the financial pinch and trying to decide if i can pay my student loans, car insurance, fill my gas tank, attend any of the weddings that are happening this summer, and still be able to eat; making important medical decisions (rushing around to get cavities filled, new contacts, and fill my prescriptions before my departure date); learning my phone won't work at my new home but also that I can only suspend my service for 3 months at a time, meaning sometime in the middle of my stay I will have to re-suspend it, somehow, since I won't have a phone.  These things make my heart pitter-patter, make my brow furrow, and my mood darken in a way that only bread making can cure.

As you may or may not know, I have been dabbling in the art of yeast bread baking as of late.  I am enjoying it immensely, although the results started out inconsistent at best, practice has helped.  I have found a whole wheat bread recipe that I adore and have edited it until I started getting more consistently pleasing results, and have begun baking two to four small loaves a week for my family and to give as gifts.  Yesterday I felt the need to expand my horizons and, adapting a recipe from the January 2009 issue of Vegetarian Times for Whole Wheat Honey-Walnut bread, I created my favorite bread that I have baked to date.  I call it Maple Walnut Swirl Bread and it is of course whole wheat (because thats the only kind of flour I buy).  This recipe results in cute little loaves that make terrific gifts and yummy breakfast toast.  Here it is:

For the bread:
1 c Maple Syrup
1 1/2 tbsp dry active yeast
2 c warm water (~90 degrees F)
1 stick melted butter
2 tbsp salt
5-6 c whole wheat flour
1 c walnuts, chopped

For the swirl:
3 tbsp maple syrup
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp melted butter

1. Dissolve the yeast into the warm water and add the maple syrup.  Let sit for 10 minutes, until yeast foams at the surface.  Stir in melted butter and salt.
2. Begin adding flour one cup at a time until dough forms a ball.  Turn out dough onto well floured surface and knead, adding additional flour until dough no longer sticks to hands.  Knead for a total of about 15 minutes.
3. Knead in walnuts until evenly distributed.  Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with oiled plastic wrap or a damp towel and leave in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.
4. When dough has doubled in size punch it down and let it rise again.  When dough has doubled in size again (about another hour) remove from bowl to a clean lightly floured surface and break up into three chunks.
5. Flatten the chunks into tapered triangular shapes so that one end is about as wide as your loaf pan and the other is about half that width.  In another bowl mix together the swirl ingredients until they for a lump paste and brush it onto the tops of the triangles.
6. Roll the triangles up around the sugar mixture, starting with the narrow portion and ending on the thicker side.  Pinch the ends together and place resulting roll into lightly oiled small loaf pan.
7. Cover and let rise for about another 45 minutes, until slightly less than doubled.  Bake in preheated oven at 400 F for 35 - 40 minutes for three small loaves, or 45 - 50 minutes for 2 medium loaves.
8. Let cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting.  Enjoy!

Yummmmmmy. 

So this is the bread that saved me from my foul mood yesterday, and today this bread is helping me ignore the rain and the barking dogs and the road construction and all of my money woes and all of my doctors appointments and everything.  This bread is reminding me that someday I'll have my own bakery and will have my hands in bread dough all the time.  So thanks to this bread, I'm going to go do some yoga and take a nap, maybe cuddle with my barking dogs, read a book, and drink some tea; this bread just looks like everything is going to be alright.  

Bread and Amazingness!

Today was a great day.  I woke up before my alarm to a swiftly darkening sky followed shortly by an epic thunderstorm and torrential downpour.  The snow is mostly gone, the world smells like the wonderful smell of spring in Vermont, that wonderfully earthy smell of rain and mud and changing seasons.  I had a strawberry banana smoothie for breakfast and then got started on the days baking challenge: whole wheat bread with milled flax seed.

Now theres something excellent about making your own bread, and if you've never done it I suggest you try at least once or twice.  Baking bread is so relaxing, its a fabulous contrast to say, cooking dinner for 3.  Dinner usually involves multiple skillets and 3 to 10 things happening at once - add the butter, sprinkle with salt, turn the heat down on that one, thats too think now, thin it out, the meats not cooked through, etc. - whereas baking bread is downright leisurely.  This particular wheat bread involved scalding milk and then stirring in butter, honey, and salt in a saucepan, then waiting for it to cool.  Mix the yeast with warm water and then wait a few minutes for it to activate.  Add the yeast to the cooled milk mixture and then add milled flax and flour until the dough reaches the correct consistency and then knead for 10 minutes or so.  Kneading in itself is very therapeutic, watching and feeling the dough become elastic and waiting until it just feels right.  Then place in a buttered bowl, flip it over so its buttered on all sides, cover with a towel and let rise for an hour in a warm place.  See what I mean by relaxing?  Bread baking comes with a built in nap, this particular recipe even called for two - after it was risen punch it down and let it rise again.

I used my built in recipe break to take the doggies for a walk in the freshly washed world.  Rushing water provided the soundtrack to our trek through the woods and the sun even graced us with its presence for a few glorious minutes.  Too soon though our walk was over and it was time to punch down the bread dough.  This has to be one of the all-time greatest bread-making moments - go ahead, bury your fist in a bowl of warm bread dough and watch it deflate and try not to smile.  I wager that it cannot be done.  Anyway next comes more rising, another hour; another built in break.  I read The Mountain Ear, a local arts and culture magazine, and then attempted some sudoku during this one.  Next you knead the dough some more and then separate it into loaves, and set it on an oiled pan for more rising, this time only about 30 to 45 minutes.  When the loaves have almost doubled pop them in the oven at 375 for 45 minutes and thats it.  You have bread.  There is nothing frantic about that recipe, in fact you almost have to be utterly chill to get through it, because if you are in any hurry at all bread-making is the wrong activity choice.  Just bake a batch of cookies, they are far more instant gratification, but way less gratifying.  Here is my pride and joy, my wonderful, tasty, fabulous bread:

This is by far the best loaf I've made to date; I think it was all the happy thoughts I kneaded into it!  Anyway after I finished the bread my Momma came home early and we had lunch and then did some shopping.  When we got home that evening I started right in on dinner.  Tonight was calzones.  I made some whole wheat pizza crust from this recipe (subbing whole wheat flour for white) and  while it rested a bit I chopped up a wide array of fixin's and then set up the dough into 3 little calzone shaped rounds on the pizza stone.  Everyone made their own then we closed the dough around them, wrapped them loosely in tinfoil, and baked at 375 for 30 minutes, removing the tinfoil for the last 5.  While they baked I warmed some dipping sauce and set the table.  They were done just in time and heres the result:

Calzone fixin's: fresh mozz, basil, orange bell pepper, chicken, mushrooms, sharp cheddar, olives, shredded Italian 4 cheese mixture, and sundried tomatoes

Super easy, super delicious, and way wayyy healthier than take-out calzones.  

After dinner I felt like I had maybe over indulged just a bit and the lump of calzone was sitting heavily in my belly so my Pops and I decided to take a walk down to the falls to check out the roaring Lamoille River after this mornings rain and warm temperatures.  The walk was just what I needed at the end of a lovely and relaxing day.  I love to feel just pleasantly tuckered out at the end of the day, especially when it is the result of baking bread and dog walking and not work.  On that note I shall leave you with one final shot of the engorged Lamoille.  Good night!

today, the day before yesterday, and the day before that...

I have been taking photosss, I am just so out of the habit of posting them on here that i forget completely.  I'm getting back into it though, and I'll get to 365!  So here is Wednesdays photo:

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Here is Thursday's photo, from a walk I took along the river:

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And heres one for today, this is the first loaf of yeast bread I have baked at altitude, I was very intimidated at first because I am a little intimidated by yeast breads anyway, but this one came out very well!  I made whole wheat oatmeal bread from a recipe in the Vegetarian Epicure cookbook that my momma gave me.  I'm pretty proud of how well these loaves turned out!  Take a look for yourself, I can share the recipe and more information about the cookbook if anyone is interested!

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