Thursday, December 9, 2010

Marylynne's Whole Wheat Bread

Submitted by Emily Daniel

NOTE: For our November Cooking Club, Emily gave us a wonderful demonstration on how to make bread.  She had great tips to share and we enjoyed the fruits of her labors.  Thanks, Emily!

This is our family's favorite sandwich bread. It goes great with a hearty soup the first night, makes excellent toast the next morning, and then sandwiches for lunch.


4 cups Whole Wheat Flour (freshly ground)
1 Tbsp. Salt
1Tbsp. Dry Yeast
1/3 cup Oil
1/3 cup Honey
2 1/4 cups Hot Water
2 cups White Flour

Mix first three ingredients in a large metal mixing bowl. Into a medium bowl add the Hot Water. Using the same 1/3 measure cup, add to the water the oil first and then the honey.

Add White Flour 1 cup at a time, mixing in well after each cup. Mix last cup in with hands, kneading as you mix. When it is mixed in well enough that the dough no longer sticks to your hands, rub the bottom of the bowl with Canola Oil. Continue kneading just until mixed well and ball of dough is greased.

Turn over in bowl and cover with a piece of plastic wrap that has been greased or sprayed with Pam. Let rise until double in bowl, about 30-60 minutes.

Punch dough down. Turn out on a smooth surface and knead until smooth ball forms.

Cut into two equal pieces and form two loaves, using a rolling pin to expel air bubbles.

Let rise just until even with top of pan, about 20-30 minutes.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Artisan Bread


Submitted by Emily Daniel

My friend Rosalynde found this recipe in the New York Times. The secrets are a good sponge for your dough and a dutch oven with a lid. Crusty, chewy, air bubbly goodness. I like to serve it with Mozzarella Caprese, any soup, or slathered with Nutella!



First, here's the original recipe:

Recipe: No-Knead Bread Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery


Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising



3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting

¼ teaspoon instant yeast

1¼ teaspoons salt

Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.




I basically follow the recipe, but I skip a few steps. Here's what I do:


The night before you want to eat the bread, mix 3 cups of flour (all-purpose is fine, doesn't need to be bread flour), 1/4 tsp yeast (I use instant bread-machine yeast), 1 5/8 cup water, and 1 1/4 tsp salt. Mix it in a large bowl just until it comes together; it will be very sticky and very ugly, don't worry about it.


Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and leave it alone for at least 18 hours---it can go even longer, too. You should see bubbles at the surface when it's ready. About 3 hours before you want the bread to be done, dump out the dough onto a floured surface. It will be a wet, stringy, sticky, ugly mess; don't worry. Just fold it over itself once or twice until it's roughly in a round loaf shape (again, it will be ugly and shapeless---DON'T WORRY!). Leave it to rise again for 2 hours.

Before you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 450, then put in a round, oven-proof pot with a lid. (I use an enamel stock pot.) When the pot and oven are at temperature, take out the pot and pour the dough into it. Say it with me now: it will be an ugly, sticky mess---don't worry! Shake the pot a little to even things out, then cover with the lid and put in the oven to bake. (Full disclosure: I sometimes skip the heated pot step, and it has always turned out fantastic anyway.) Bake covered for 1/2 hour, then uncovered for 15 more minutes. Prepare to be amazed by the gorgeous loaf that emerges and the incredible taste and texture. Enjoy!

Split Pea Soup with Rosemary

Submitted by Rachel Mecham

I changed this recipe by using 2-3 carrots and no leek. I also used 1/2 tsp of dry rosemary instead of fresh rosemary. And for chicken broth, I used 5 bouillon cubes and 6 cups water.

6 slices bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces


1 small onion, chopped

1 leek, thinly sliced

1 large carrot, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 (10.5 ounce) cans chicken broth

1 1/2 cups green split peas

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

Place bacon in a large pot, and cook over medium heat until crisp. Stir in onion, leek, carrot, and garlic; cook until the vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes. Pour in chicken broth. Stir in split peas, bay leaves, and rosemary. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover, and simmer until peas are cooked, about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Gadsby's Tavern Sally Lunn Bread

Submitted by Shauna Hinckley

 ¾  cup milk

 ½ cup melted shortening

 3 ¼ cup Flour

 ¾ cup Sugar

 ½ tsp Salt

 ¼ oz (2 ¼ tsp) Active dry yeast

 4 Tbl Warm water

 1 Egg



Heat milk & shortening to the temperature of a warm baby bottle. Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a separate bowl. Add warm water to the yeast in a separate bowl. Add the milk and shortening to the flour, then add the yeast and the egg. Beat the entire mixture until it comes off the side of the bowl cleanly. Cover, let rise in a warm still place until doubled in size, about 1 ½ hours. Knead the bread down in size and shape into a loaf. Place on a buttered cookie sheet and let rise to half again as big, about 45 minutes. Bake at 300 F for approximately 45 minutes, basting the top with butter after 30 minutes and after it has finished baking.

Raspberry Peach Freezer Jam


Submitted by Klixi Cannon

8 C Peaches peeled, and mashed (mine were Eckert's -- Yum)


2 C Raspberries mashed (I used 1 1/2 c frozen raspberries, 1 c fresh Eckert's blackberries)

8 C Sugar (I used 6)

2 - 6 oz pkgs of Raspberry Jell-O

8-10 freezer containers

Mix peaches, raspberries, and sugar in a large saucepan. Cook until sugar dissolves, about 10-15 minutes once warm. Add Jello-O and bring to a boil (gets bubbly). Boil for 2-3 minutes. Pour into containers and put into the freezer.

Mandi's Chili

Submitted by Mandi Cooper

Simmer for 10 minutes:


1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

10 oz. onion soup

Add the following and simmer for 20 minutes:

1 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. cumin

1 1/2 tsp. pepper

2 15-oz. cans black beans, drained and rinsed

6 oz. tomato paste

8 oz. tomato sauce