If I've said it once, I've said it, well, I've said it a lot.  I love bread.  If I were stranded on a desert island and could only take three food items they would be bread, fries, and chocolate.  What can I say?  I love my carbs.

I've made this particular bread a few times now and it is quickly becoming a family favorite.  The recipe makes 2-3 loaves and it rarely lasts us more than a day or two.  The "mama" referred to in the name of the recipe is not my mama.  It actually refers to Paula Deen's grandmother.  This is her recipe and you can find it in Paula's book Paula Deen's The Dean Family Cookbook.  

This bread is soft, but not squishy.  It's a bit tangy and oh so flavorful.  It's great by itself or with butter alone or with jam.  You can use it for sandwiches and it makes fantastic toast.  Unfortunately, it is not a recipe for the impatient.  It takes at least 2 days to make.  Yes...two days but it is oh so worth it!  

To begin, you have to make a starter that sits for 24 hours.  Once you make this, you only use a bit of it.  According to Paula if you keep feeding the remaining starter it will last for years.  The first time I made it the starter definitely did not last for years.  By the time I used it for my last loaf the dough barely rose (yeast is added only to the starter).  I ended up tossing it.  I just made some more so I'm not sure how long this batch will last.  A long time, I hope.

I do know how long the loaves last -- not long at all.  In fact, I only have a few slices left of my last batch.  I'm going to have to whip up some more soon.  

If you give this recipe I try, I promise it will not disappoint and you too will find yourself longing for it.  I just hope you remember to pack it when you head out to your own desert island.  

Enjoy!

Mama's Old-Fashioned White Bread

Starter:
2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast (or on 1/4-ounce package)
2 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes
1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons salt (since salt inhibits the growth of yeast, I left this out)

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in water.  Add the potato flakes, sugar and salt.  Stir to combine.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and leave out at room temperature for 24 hours.


For the Bread:
1 cup starter (refrigerate remaining starter)
1 1/2 cups water
6 cups bread four (more or less, as needed)
1/2 cup corn oil (I've used olive or canola)
1/2 cup sugar (I usually use honey)
1 tablespoon salt (if you omit the salt in the starter, you may want to add a touch more here)

Mix the starter and the water together.  Add the flour,oil, sugar, and salt.  Knead once or twice in the bowl then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until a stiff dough forms (add more flour by the quarter cupful if necessary).  Place the dough in a greased bowl.  Brush the top with more oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap.  Leave dough out at room temperature for 6-8 hours, until it has tripled in size.

Lightly grease three 9 X 5-inch bread pans.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Divide into three equal pieces.  Knead each piece once or twice, form into a loaf, and place in the prepared pans.  Brush the tops with oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap.  Leave out at room temperature for 6-8 hours or until dough has again tripled in size.  The dough will be puffed over the tops of the pans.


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Bake the loaves for 25-30 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer comes to 190 degrees.  (I always take my bread's temperature.  It's the most accurate way to make sure it's done.)  Gently turn out bread.  Allow to cool.  Cut into thick slices and serve.


To Feed Starter:  combine 1 cup water with 3/4 cup sugar and 3 tablespoons potato flakes and stir into the starter.  The starter will keep for years if you feed it regularly and keep it refrigerated.  

  

I love homemade rolls, especially on special occasions like Easter.  I never make them though because with everything else that needs to be done, mixing and kneading dough falls by the wayside.  Luckily, I found this recipe for overnight rolls in the April 2010 issue of Cooking Light magazine.

These rolls are easy to throw together at night.  You don't even have to let to let it rise before putting it in the refrigerator.  The recipe calls for these rolls to be flavored with thyme and Paremigiano-Reggiano cheese.  I followed the recipe, but you could probably flavor them anyway you want.  

I got lots of complements on these rolls.  They were very popular at our Easter table and before we ate when they were still in the oven and filled the house with delicious smells!  I thought they were really good too but needed a touch more salt.  I would probably add a whole teaspoon next time.  I also forgot the black pepper which I think would have added a lot to them.  The recipe also called for the dough to be rolled up and cut but I just rolled them into balls.  They didn't rise much and they looked a little flat but they were very flavorful so I didn't worry too much about that.  Rolling them may have given them a bit more volume, but I didn't feel it was necessary.  

No-Knead Overnight Parmesan and Thyme Rolls
Makes 8 rolls...I tripled the recipe.

1/2 teaspoon dry yeast
2 tablespoons warm water
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup grated Parmigiane-Reggiano cheese, divided
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (I would use a full teaspoon)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1.1 ounce (about 1/4 cup) whole-wheat white flour
5.6 ounces (about 1 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour, divided
Cooking spray
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper


Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl.  Let stand 5 minutes, until bubbly.


Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add thyme and cook one minute, until bubbly and fragrant.  Add thyme mixture and milk to yeast.  Stir with a whisk.  Add 1/4 cup cheese, sugar, salt, and egg.  Stir well.


Stir all of the whole wheat into mixture.  Stir in 4.5 ounces of the all-purpose flour into the mixture.  Stir well.  Add enough of the remaining AP flour, one tablespoon at a time, to form a smooth but very sticky dough.  Place dough in a bowl coated with cooking spray.  Turn to coat top of dough.


Cover and refrigerate overnight.  The dough will not double in size.


Remove dough from refrigerator.  Do not punch down.  Turn dough out onto a floured surface., sprinkle the dough lightly with flour.  


Roll dough into a 12 X 7-inch rectangle.  Brush with remaining 1 tablespoon oil.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheese and black pepper.


Beginning with a long side, roll the dough up, jelly-roll fashion.  Pinch seam to seal (do not seal ends).  Cut into 8 (1 1/2-inch) slices.


Place slices cut side up on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.  Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts for one hour or until the rolls have risen slightly.


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.


Place pan in oven and immediately reduce heat to 375 degrees.  Bake rolls at 375 degrees for 12 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve warm.

I think anyone who reads this blog regularly probably knows that besides God and family, I love two things beyond all others: chocolate and bread.  I love them in any way, shape, or form.  Milk or dark.  Yeast or quick.  It's all the same to me.  Pure delight.

That's why I was so excited to find this recipe for breadsticks.  I have never actually made breadsticks before because I always thought they were fussy.  Well, and it happens so infrequently, I was wrong.  This recipe found in the cookbook The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner by Liz Edmunds was super easy and can be put together in minutes.  You can throw the dough together before you start your main course and bake them while it cooks.  It's a basic recipe for pizza dough just shaped as breadsticks and slathered with melted garlic-butter.  I made little ones, about 1.25 ounces of dough per stick.  I got nineteen breadsticks from the recipe, six of which remained when dinner was over.  Not too shabby.  

My one problem with this recipe is that all the flavor came from the garlic-butter.  While that is delicious, the bread itself is a bit bland.  Luckily, this can be remedied by adding a bit more salt.  I think when you use this as pizza crust, you don't need it to be super flavorful but you do definitely need more flavor when it stands alone.  I would recommend adding at least a teaspoon to the dough, which is reflected in the recipe below.  The original recipe calls for only 1/4 teaspoon.  I also adjusted the amounts of some other ingredients to help with the flavor issue.

These breadsticks would be great served in place of regular rolls or with spaghetti or lasagna.  We had them with soup.  With brings me to my bonus recipe.  I found a recipe for Beef and Black-Eyed Pea Soup.  I adapted it a bit and the result was delicious.  Howie has already said its a new favorite!  It's definitely a keeper!  If you give a try, I'd love to hear what you think!  

Breadsticks

1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
3 tablespoons olive
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon salt
3-4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup butter
1/4-1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

Grease a baking sheet.

Mix the yeast and water in a small bowl, cover, and let sit until foamy, about 5-10 minutes.

Mix oil, honey, salt, and yeast mixture in a large mixing bowl.  Mix in three cups of flour.  This should give you a kneadable dough.  Flour your counter with some of the remaining cup of flour.  Knead, adding more flour if needed, until you have a smooth, somewhat stiff dough, about 6 minutes.
 
Melt butter and stir in garlic.

Divide dough into desired sized balls.  Roll out into into breadsticks. Place on greased pan.  Brush with butter, reserving some for later.  Let dough rise for about 15-30 minutes., until doubled in size.  Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees.

After the breadsticks have risen, bake for 10-20 minutes or until golden brown.  Brush with more butter halfway through baking time and again right out of the oven.

I used the breadsticks to make sandwiches for Ella's lunch -- too cute!  And yummy too!

Beef and Black-Eyed Pea Soup

Olive Oil
2 pounds stew meat
1 can Campbell's beef stock
1 can regular beef stock (Swanson's)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 quarts water
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 16-ounce package frozen black-eyed peas
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 tablespoon dried parsley (yes, you can use fresh, I just didn't have any)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper, to taste.

Cut stew meat into small, bit-sized pieces.  Heat olive oil in a large pot.  Brown the meat in the oil.  Season liberally with salt and pepper.  Once brown, add the Campbell's beef stock plus one can of water.  Let meat simmer for 20-30 minutes, until cooked through and tender.  

Mix together cornstarch and regular beef stock.  Add to the meat mixture.  Bring to a boil and cook for a minute or two.  Add the water, onions, celery, carrots, peppers, and black-eyed peas.  Bring to a boil.  Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes, until peas and vegetables are tender.  

Add rice and seasonings.  Simmer for another 15 minutes.  Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

Note:  the original recipe called for ground beef.  I suppose if you really want to use that, you can.

Last night as I was pulling two loaves of fresh white bread out of the oven, I realized that nothing else I bake gives me quite the same thrill.  I don't know if it's the long wait or the process of kneading the dough.  Maybe it's the intoxicating down-home aroma of the fresh bread or the golden brown loaves themselves.  Whatever it is, I took those beautiful loaves out of the oven and felt a little chill run down my spine.  Something in me sighed and I felt at home.

Bread is the staff of life.  A basic food with infinite possibilities.  You can flavor it anyway you want.. You can make pudding out of it.  Toast it.  French toast it.  Make a sandwich.  Make stuffing.  You'll never go hungry with a loaf of bread around.

This particular recipe comes from my favorite bread baking book,  Brother Juniper's Bread Book.  It's an easy recipe that requires you to just dump in all the ingredients and knead 'em together.  I add a touch of honey (I like to give me yeast something to eat) but other than that the recipe is true to how Brother Juniper wrote it.

I know that white bread isn't exactly the best for you and nutritionalists will steer you toward whole grain bread but this bread is just good for your soul.  It's not squishy like store bought white but it's flavorful and ever so slightly dense.  It's great for sandwiches or toast or just eating by itself.  Give it a try.  Your patience will be rewarded!  

Basic White Bread
4 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup honey
3 1/4 cup water

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl until mixture can be formed into a ball.  Sprinkle a little flour on the counter, turn out the dough, and knead it for about 10-12 minutes until dough is tacky but not sticky and is nicely elastic.

Clean the bowl and return the dough to it.  Cover it with a damp towel or plastic wrap.  Leave the dough out at room temperature for an hour and a half.  The dough will have doubled in size.  Punch down the dough, form a ball and return to the bowl to rise again for another hour and a half.  (You can skip this second rise if you want, but your bread will be nicer if you do it!)
Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces.  Flatten each piece with the heels of your hands and then fold it over back onto itself so that you are rolling the pieces into a cylindrical shape.  Squeeze the dough to release any air bubbles and pinch the seam closed.  Roll the dough back and forth to smooth the surface.  Place the dough seam side down in a greased bread pan (10 x 4 1/2 x 3-inches tall -- or something close).  Allow the loaves to rise again for another hour at room temperature.  Or, after a five minute rising you can refrigerate overnight.

When the dough is cresting over the pan, bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.  Rotate pans about half way through baking.  Test the loaf by thwacking the bottom.  It should sound hallow and be lightly golden.  

Allow to rest at least 20 minutes before before cutting.

Note:  If you need a crash course on bread-baking, see my tips in the "Fabulous Information" section:   http://www.thefabulousbakergirl.com/fabulous-information.htmlweeblylink_new_window