The 2nd day of BREAD~~

The 2nd day of bread making is the best because you get to eat the end result.  So—here go the pics and directions here and there and maybe even a little story.

Sorry that this is a little blurry but what you need to see is the bubble action.  This is what your bread will look like in 18 hours or so~~really this was more like 24 but I just couldn’t seem to drag my saggy arss outta’ the bed @ 5:30 am~~so this is what you get even if you do go over the 18 hour limit.  I am going to tell you now that when you take that tea-towel off and then the plastic wrap~~the smell that hits you in the face is unreal…fantastic…like sex in scent form!!! OK~next!!!

Flour your amazing prep table that your honey made you~~or just any ol’ surface with do. 

Take the bowl and your gonna’ have to get dirty on this one.

You have to use the kitchen tools that GOD gave ya’ and pull the bread out and onto the floured surface.

This blob is what you get~~it is kinda’ sticky and shageeee but it will turn into a thing of beauty here in a few more pics.

Dust the top with plenty of flour~~go ahead…it will be ok!! You don’t have to measure the amount—just take a handful and cover the top of the bread.

Take one side and lay it over the blob.  Yes..I notice these pics are a little yellow in tint?? Still can’t figure out what the deal is??

Pull the other side over top of that.

The turn the bread over and hit it with a little more flour~~go ahead it is ok!!!  Remember—I can not control the lighting in the basement~~and I can not ever seem to get the hang of using the manual control on my camera~~so if you know how to help me please let me know…if not then just over-look the coloring.

Now—form in a ball and dust with flour…cover with plastic wrap and I have to use the tea-towel.

See it is still there and looking good~~that is really its only job…just sit there all covered in flour and chill.

Now—sit the timer for 15 mints.  Do you like my pink timer?? I do and it is the breast cancer symbol~~so some of the profit went to a good cause.  That helped to better ease my mind because I have problems when it comes to spending money..therapy???

Do you know what a sill-pat is?? If not you really need to get acquainted with one because they are a life changing little pat of a thing.  You do NOT have to use one of these..you can use wax paper or parchment paper or whatever else you might have??

So dust the life changing pat with AP flour and then put the ball of dough on it.  Dust with a little flour~~not a great deal but you don’t want the ball to be sticky at this point.


Cover up the ball of lovin’ and your gonna’ let it sit for 2 hours and babeeee your almost there!!!! It is so darn great!!!

So I am whipping out the technology~~just in love with the I-phone.


Remember these puppies~~I wrote about them at Christmas time!!! They will be change your life for the better~~I am being dead serious…seriously I am.  I call them a dutch oven…however most people call them cast-iron pots because that is exactly what they are.  However—don’t be all distraught and all~~you can use any pot that will go in the oven that has a lid that will fit it.  However~~I am tellin’ ya’ now to get your arss up and order one of these.  Now…don’t get me wrong or anything~~they are not the name brand ones that would cost over $100.00 a piece.  NO…these are the Sam’s brand and they work just great.  However~~if your wanting to purchase one of the name brand cast-iron pots…by all means fell free to do so.  I am sure that it will be well worth the cash.  Ok~~Turn the oven on 450 degrees 30 mints. before the 2 hour time period for the last rising of the dough.  You need to place the dutch oven with the lid on in the oven so that it heats as your oven heats up.  Ok—nothing toooo complicated yet~~

See…I even put the 30 mints on the timer~~all this just for you my dearest friend.  Yeah—you know who you are and I know you have a great BIG smile on your face.

Here they are going into the cold oven~~and they come out all piping hot.

So that is why your gonna’ need a pair of these oven-gloves…yeah they are the “ONES SEEN ON TV” but Rob ordered them from the internet so there!!!  Trust me when I say that you will need them and maybe a pot-older or 2 or 3.  Those dutch ovens get extremely hot and they are heaveeee!!!

Get ya a farm fresh egg—this is a real farm fresh egg~~I would explain but I have got to get this blog entry over with. Thanks Crys~~

Swish the egg around in a little blue dish-thingee and get your handee-dandee brush for the egg-washing of the bread.

With 5 mints. to go on the rising of the bread---get the pots out of the oven with your oven gloves~~if you don’t have any go out and get ya’ a pair.  Trust me you will love them. 

Pull off the ever-loving-tea-towel and plastic wrap and have sex again with the smell.


Look at the beautiful ball of nothing but lovun’ bread!!! Ok..here comes the hardest part of this entire recipe—other than having to read this dreadful blog entry.  Lord…is it ever gonna’ end?? So—you take the sill-pat or parchment or some people even use a tea-towel~~yeah the good ol’ tea-towel.  Sorry…I couldn’t help myself.  You have to pick up the sill-pat~~in my case…and flip the bread into the hot…hot…very hot dutch-oven.  Oh..forgot to tell you to take the lid off of the very…very…hot pot but you need to do that or you will have dough all over your handle and we wouldn’t want that now would we??

See how the bread looks in the very hot pot and there is AP flour all over the sides?? Well…that is how it is supposed to look.  Well now~~you can totally skip the egg wash thing!! I do it because my sis-in-law that made me aware of this beautiful bread does the egg wash---if you don’t want to do this—skip it~~see if I care!!!


Look…all purtee and golden!!!

Put the flour covered lid on--make sure it is AP flour by-all-means!! Bake for 30 mints. with the lid on.
 

When you take the lid off bake for another 20-30 mints. longer then plop it out on a bakers rack and wait for about 10 mints. for it to cool just a tad bit and then cut it with the best serrated bread knife you have.  If you look very closely at the pic. that is a Wusthof bread knife and is the BOMB.  This is a $200.00 knife but I won a bid on e-Bay and got it for only $20.00!!!! WOOO-HOOO lucky me.  Sorry that this post has been so darn long but I wanted to show you every single step that I could possibly think of.  Then—you would feel more comfortable making the bread.  I sure hope you do because this is the longest post I think I have ever written.  Love you~~BEAUTIFUL ladeeee!!!!

Dear Friend and Bread~~

OK…the title is telling it all~~it doesn’t get any better than that folks!!!  So…my dearest friend in the whole-wide-world asked me about this bread recipe!!! I just had to do a blog entry on it because it is so-darn eazzzz.  So—here goes the pictures and the recipe~~keep in your mind that I am taking these pictures while trying to cook in a dark-dank-dingeee basement!!! So…be kind—oh and also I am trying to keep from getting my camera dirty.  It is kinda’ nice to be able to use it when I am in the mood to take pics and write and stuff of that nature.  So clean is the way I need my camera to be. 

Cast of characters===well…except the water—I kinda’ forgot to put that in there and I also didn’t want it to get cold.  That is a lie…I really forgot it but that sounded really convincing and it does need to be warm. The recipe says somewhere around 70 degrees but I just put my pinkeee in the water and if it feels like taking a dip~~it is spot on.  Don’t worry your pretty little head I will post the entire recipe at the end of the 2 day process.  Yeah…that’s right.  It will take 2 days but you don’t really have to do anything but look pretty and smell good and well you know the rest. 

4 cups of all-purpose flour..did you notice the nice pretty measuring cup??? I thought ya’ might—I positioned it like that just for your eyes. Rob purchased that set for me at the SOMC gift shop.  That was pretty darn nice~~wouldn’t ya’ say??

1/2 tsp. of yeast??? Yeah—I was thinking the same thing.  That is all the yeast I am gonna’ need to create the best bread I have ever eaten on this planet and I am pretty sure any other planet???

See~~there it is on a pillow of AP flour. Just thought I would show you this pic~~not really sure why??

Salt babeeee~~2 whole teaspoons of it to be exact. 

I thought this was a pretty good action shot~~seeing as how I am pouring it with my left hand and taking a picture of it with my right hand??  I know I am weird like that…don’t really know why??

 

Ok—now here is where I like to get all original and stuff…plus I bought this FN whisk and I wanted to show it off.  So~~I whisk it together and make it all nice and fluffy—with my purtee little whisk.  Don’t you think it is nice—FN brand and all!!!???? Purteee nice~~don’t ya’ think!!!??? So it doesn’t even say that you have to mix it together but I just feel better about it all being mixed and even and stuff.  You know…what if the yeast got all glommed up in one spot and it only worked magic in that one little spot.  Ok—I am sorry~~I will talk to the therapist about this issue.  Would it be control and obsessing?? I think not but really YES!!!

See the little whole that I made in the flour/yeast/salt mixture?? I am pointing at it with my index finger!!  Well—this is another of my add ins~~~it really is not in the recipe but I like to do it this way sooo… what I am telling you is—this is optional. 

This is the 2 cups of warm water—70 degrees or soo if fine or do the pinkeee swim test!!! If you go tooooo hot it kills the beautiful…wonderful…magical yeast!!!!

See how the water stays put until you start to mix it with the red spatula?? Well—this here folks is optional.  I just like to mix it with a spatula until it gets to the messy part.  Then I use the hands…however—you can start out with your hands and start the messy party sooner.

The recipe states that you will have something he called shaggeeee dough—which is like~~well it is hard to tell but it is kind of like messeeeee or a little…hmmm~~well I just can’t explain it.  So---just mix it and be done with it.

Cover with plastic wrap and then—now this is totally optional but I feel as if it has to be done because it just aint bread unless a tea-towel is in use.  So totally optional but cover the plastic wrap with tea-towel!!

So—now this is totally optional as well…but I place it in the oven.  NO…not a hot oven because it would melt the plastic and then ruin the precious tea-towel.  I just put it in there because I stays nice and cozeee and NO breeze.  You can opt for a place that makes your skirt fly up and makes ya’ say howdee.  I have heard of people putting it in a sunny window or on top of the dryer??? I have even heard of people running the dryer and then turning it off and sitting the bread mixture in the dryer.  It needs to be a yeast friendly climate~~so take it from me…the oven in the off position is the best place for this kinda’ situation.  OK…now~~that is it!! I am being dead serious with you.  I will leave this in the oven for 18 hrs. or up to 24.  However—I have found that the 18th hour is the magic time.  However—it won’t harm the dough if it is longer.  Now in 18 hrs. or so I will show you what it looks like and how to prepare for the baking process!!! That is it---the yeast and time is the magic potion for this bread.  You then bake it and it is the BOMB BABEEE the BOMB!!!!!!  Use a nice sharp bread knife and cut it while it is still warm…not hot but warm—with a little sweet cream butter~~none of this fake stuff…margarine isn’t real.  The stuff is chemically processed.  I think that is enough for today---that will be an entry for another day.

BABIES~~~

What is in the water….as they say??? Lord they are everywhere!! Have you looked lately?? Well…I sure have. Look around you and you will notice~~I found myself trying to count back on my finger…YES-I still use them to count!!—what was going on about OOooo say 9 or 10 months ago??? I am telling you that a lot of hankeee-pankeee was taken’ place~~I am just sayin’!! I am going to post a few pictures to show you what I am talking about. ENJOY!!! I know I sure am…even more that none of them require my responsibility to thrive. Oh sorry~~I am just being honest here.

This is little Princess Madelyn Ann Easter!!! Love the hair.

 

Oh—that is me with the lil’ Princess!!! I am smiling because I am so thankful I don’t have to get up and feed this little stinker. Really—I am.

Proud momma~~Crystal…holding Madelyn.  Shesh—that’s obvious!! Sorry but I felt I needed to tell ya’ her name again.  Umm~~about that picture above—I really am smiling because I am happy for Crystal and John…oh that is her proud papuuh!!!  Ooo—he is not in the picture?? Oooo…OK!!! I am sorry I will stop.

 

That is cousin Melissa~~I can tell ya’ that behind that smile she is thinking the same devious thoughts I was…we all love our sleep.  I am sorry I will stop now.

Can ya’ tell that there is a little road construction in the background??? LOL~~they have tied that road up for months—right in the busiest area they could pick~~~ Wal-Mart…need I say more?? Didn’t think so. Melissa is very happy for Crystal and John and I think pretty attached to the princess because she didn’t share well with others.

Elia holding her new baby brother…Asher Jonathan.  Yeah~~I know…Elia could be my baby~~looks just like Julie and I when we were young.  Especially Julie…my sis~~it is like looking in the past—so surreal.

He has the squashed up nose just like his “BIG” bro…it will even out eventually.  Admit it…you were thinking the same thing…I sure as heck know I was when I first saw Ezekiel(BIG bro) but everything is fine…so just relax. 

 

I cant wait to get my hands on this little guy~~and you can bet your bottom dollurrr that I will have the same smile on my face that I did in that picture you saw earlier on in the post.  I am able to give this thing back..WHEN I am ready.