Went early-morning shopping with my friend Amber, showed her the ins and outs of shopping at Dollar Tree. We got everything for her little girl's slumber birthday party! It was different being able to pick things based on how cute and pretty they were instead of how gross/scary they were. I've never picked so much pink stuff up off the shelf!
After I got home I was pooped and my back was too, so I backed out of plans to visit some of Justin's friends for dinner. I made brownies for them anyways, though. Then, since Justin has been whining for weeks about how I don't make bread anymore, I went on a bread RAMPAGE. I made three little loaves at first, then another set of brownies (Johnny wanted to know where the other brownies had gone!), then a big loaf for Justin. The three smaller ones are going to our friends, but I'm sure he'll demolish the big one all by himself--which is what I seem to be doing to the brownies!
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| My 3 baby loaves! |
I love making this bread! It's super simple (I just get lazy) and it only takes about an hour including the cook time:
Mama's White Bread:
5 Cups of flour
2 Cups of WARM water (I use hot, but not boiling, water)
1 TBSP of active-dry yeast (buy the jar of yeast, you won't regret it, and it will make you want to bake more!)
1 TBSP of vegetable/olive oil (I love to use olive oil)
1 TBSP sugar
2 TSP salt
Step One: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put the yeast and sugar into a large bowl, then pour the warm water over it all. Blend for a while until all of the clumps dissolve. It'll start foaming up, that means it's working!
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| The "Foaming" --Sorry it's blurry, it was a quick phone shot! |
Step Two: throw in the salt, oil, and three cups of flour. Beat for 2 minutes. Note: It is not necessary to literally throw the ingredients in, but if it makes you feel like Emeril, do what makes you happy!
Step Three: Stir in 2 more cups of flour. Use a baker's hook attachment if you have one, because this stuff is going to jam up your regular mixer attachments. If you don't have one, you might as well mix it by hand.
Step Four: Knead until smooth and elastic. Get your hands dirty! I like to put some extra flour on the counter so the dough doesn't stick to every square inch of me. Just remember that more flour = thicker bread.
Step Five: Put your ball of dough into a well-oiled bowl (I just spray PAM cooking spray all over the inside of it) and roll it around until the ball is oiled up. Put a towel over it and set it next to the back of your stove so the heat will help it rise. Wait til it doubles (maybe 10-15 minutes).
Step Six: Punch down the dough and divide however you see fit, or don't divide it at all, it's your bread!
Step Seven: Put the dough on a greased cookie sheet/baker's pan or in a greased bread pan. Cut diagonal lines on the top, I use scissors for this. OPTIONAL: sprinkle cornmeal on the pan.
Step eight: Cover and let the dough double again. Approximately 10-15 more minutes, or until you're satisfied; if you let it go too far, though, it will collapse as soon as you remove the towel.
Step Nine: Bake for 30 minutes at 375.
FOR A CRUNCHY CRUST: Use an egg white with a splash of water mixed in to baste the top of the bread. I take the bread out at 15 minutes, then 25 to do this. It'll also give the bread a beautiful golden-brown top to it.
FOR A NON-CRUNCHY CRUST: Don't do the above step.
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| The "BIG" loaf, all finished up and beautiful! |
NOTE: if you do the three baby loaves, they do cook more quickly (I THINK it was about 25 minutes altogether), so baste at 15 and 20, check frequently to make sure everything's good to go! As with cookies, the longer you cook it the dryer it gets.
So during all of this, I got Johnny addicted to "Alphablocks" on Youtube, and he was content watching that for the next 5 hours (he doesn't go to sleep until 2-3 A.M most nights...sigh). I think it's great, and he might just be learning his letter sounds!
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