Rainy Day? Perfect, I feel like baking anyways!
It seems like just about every day I’ve done the bread box this winter, this has been the atmosphere. Wet, rainy, a little dreary. All in all, perfect weather to feel like staying in and baking. Keep it coming!
So for Week 7 I tried to respond to subscriber demands, more wheat bread offerings, some healthier snacks. And corn bread that I had made earlier and gotten rave reviews on.
The Light Wheat Loaf is a 33% whole wheat loaf. Its a big loaf, bigger than the Cinnamon Raisin Bread or other ones I’ve made in the box, to make for perfect sandwich bread. This loaf just grows and grows and grows. When making bread, you first mix the bread then let it rise in a bowl, then you shape it and put it in loaf pans, then you let it have a final rise. This loaf was supposed to have an hour and a half final rise; after 45 minutes it was overflowing out of the pan. You’ll see in the photos and when you get your bread that that meant once the bread got into the over where it does its final big rise, it got almost too big. So, enjoy your mondo sandwiches this week!
The Corn Bread is from a recipe that is entitled “The Best Corn Bread Ever”. I figured I couldn’t go wrong. And in my opinion, it is the best pure corn bread recipe ever. Now there are tons of variations on corn bread. Mix in jalapenos, add onions, use bacon drippings instead of butter, make it more crumbly, make it more cakey. All of that is fine and can be delicious, but what I was trying to recreate was the simplest, purest form of corn bread. No add-ins, no fancy flavorings or ingredients; just the corn bread I remember like my mom used to make. Anyways, I’d like to know what you think.
Many people have said, well, I guess I’m going to have to make chili if we’re getting corn bread in the box. I know that combination sticks in people’s minds and is absolutely delicious. For me, I imagine three or four cowboys sitting around the fire, chili bubbling away over the embers and a batch of corn bread setting in a cast iron pan (how corn bread is traditionally made). There are other ways, though, to enjoy corn bread. The way I grew up eating it was for breakfast. Split a slice of corn bread in half and place under the broiler. Toast until the edges start to brown (I like mine to almost start burning for added flavor) and then serve with some butter and honey drizzled on top.
So, between writing the above paragraphs and right now I made a rather unfortunate discovery…the corn bread didn’t cook. Ahhhh!! There’s nothing worse than getting to the point in the day when I’m taking photos of the final breads, finishing the write-up and wrapping everything up for the delivery and then finding out that there is a fatal flaw with not one but four of the orders. Turns out even when you stick a toothpick into corn bread and it comes out clean, it still may not be set in the center. All it would have taken was 5 more minutes cooking and I wouldn’t have lost 4 portions of the bread; what a waste! So here I am, finishing the blog post with 2 more orders of corn bread yet to be cooked. This is going to be a close one. But don’t worry, no one is receiving an uncooked portion of bread; I’m starting from scratch on them all. You can see the depression in the photo below of the center of the corn bread, signalling (now I realize) that the center is uncooked and cannot support the weight of the dough. Below that I’ve posted a photo of what the corn bread you will be enjoying looks like.
Ok the last baked good this week is the Dried Cherry Almond Granola Bars. I’ve never made granola bars before and I can’t figure out why. They are really easy and can be made nutritious and delicious without all of the additives you get from store-bought ones. My personal goal is to avoid the center of the grocery store (per Michael Pollan’s advice) and shop predominantly at the edges where the produce, dairy and meat is located. This means making my own spaghetti sauces, jams and jellies, crackers and snack items. Granola Bars are one more thing to now check off the list of things that do not have to be purchased at the grocery store. Anyways, I hope you enjoy them and try to make them yourself. It takes about 45 minutes to make 18-20 of them. Totally worth it.
