Sunday: Church, tiredness and thanksgiving (plus bread recipe info)

 

First, so I don't forget, Elizabethd, the bread I baked is from this recipe

and I think the first time I posted it was here. 

I basically look at the ingredient list

.....to quote directly it is this:

6 cups all-purpose or pastry flour

1 teaspoon yeast

3 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup dried cranberries (sweetened or not)

1 cup sliced or slivered almonds

zest from two oranges

3 cups water (the water does not have to be warm)

(again this is from here, I can't claim this wonderful recipe as my own!)

The only change I make is that I always use spring water and I add the yeast to the

water before I add it to the batter.

Everything, save the water and yeast,

I add first, mix together and then add the water with yeast. 

The water I use straight from the jug of spring water that I buy

from the grocery store, room temperature. 

I mix it by hand because I like to do so.  Last time I accidentally missed

a bit of the flour at the very bottom, but it really did not matter

as it stuck to the bottom and was not part of the dough that rose.

The neat thing about this recipe is you mix the dough as described,

cover it (I personally use two clean tea towels that I only use for bread)

and leave it.  And leave it for hours.  I actually make it one day and put it aside,

covered, and bake it the next day.

It will rise a lot, I find, and is very/fairly wet but easy to deal with.

The day I bake it I grab half of it and put it on a floured pizza peel and 

then use that to put it in the oven, I use a pizza stone; 

I of course preheat the oven to 400F with the stone in it already. 

NO kneading is needed at anytime!!! 

Then I put the second half and did it on a second pizza stone, preheated 

according to my toaster oven's manual instructions for bread. 

The one in the main oven I did for less than 40 minutes - but I think over 30.

Once it taps 'hollow' on the bottom and has some colour, I call it done!

With dried fruit (I use dried cherries and pecans or, like last time, 

craisins, walnuts and sunflower seeds, which was a mix that I got pre-made

and I merely put 2 cups of it in with the dry ingredients as listed in the recipe, etc.)

It's great toasted lightly and lovely with a nice fruit jam/preserve.

Cherry jam or apricot or a nice berry like raspberry or blackberry. 

Of course when it is still warm out of the oven, butter that melts and then

a jam is quite lovely!

***

 It was really nice to be back at our far-away church!

There was a new couple there and it was wonderful to see so many people...

And a dear one to me took care of our Begonia plant while we were gone

and WOW did it grow a lot! It's so tall! 

We can see it now outside from where it sits by a window!

***

I was so tired though, we ended up going grocery shopping

(it's funny, we got lots of things but the one that sticks out most in my mind,

with immediacy, is the raspberry preserves we bought, as I had used up

my last jar!) ... it took longer than expected...so we did not get home until 4 PM,

then put away all our groceries (got 4 more cans of Italian tomatoes as I always 

like to have some on hand for making a new batch of my beloved fia sauce)...

We also bought things for Canadian Thanksgiving, which we hope to have on Sunday night...

am also getting a bunch of sides delivered on Thursday.

***

The disappointment was that the grocery store ONLY had turkey breast already de-boned.

So, unless I can find better, I am going to roast a chicken instead...

I think...? Though I did just find this recipe for turkey and maybe that would work...

it looks good... I will have to see... (thoughts welcome including on that 

just discovered turkey recipe!)

***

I am dreaming of making muffins and there is a few in Marion Cunningham's 

Breakfast Book that sound great...

I love that I can open a cook book and it's like opening a world of culinary

adventure, ideas and often mouth-watering ideas... 

(Pilgrim: neat about sending out her book Lost Recipes, it really is a lovely book,

I did not know anything about Marion Cunningham when I bought the 

Breakfast Book, I think at a lovely wood floored bookstore in London Ontario

when I was doing my librarian degree.... I was so attracted to the cover

and to the way the book was written, even the font used... and I always loved

breakfast! Now if I want a new recipe that has a BIG chance of being a 

'sure fire success' I turn to her first. )

***

I dream of doing some sewing again, but I do admit that 

what I seem to come to as my first choice for creativity is cooking 

and baking... anyway, one thing at a time.

I am so glad for my blog also of course.

My blog has directly altered the course of my life, i.e. I met 

my Husband because of my blog (a blog friend told me 

about him in 2011 and the rest, as they say, is history!!!!)

***

May God bless us and help us and 

may His face shine upon us 

and have mercy on us.