Bread is a food that I have a love/hate relationship with.  How can this be?  It is just food.  The problem is that I love it so much that I hate the fact that I cannot eat it all day long.  A fresh loaf of homemade bread, butter, and jam equals heaven!  I guess you could say that I really love the stuff especially when it is fresh and homemade.  I do have a bread machine that has turned out some good loaves of homemade bread lately, however, I have found a new recipe that has allowed my electric wonder to take a bit of a rest.

I have my friend, Katie, to thank for this recipe that has become the new family favorite!  It is our new bread addiction and the easiest bread recipe in the world. I could not believe how simple it was to make. This recipe called for just a few ingredients that I already had on hand and literally took about 5 minutes to mix up.  It required a lot of resting and rising overnight, but it was so worth the wait until the next morning when I got closer to popping that circular wonder into the oven!

The Lidded Pot

The recipe calls for a pot with a lid or commonly known as a dutch oven.  I remembered I had one somewhere in the kitchen behind some other hiding pots.  I was getting worried because I really wanted to make this bread now!  I did not want to have to go out and hunt for the perfect lidded pot at the mall.  I was in luck and  found my pot with a lid.  It had a vent, so I just plugged it up with some foil.  I would have preferred a cast iron dutch oven, but this enameled pot worked just fine.

The Rising Wonder

After rising for 12 hours and a little shaping, it was ready for the second rise.

Into the pot it went…

The Finished Product

This is my Three Pots, Three Ingredients (the water does not count!), and Three Peaks Bread.  The crust is to die for…Oh, so good!  ( Funny note:  I have made this three times and each loaf has come out with three peaks.  )

The Slice

I cannot even begin to describe this wonderful bread.  It is absolutely great toasted with a touch of butter or just eaten by itself.   My family LOVES it.  I only wish that I could make it during the week, as I doubt I can get up and make it happen all before 6 a.m.  It will have to be a weekend specialty for now.  We have one loaf in the freezer as our backup, however, I doubt it will last very long.

So, my suggestion to you is find a lidded pot and then go make this bread.  You will be so glad you did!  This is truly a winner and a keeper.   Bill already told he expects it for sure every weekend.  The family and I are right there with him ♥!

The original recipe that I used is no longer available from the link that Katie had, so I had to search high and low to find one that was similar.  I lucked out and found this one with the exact measurements.  This one comes with a few more directions that make the process even better.  Thank goodness for Mother Earth News…

No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread

1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting. You may use white, whole wheat or a combination of the two.  If using whole wheat flour, use more white than wheat…2 1/2 cups white with 1/2 cup wheat for a lighter loaf.  I used 2 white/1 wheat…too heavy.
1 1/2 tsp salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran for dusting

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the flour and salt, stirring until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Transfer to a medium sized bowl that has been lightly coated with olive oil to help if from sticking.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at least 8 hours, preferably 12 to 18 hours, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.  I warmed my oven a few minutes @ 250 degrees and then placed my covered bowl in there overnight.  This provided a draft-free zone with a temperature that did not get too cool in our Colorado home.  We we keep the heat below 70 degrees at night !
2. The 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 it rest for about 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or to your fingers, gently shape it into a ball. Generously coat a clean dish towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal. Put the seam side of the dough down on the towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another towel and let rise for about 1 to 2 hours. When it’s ready, the dough will have doubled in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least 20 minutes before the dough is ready, heat oven to 475 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and lift off the lid. Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up. The dough will lose its shape a bit in the process, but that’s OK. Give the pan a firm shake or two to help distribute the dough evenly, but don’t worry if it’s not perfect; it will straighten out as it bakes.
5. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the loaf is beautifully browned. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before slicing.

In my quest to find this recipe, I found another one that I am dying to try.  This one makes multiple loaves and keeps in the refrigerator for several days to bake later!  I may have found my weekday bread!  I will test it out and let you know how it turns out.  Until then….

Happy bread eating ♥

It is that time of year again.  A very dangerous time of year when many of the girls in my class are selling Girl Scout Cookies.  I like most of the cookies they sell, but my favorite has to be these wonderful smooth black discs…

THIN MINTS!  Notice that they are not opened which is a miracle at my house.  I actually have three boxes in my freezer, or so I think !  I am saving them to make more of these for some requested birthdays which will be coming up soon.  The Oreo cookies were good in my last ice cream sandwich cake, but Thin Mints would add an interesting taste.  Since you cannot get these cookies at the store, I must guard these very closely.  Wish me luck with this one… !  However, I stumbled across a very close second just in case they escape from the freezer and do not make it for those special birthday cakes.

I was making chocolate chip cookies the other night and thought I should add some extra vanilla.  It made perfect sense to me.  I grabbed the bottle and poured…not measured…a generous amount into the batter.  I knew as soon as I had poured it in, by the color, that I had made a big mistake!  It was this…

Yup, I used the one on the left!  Good old peppermint extract and not my favorite vanilla butter and nut flavor.  I gasped for a moment, and then remembered the Girl Scout cookies I had just brought home.  Mint and chocolate go together, so I will just go with this. I will make this work.  It took me a few seconds to regroup.  I wanted to make sure I had enough mint flavor, so I measured this time and mixed in one more teaspoon.  Since I was unsure about the amount I poured in moments before, I was hoping it was not too much or too little.  I was so concerned about ruining an entire double batch of cookies and wasting the precious chocolate chips.  They just had to be okay!

I mixed them up, baked them, and did not tell a soul about my mistake.  I am happy to report that these were a hit!  I will be making them again and this time on purpose with accurate measuring!

I ended up with a flatter cookie this time around, but they were still soft and yummy!  I left out an egg and substituted flax meal. (The substitution is one tablespoon flax meal and 3 tablespoons water.) It seemed to make the outside crunchy and the inside just right.  I like using fewer eggs, and flax is so good for you.  Win, win with this!

If you want to make your own batch of Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies, just add some peppermint extract to your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I would guess at least 2 teaspoons per recipe.  I would also use your sense of smell to judge the mint intensity.

So, make sure you buy some cookies from your friendly second or third grade Girl Scout if one comes knocking at your door.  If you run out of your stash…Make some of these to make it through your withdrawal symptoms.

Happy baking and eating ♥!

One thing my husband can do is follow directions to make just about anything from guitars to Chinese food.  He was on a mission to find a recipe to celebrate a belated Chinese New Year.  He searched the Internet for an authentic recipe for Char Siu Bao and found just the right one.  He even went to an Asian market to buy some of the ingredients along with a bamboo steamer!

The fun began when he told me he needed 280 grams of cake flour!  Bill didn’t realize the different measurements until he started making the dough, but we got it all figured out.  We were reminded that math is a valuable tool later on in life.  We especially thank Google for allowing us to find a conversion chart to speed up the process!

A glimpse of some of the math fun!

Rolled out and ready to be sealed…

Getting close…

Now we’re getting closer…

Ready for steaming…

A little bit of honey brushed on top…

Ready to be eaten!  Absolutely delicious with a tall mug of tea!

Someone else got to sample some of Bill’s cooking…

Stephen approved .  He would tell you himself, but he is savoring every last bite!

Thanks for the amazing food adventure, Bill.   It was fun !

We have had quite the snow the last two days.  It has been fun, but the sun is now peeking its head through the sky.  I believe the snowflakes have officially stopped.  It was a record snowfall for the Denver area for a February in over 100 years!

Our kids are not home to enjoy the snow with us, so we get to play with the youngest member of the StewBu Crew, Roxy.  This was her a little after midnight…I took her out to play until she got tired.

After some sleep and some breakfast, we all had some fun in the snow.  I think I had the most fun because I did not have to shovel since I have these…

A husband with a shovel…

And one of these…The husband is definitely the best out of the three !

Some deep white stuff…Good work, Bill!

Need to rest?  These seats are taken…Sorry!

“What’s for dinner, Bill?  Grilled steak or grilled eggplant?”

Oh, by the way, my husband can cook and follow a recipe even when there happens to be a LOT of conversions!  I will share later.  It was delicious !

I hope you are having a great Saturday.  I am off to make some bread.

School on My Mind…

This is the time of year when I realize that my students are getting closer to third grade.  I only have one more semester to be their teacher and make them little scholars.  It is a time when I look at each student and try to figure out how to get all of their brains to learn just a little bit more. I will do my best to continue to make them laugh, smile, learn, and have a good time.  Learning really is all about having fun in my world. 

Working with second graders comes with rewards that I could never get anywhere else. Today was one of those special days.  A student told me with a huge smile  that “reading rocks this week”,  and she was sad that the week was going to end!  Perhaps it was the story selection and the activities I had planned…Who knows, but in her eyes, this has been an amazing week. I believe she got a little bit more into her brain and then some ♥!  They really do know how to make me smile and laugh. 

Just today I had this lovely note placed on my desk just waiting to be opened!  It melted my heart and reminded me why I do what I do!

Such a sweet note…We will continue to work on spelling, but it  is only second grade!  I do have an entire semester to give them just a bit more and then some!  I am so glad about that ♥.

Now…Food!

I did not have much to work with for dinner, but some good old vegetables and a can of chicken.  I pulled a few things out of the fridge and the pantry and came up with a decent salad.

Added some dried cranberries, cilantro, pecans, sun-dried tomatoes, mayo, garlic, no-salt seasoning, and cracked pepper…

I ended up with a meal that turned out better than my tummy was expecting…

The Texas Toast croutons added the final touch of perfection.  I decided that this will be a repeat meal for sure sometime soon!

Love, laugh, and learn…in that order!  May you find something in your day that rocks your world from reading to salads ♥!

It was my sister’s birthday yesterday, and the girls and I thought about making cake pops for her special day, but it was decided that it would take way too long.  We only had a few hours, so time was of the essence.  I decided that I would tryout a new cake recipe that looked good and was fast.  If it didn’t turn out, Aunt Kelley would not care one bit.  Family members are always forgiving in my house for things that don’t turn out perfect.  They just go ahead and eat it.  I felt pretty safe on this one especially with the base of the cake being ice cream sandwiches, so we went ahead with the ice cream cake. I did have my fingers crossed though.   I needed at least 3 hours for the cake to sit in the freezer, and I was calling it close…Yikes!

I hopped in the car and went to the store to pick up 12 ice cream sandwiches, a jar of hot fudge sauce, instant chocolate pudding, whipped dairy topping, and a bag of Oreo cookies.  I made a mad dash home to get this thing put together with this recipe.  Into the deep freezer it went and….

A slice of heavenly delight…

It was a hit!  Everyone was amazed that this cake only had a few simple ingredients.  I added extra Oreo crumbles to the cake because extra is good in this case!  I will for sure make this again.  I already have an idea to change it up a notch for the next round of birthdays next month and into March.  (We have six birthdays to celebrate in our house between February 22 and March 28!)

Happy birthday, Aunt Kelley!  We love you ♥!

I am thinking mint chip or vanilla caramel ice cream sandwiches next time.  I may even add some vanilla instant pudding to the white “frosting” whipped dairy topping to make it a bit thicker and easier to spread.  All I know is that the kids want this AGAIN!