Baking Bread

Some people are born bakers.  I am not one of them.  But, luckily, I surround myself with fabulous people and my friend Tina is for sure a born baker.  Every couple of weeks she whips together homemade bread for her and her hubby to enjoy.  Last weekend she allowed me to help bake the bread and she made it look so easy, and yet I know bread is a tricky, tricky business.  Here's her recipe:
4 T oil
4 T sugar/sweetener
2 T salt
1 c hot water
4 c room temp water
3 t or 2 packets instant dry yeast
1 bag bread flour

In large bowl mix oil, sugar, salt and hot water until salt and sugar is dissolved.
Add room temp water, the optimum temperature the mixture should be for yeast is 90-110 degrees, but cooler is better than hotter.
Add yeast, mix just enough to make sure all the yeast gets into the mixture, let sit for a few minutes until the yeast "blooms" if you do not mix the water, the yeast when it gets going will actually balloon up through the water, but as long as it look fuzzy and cloudy, it is ready.
Add three cups flour (if adding other kinds of flour, add some white, and some variant)
Mix until all flour is moistened
Repeat
Add three more cups white flour
At this point you should have a pretty thick batter, or very wet dough. If using a stand mixer, put half the dough in the mixer. Add one cup of bread flour and slowly work in. Mix for about a minute. Continue to add a little more flour to dough at intervals until the dough comes together and no longer sticks to the sides. Let machine knead dough for 7 min. Repeat with other half of dough
If kneading by hand, do the same, adding flour to the dough gradually and kneading it for 10 min, until dough is a smooth and firm, but not hard.

Set aside in an oiled bowl to rise for 30 min to 2 hrs, until doubled and when you poke it with a finger it deflates.


Dump out and knead lightly, divide and form 3-4 loaves. Put in oiled pans.

Set aside, after 10-15 min start preheating oven to 375. When the bread has risen (better to put in the oven too soon than too late), this is when you would take a straight sharp blade to split the tops, and put into the hot oven.

After 10 min, reduce oven temp to 350. Bake for 20, then check internal temp of loaves with meat thermometer, ideal is 180-190.  Remove from oven, cool slightly and enjoy!

Now those are Tina's instructions.  I think my instructions would be "Become friends with a born baker.  Enjoy her tasty creations."  :)

Chitting Potatoes

My raised garden beds are officially installed!! Wednesday night I planted lettuce and arugala seeds. Last night I planted strawberries and potatoes. I hope that this weekend, between thunderstorms, I can plant the Amish snap peas and Chiogga beets as well!
To prepare potatoes for planting, it helps to first do the process of "chitting". When you receive your potato seedlings in the mail, I ordered mine from an awesome company called Seed Savers Exchange that specializes in heirloom varieties, set them out in an old egg carton in a warm room with plenty of sunlight. I set mine on our kitchen island near the south facing window. Be sure to place the side with eyes facing up (one side of a potato has eyes and the other does not). Then wait and watch...
1 to 2 weeks later you will start to see sprouts coming out of the eyes of the potato! Feel free to cut up any larger potatoes into smaller sections, making sure there are at least 2 eyes per section. A good rule of thumb is, if it's larger than golf ball size then cut it up. Let the cut potatoes sit for a day or two until a thick callus forms over the exposed flesh (this will prevent them from rotting once planted).
Next dig a hole into the earth and place them sprout side up. Cover loosely with soil and water!

The potato variety that I purchased is called Mountain Rose. You can read about it here

Columbia, South Carolina

Chris and I flew down to Columbia, South Carolina for Easter weekend to spend the holiday with Chris' great-aunt Katie. She's turning 90 years old this year but my gosh she has more energy than most 40 year olds I know!
We had a blast spending time with her and she was the most excellent tour guide. We were in town for just a short while but I feel like I got a good sense of the town.
On our short visit we toured the Botanic Gardens, toured the historic Hampton-Preston house, got a driving tour of the university (where Katie's husband was a law professor), and got to explore some fun restaurants.
For lunch on Saturday we dined at a hip new restaurant called The Motor Supply Bistro. Katie had a veggie salad, Chris ordered a steak and I had a turkey sandwich. The food was really good but I found that they are very limited on their ingredients. When I asked to change the type of bread my sandwich was served on, they said I wasn't able to do that. I asked if I could change the cheese from Swiss to Cheddar and they hemmed and hawed and said "they would see". I did eventually get Cheddar cheese, but boy they made a big deal out of the request.
I would still recommend the place though. It had great food, a fun atmosphere, and all their ingredients are sourced locally and sustainably (which I always appreciate).
On Saturday night, one of Katie's dear friends Karen joined us for dinner. Karen is a judge in the appelate court in D.C. She's one of the judges overseeing the Guantanimo detainees. To say the least, she was one heck of a lady and it was wonderful having dinner with her.
Happy Easter!