Subj : Apricot-Almond Bread
To   : Ben Collver
From : Ruth Haffly
Date : Thu Dec 07 2023 14:40:29

Hi Ben,

RH> making bread in the last few years--used to do it all the time, at one
RH> point, 8 loaves at a time (extras went into the freezer). It was easier
RH> to do it in quantity like that when our girls were small.

 BC> Wow, 8 loaves is a lot to cook at once!  Did you fit 8 loaf pans into
 BC> the oven all at once?  Mom used to make home-made bread and with our

No, I had 4 pans so I'd shape 4 loaves worth and put it in the pans, let
rise and bake. The extra dough would go into the fridge until the first
set came out of the oven, then I'd shape the last 4 and repeat. The week
before our younger daughter was born, over 2 days I did 2 batches to
hold us thru the first few weeks of a toddler and new born.

 BC> large BC> family we could easily finish 4 loaves within a week.

My mom rarely baked bread; when she did, it was only 2 loaves and they
would be gone within a couple of days. She said that she didn't want to
have to be baking it all the time; I told her that we went thru it so
fast because it was a novelty. If we'd had it as our regular bread, we'd
have been so used to it that it would have lasted longer (I had 4
siblings) but she never took the hint. She did get an ABM (smallest size
available) after all of us kids had left the house but even then, didn't
use it that much. Dad used it more, came across a recipe for beer bread.
When they came to visit us, he raved about it, even bought a bottle of
beer for us to try. We did, after they went home, and it was the worst
tasting bread we'd ever had; I don't remember if we even finished the
loaf.

RH> Just keep playing around with the recipe and keep track of your best
RH> results. I use whole wheat flour as my main flour, both the hard
winter RH> wheat for general purpose baking and the soft, spring
(pastry) wheat for RH> quick breads, pie crusts, cake, etc.

 BC> Last night i made cast iron skillet pizza and was quite pleased with
 BC> the results.  I used a blend of AP and WW flour and i used 1/2 c
 BC> water.  I
 BC> took the initiative and added 1 ts of sugar to encourage the yeast.
 BC> The yeasties were a cheerful bunch and vigorously raised the dough.

Sounds like you've hit on the right amount of water for that flour mix.
Yeast loves sugar in any form so feel free to play around with various
sweeteners--honey, molasses, raw sugar, etc. I just mixed up a batch of
chocolate crinkle cookies for an exchange this week end at church. The
recipe calls for 2 tsp of vanilla; I use one tsp each of vanilla and
peppermint extract. Gives them just the hint of peppermint to balance
the chocolate.

RH> If nothing else, maybe a bit of stock or broth, just warmed RH> a
bit, might work.

 BC> Thanks for that tip.  There's some leftover broth in the refrigerator
 BC> and i could try that, or possibly thicken it with some starch to make
 BC> gravy.

The starch would work for a good gravy but work on reducing the amount
so that eventually it's back to just broth. What kind of a dog is it? We
had a Bichon Frise for a few years, then some years later got the Cocker
Spaniel. Had several cats betw'xt and between, then my pulmonologist in
HI gave me a choice--cat or dog OR breathe. Much as I'd like another
animal, we went with choice #2 and now just get fuzz therapy whenever we
visit someone with pets.

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


.... Matthew 6:11 | Give us this day our daily bread.

--- PPoint 3.01
 * Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)

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