Bread making day…..

I usually make Carole her Christmas bread BEFORE the holiday but this year we got off course a little so I whipped up a couple loaves for her today. I wanted a loaf of honey whole wheat too and planned to use the bread maker for it but as it turns out that machine was shot, so it went in the trash container and I made it by hand, like the other. Dang, there’s just nothing on a cloudy day like today that smells better or gets the gloom out like baking bread. Or bread that’s in the raising stage. The real treat comes while that bread is still real warm. I got this picture and as soon as its posted I’m cutting off a chunk of the wheat bread and lather it up with butter.

Mmmm that looks amazing, Tom. Nothing better than homemade, warm from the oven, generously buttered bread.

dang Tom, That bread looks good. we might make 1-2 loafs of homemade bread a year. and that’s the frozen dough bread from the store.

I thought of getting one of them bread making devices but heard mixed reviews?????? problem in this household, we go through bread in streaks. and the fact that white bread is a no-no for my blood sugar. actually I cant really stand white bread anymore.

Tom, could you post the aroma please?

I don’t make any kind of white bread unless its sweet roll dough, Glenn. And my sweet rolls would be way off your blood sugar chart so you’ll have to pardon me.

Eelpoutguy, there are darned few things in this world that smell better than bread fresh from the oven. If someone ever developed an air freshener that smelled like fresh bread or baking bread they be millionaires in a heartbeat.

My loaf of whole wheat is history and there’s about 1/2 of a loaf of the Christmas bread left. The Christmas bread get a frosting drizzled over it but that hadn’t been done when the picture got taken. Carole says I out-did myself on the Christmas bread this time. lol

We have bread makers, yes plural, but I make all of my bread as my grandmother taught me to do it….by hand. Carole wanted a loaf of fresh wheat bread and brought in a machine so they’d both get dome at the same time. The machine is in the trash on the curb as I type and both bread went into the oven and came out at the same time so tradition hasn’t died yet.

I’ll mention that I butter the crusts of my breads while they are warm. The wheat hadn’t been buttered yet in the picture. Brushing with butter or Crisco helps prevent the bread from getting too dry as it cools. The butter/Crisco seals moisture in.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

I don’t make any kind of white bread unless its sweet roll dough, Glenn. And my sweet rolls would be way off your blood sugar chart so you’ll have to pardon me.

Eelpoutguy, there are darned few things in this world that smell better than bread fresh from the oven. If someone ever developed an air freshener that smelled like fresh bread or baking bread they be millionaires in a heartbeat.

My loaf of whole wheat is history and there’s about 1/2 of a loaf of the Christmas bread left. The Christmas bread get a frosting drizzled over it but that hadn’t been done when the picture got taken. Carole says I out-did myself on the Christmas bread this time. lol

We have bread makers, yes plural, but I make all of my bread as my grandmother taught me to do it….by hand. Carole wanted a loaf of fresh wheat bread and brought in a machine so they’d both get dome at the same time. The machine is in the trash on the curb as I type and both bread went into the oven and came out at the same time so tradition hasn’t died yet.

I’ll mention that I butter the crusts of my breads while they are warm. The wheat hadn’t been buttered yet in the picture. Brushing with butter or Crisco helps prevent the bread from getting too dry as it cools. The butter/Crisco seals moisture in.

doesn’t mean I don’t cheat!!!!!!! just ate 2 pieces of banana bars momma made. and they aint low cal either……….. my A1C is borderline gotta watch it type thing.

Glenn, you say, “my A1C is borderline gotta watch it type thing”, What is this A1C thingy? Anything like ?

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Tom, cranberry, raisins and nuts?

Denny O wrote:

Tom, cranberry, raisins and nuts?

1 cup of Old English candied fruit and peel mix [Hy Vee] plus one cup of dried cranberries in a two loaf bread recipe. I use a basic sweetroll dough recipe and add one good heaping teaspoon of ground cardamom. No nuts….in the bread that is.

Denny O wrote:

Glenn, you say, “my A1C is borderline gotta watch it type thing”, What is this A1C thingy? Anything like ?

yep, that’s one of them!!!!!!!!!!

Your holiday bread looks and sounds delicious. I can imagine the smell but am sure I underestimate the goodness.

The bread demanded at holidays in my family is cottage dill bread. It is great sliced with the traditional ham and turkey dinners and even better the next day with leftover ham.

Tom, it’s a fruit cake in a sweet bread dough? That sounds quite yummy!

Its a bread that I modified to use the fruit and raisins from a couple old recipes but spread between the two large loaves this recipe makes the bread isn’t anywhere near as dense as fruitcake even though the fruit is used to make fruitcake. The cardamom is from an old, old recipe used to make traditional Christmas bread that I got from Carole’s mother’s old-world German recipe collection and adds a real taste twist to the bread. I use the fruit mix because I am not going to try and make the candied orange peel that the original recipe calls for along with the candied grapefruit rind. Everything else in the fruit mix is called for in the old recipe so I just shortcut and omit the orange although I think it would lend and interesting flavor. Definitely bread and a long ways from fruitcake Denny.

We got a sourdough starter last September. It’s really been a lot of fun, the whole feeding it and discarding some once a week. We’ve made some of the best waffles I’ve ever had using the discard.

I got this book a few months ago. I highly recommend it.

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belletaine wrote:

We got a sourdough starter last September. It’s really been a lot of fun, the whole feeding it and discarding some once a week. We’ve made some of the best waffles I’ve ever had using the discard.

I got this book a few months ago. I highly recommend it.

Thanks for the heads-up on this book. I’ll probably get it. That sour dough really makes some great waffles and non-yeast breads. Always looking to find new recipes using the sour dough. Thanks again!

You won’t regret it, Tom!