Hey, look, the recipe chick posts an actual recipe….
I received my Christmas present early this year. I have wanted a KitchenAid forever, but space has always been an issue. It still is, but not as restrictive as it used to be, though not a chef’s kitchen by any means. A great deal came my way and I took advantage (truth be told, grief may have played a role as I was in need of retail therapy – give me something big and shiny my brain said). Bread was my first use.
I love this recipe, it is so easy. I was looking for a slow rise bread – they are thought to be easier to digest for people who have trouble with yeast or gluten sensitivities. And it has the added advantage of being super easy and almost fool-proof to make. Instant yeast is a must here, because the idea behind the slow rise is that the yeast has time fully flavor the bread and become more easily digestible.
I have switched to single source flours – I used 1/2 white and 1/2 whole golden wheat (it has a nice, slightly sweet flavor). The flavor and texture can’t be beaten with these small-batch flours.
Crusty Slow-Rise Bread
- 5 ½ cups unbleached flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 ¼ tsp instant yeast (instant is important)
- 2 cups + 2 tablespoons lukewarm water (about 95 degrees F)
Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl until well blended, add water and blend until smooth and forms a loose ball, about 1 minute. Let rest uncovered for 5 minutes.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead for two minutes. The dough should be smooth, tacky, not dry or sticky. Adjust by adding flour and water as needed*.
*This is where the new mixer was indispensable – it kneaded evenly and quickly, without any mess, not removing to a floured surface, no hand kneading. I did add a bit of extra water because the whole wheat flour needs more.
Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 12 hours or up to four days.
It makes two loaves. If you’d like to make loaves separately, you can divide into to equal pieces, cover and refrigerate separately.
To bake:
Two hours before baking, remove from the refrigerator. Shape into desired loaf, spray lightly with oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise about 90 minutes until it’s increased 1 ½ times its original size.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees and remove plastic from bread. Just before baking, score with three slices across the bread with a sharp knife. Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet and place in hot oven. I add sesame seeds on the baking sheet and place the loaf on that so it doesn’t stick and has a nice sesame seed crust.
Add a tray of ice to a baking sheet and place on the rack underneath the bread to create a steam bath for the bread. This will give you a crispy, chewy crust.
Bake for 15 minutes, rotate pan and bake an additional 15 minutes, or until the bread reaches an internal temperature of 200 degrees F. For crisper crust, turn off the oven and leave the bread in an additional 5 minutes.
Remove to a breadboard and let cool for 45 minutes (ok, seriously, if you can wait that long, you’re a better person than I – I’ve scorched my fingers more than once sneaking a fresh hot slice).
I have some great Beef and Barley Soup (recipe here ) to serve with it.
ETA: There are more photos of Gabe (trying to Zen Emma into accepting his presence) here and bonus Bixby and Scout here.
What’s on your menu tonight?
guachi
Snazzy blue color. We have the red version.
Also, where on Earth did you get the Wheat Montana flour? When I lived in Montana in my younger days my mom bought Wheat Montana bread all the time.
Raven
Roasted butternut squash, brussel sprouts, spuds and chicken breasts.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Yum. That looks good.
Wag
I like to use our stand mixer to make homemade marshmallows
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/homemade-marshmallows-51152000/amp
Mary G
I have been looking longingly at those since I started my baking spree, but no money and no space means only looking. This week I made apple spice cake; the teen’s girlfriend chopped the apples for me.
Mike in NC
Wife is making one of her favorites called “Bombay Sloppy Joe’s”, which contains ground turkey, tomato sauce, raisins, and pistachios. Served on warm naan. Yummy!
Steeplejack
I just remembered that sunset is suddenly going to be at 5:05 today, so I am getting myself together to go out on a minor shopping expedition. I need to go to Trader Joe’s to get a few things, and I’m thinking that I will reward myself with a big pastrami sandwich from the deli (not at T.J.’s).
donnah
Looks delish, TaMara! And Gabe looks like the sweetest lil guy ever.
I have that mixer but it’s a steely gray. I haven’t made bread with it yet, but your recipe looks good. Tonight I’m experimenting with my Instant Pot: a Mexican chili with ground turkey, salsa, jalapenos, rice, black beans, red onion, chili powder, cumin, and topped with mixed shredded cheese. I’ve never used this recipe, but it sounds easy and yummy.
Thanks for sharing!
sukabi
It’s nice that you let the horses sleep on your couch. ?
The Dangerman
Mixer is UCLA Blue; I approve.
Scamp Dog
@Wag: I’ve made marshmallows at home, and after the first batch, I knew I was done with commercial marshmallows! Everyone should give them a try, it’s actually fairly easy.
geg6
I have one of those. I have never taken it out of the box. I’m not much of a baker and it just takes up too much room. So it lives in the spare bedroom closet.
I’m making chili tonight with cornbread baked in a cast iron skillet. Did laundry and washed floors today and am too tired to make anything more ambitious. Plus, I’ve been busy cleaning off and taking care of and playing with our new visitor.
debbie
@geg6:
Also, they are very heavy. Moving one from cabinet to counter is not for the weak of back. I would love one though.
I made leek and potato soup with shrimp today. I’ve become a real leek fan.
NeenerNeener
I have the cobalt blue version of that mixer; it matches my cobalt blue Chantal pots and pans. Not that I cook much…but my kitchenware is coordinated on the rare occasions when I do.
Hey, doesn’t Scout have a birthday coming up?
Elmo
My boss challenged me with five Trinidad Scorpion peppers: “What can you do with these?” So I’ve spent my day roasting four of them along with a sliced white onion, a giant parsnip, and a whole head of garlic and putting it all in the Ninja with two cups of apple cider vinegar to make hot sauce.
The other one I put into an entire pot of White Northern beans with a pork loin and some bacon. Then I tasted the broth and immediately yanked it back out. Yikes!
Jerzy Russian
@debbie:
Back in grad school we had a cookbook called something like “First, you take a leek”. On the cover there is a baker with his hand positioned in such a way that he might be taking a leak. When you open the cover you see he is actually chopping up a leek. As I recall, there were some good recipes in that book. I wonder if we still have that tucked away somewhere.
Mart
Too cheap for the KitchenAid so it is no knead dough recipes for me. Seem to work just fine.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@The Dangerman: Bruin Blue is the best.
Tbone
TaMara, do you do anything to adjust for altitude?
My bread always comes out too dense and heavy. Not sure if i’m over kneading, or the altitude is killing me.
Keith P.
My friends just got a canary yellow one…love the retro. For slow rise, look up Gabrielle Bonci…the guy does a *four* day rise in the fridge. It makes a great pizza, though, plus he likes to use emmer blends
Kristine
I have the smaller mixer, the Artisan, in apple green.
The bread looks so good. I always tell myself I will try to bake my own, but never do. Some day.
Dinner was tikka masala chicken legs with couscous and roasted Brussels sprouts. I also baked pumpkin bread with chocolate chips, coconut, and hazelnuts.
Steeplejack
@Jerzy Russian:
First You Take a Leek. Still available on Amazon—even on Kindle!
FlyingToaster
HerrDoktor has one of those, with an assortment of detachments. We make ice cream with it, along with all the baked goods. I also have the sausage stuffer; that’s if we decide to do something weird for XMas at the SIL’s (Turkey is Thanksgiving; XMas is whatever we agree on: taco bar, roast tenderloin w/ sauces, chinese, whatever).
ETA: Dark Green. Attachments are white & chrome.
Ruckus
@sukabi:
LOL…..
I knew a lady that had a small store who had a great dane that looked bigger than Bixby, he was white with black spots, like Scout. She also had a pug. The store was Pub Snugly, she made coats for small dogs. Next door to my bike shop. The two dogs together were something to see.
TaMara (HFG)
@guachi: The only place I can find it is at Walmart. And it comes in pretty big bags, so it’s been about a year, I don’t know if they still carry it.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
Roast chicken using the Zuni Cafe recipe, potatoes roasted in duck fat and truffle salt, green salad, and a vegetable to be named later. My mother-in-law is coming to dinner.
Now that we’ve redone our kitchen to slightly expand counter space, my Kitchenaid (pale aqua) is spending more time there, and I find that the convenience of not having to lug it upstairs from the garage means I’ve been using it at least once a week, for bread, cake, cookie dough, rugelach, etc., etc. It’s fun but not necessarily good for our waistlines. It does make making challah a breeze.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Ruckus:
Since the thread down below is dead, I thought I’d repost this just so you’d see it:
I saw what you wrote last night and I want to thank you for your kind advice. I’ve always enjoyed talking to you and others here. Going over last night’s thread, I think I understand what went wrong and I’m going to do my dead-level best to not repeat it. I’ve been pretty annoying the last month or so.
I’ll definitely think about talking to someone, but I can’t make any guarantees, because I have some reservations about it. If it’s ok with you, I’d like to just forget it ever happened and move on? There are a few people I’ll still need to make amends with, but I won’t bring this up again to you.
TaMara (HFG)
@NeenerNeener: Yes and about ready to schedule her snip-snip to celebrate the occasion.
TaMara (HFG)
@Tbone: This slow rise solves a lot of the problems, so does instant yeast – BUT, I’ve never been able to make light, airy low altitude bread here. I’ve learned to love dense and chewy. LOL
Mike S
I just finished replacing a gear in the transmission on ours a few minutes ago! It’ about 12 years old and the worm-driven gear was completely worn out on our 12 y.o. 6-Qt Pro model Kitchenaid mixer. We make bread 2 or 3 times a month. It looks like that gear is softer and designed to wear out and not damage the other gears it meshes with (i.e. a sacrificial gear) as all of the other gears were in perfect shape. The replacement gear was $14.69 and the replacement grease was $10.95. both from Amazon. I found this YT video helpful. I’m thinking about buying another replacement gear and stashing it away for when this one wears out in 10-12 years, but will I be able to find when I want it? That is the big question.
Suzanne
I have the smaller mixer in white. Love it so much.
I really want to quit architecting and be a stay-at-home parent. I miss my home when I am not there, and that is too much. Unfortunately, I have a stack of student debt preventing that. Oi.
gene108
How I am now craving fresh bread, with butter.
Mary G
I’m not a big fan of Jonathan Chait, who seems to edge farther right as time goes by, but this long read takedown of Mark Penn in NY Mag is wonderful:
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Tbone:
I always adjust for my attitude, I’m rather surly.
katep
I’ve had mine for over 30 years, still works like a champ. Made some morning pastries for Thanksgiving with it today. Lots of baking and freezing happening in the next 2 months. I can keep my out on the counter, pushed into an otherwise useless corner. I would never use if I had to lug out of a cupboard each time.
TaMara (HFG)
@FlyingToaster: Taco bar. That’s what I’ll do for this Christmas Eve dinner. Thanks for the idea.
jeffreyw
@TaMara (HFG):
Wait… taco bar is a thing for the holidays?
dmsilev
@debbie: Tamara has the larger of the Kitchenaid models; it’s really meant to just sit on the countertop full time rather than shuttle back and forth to a cabinet. I have the next size down, and while it’s not the lightest thing in the world, transporting it from cabinet to counter isn’t too bad. For a bread recipe of this size, a midsize mixer like mine is fine; it’s only once you get up to the “add 1.5 pounds of flour” point that it starts to really make a difference.
Which reminds me: For anyone starting out in baking and not used to the foibles of flour, measuring by weight is a lot more reliable than by volume. Get a good digital scale; they’re pretty cheap these days and make life so much easier.
scav
Must depend on location as well. I can find various Wheat Montanas (white, wheat and white wheat) in a few stores in WA, usually in the 5# but sometimes 10# bags. For which I am right thankful.
ThresherK
Cobalt blue, the tilt-head variant. It’s 23 years old.
TaMara (HFG)
@jeffreyw: It is now! That looks Yum!
TaMara (HFG)
Mine is probably the largest one they make that isn’t commercial. I got a great deal on it – almost the same price as a much smaller one. I have this dream of someday getting the meat grinder attachment, so I went heavy duty. I can’t wait for Holiday Cookie baking – we do a group bake every year. This should be helpful.
Luigidaman
Back when my old lady (don’t worry, she calls me her “old man” and yes, we are both old) was courting me, she bought me a brand new white Kitchen-Aid mixer like the one you have shown above for….wait for it…$25.00. It was a closeout at Target.
joel hanes
My daughter does 48 dozen Christmas cookies every year, 4 doz each of six kinds of cookies, and uses two Kitchen Aides: the smaller one with the tilt head for frostings, and the bigger one (like Tamara’s) for batches of dough.
I bought the cone shredder attachment, and use the fine cone to chop the 4+ cups of pecans for the Russian teacakes.
Mostly they’re stored the rest of the year, but when you need one, it’s is a complete delight to have the right tool.
We think the tilt head is easier to work with, but when you need the six-quart bowl, you need it.
Oh, yeah: I use the big one every year, a day before Christmas, to make my infamous Presbyterian-Ladies Cookbook artery-death potato casserole for Christmas morning brunch:
2 pounds of thawed frozen hash brown patties, a ton of sour cream, a ton of grated sharp cheddar, an amazing amount of melted butter, lots of salt and black pepper, a generous touch of cayenne, a little garlic powder, and a small onion chopped fine. Mix in the stand mixer, turn it out into a pyrex lasagna dish and flatten with spatula, sprinkle with paprika, cover, let it rest for 12 hours or more, then crush a small bag of potato chips and spread the crumbs over the top. Bake at 350 until the sides and top brown nicely. Yes, I grew up in the Midwest.
HinTN
We have the big red version of that beast and when you use the thing it is the best tool in the shed.
ETA: Geaux Saints
JR
We have a 15 YO kitchen aid mixer. Still going strong.
My favorite toy of the moment is the anova immersion circulator. Makes cooking meat completely foolproof. Sunday dinners are always extravagant now.
trollhattan
@ThresherK:
Same here, exactly, and about the same vintage. It soldiers on–the kid and a buddy made cookies using it yesterday.
TaMara (HFG)
@joel hanes: OMG. That sounds amazing and would probably make me the queen of the brunch.
Also, Russian tea cake cookies are the best.
NotMax
Lusted after the KitchenAid for years but price was always a roadblock. Then read about how quality and durability has declined since the company changed hands.
When finally resolved to obtain something to provide relief to aging hands and wrists, eventually settled on what is for all intents and purposes* the same thing at a fraction of the cost from Hamilton Beach and have been quite pleased with it. The only thing have found negative to say about it is that the button that unlocks the head is in an awkward place, design-wise.
Ought to mention that have not tried using it for dough making.
*1) No capability for additional attachments, though.
2) Heavy but not “wish I had a block and tackle” weighty like the KA.
3) The all-metal innards a plus in my book, compared to the KA which now uses some plastic parts inside.
4) Consumer Reports rated this model higher than the comparable KA.
5) I note the price at the link has gone up slightly since I bought it – however holiday sales are a-coming.
6) 3 year warranty.
7) 400 watt motor (KA motor is 300 watts, IIRC).
FlyingToaster
@jeffreyw: I have a daughter and 5 nephews. We’ve done it twice in the past 11 years. It’s fantastic.
We did fried chicken one year (3 of parted-out chickens from the now defunct Owens Poultry Farm in Needham); lasagna a couple of times, Thai once (that was a big hit with one kid, he always says “do Thai again”), Chinese, and Tenderloin a couple of times.
When I was in grad school, I’d host a “spaghetti and videos” party at my house for XMas, where I’d spend the day making pasta and sauces (and drinking heavily) while watching:
The Disney XMas parade
Comfort and Joy
The Lion in Winter
other non-traditional Xmas fare
These days, I’d add:
The Ref
Die Hard
Bad Santa
[recommendations always welcome]
My sister in law always thanks us for refusing to go along with a “must have roast beast for XMas” thing like her husband’s family.
Suzanne
@joel hanes: That sounds very similar to the Mormons’ traditional funeral potatoes.
thalarctosMaritimus
@Tbone, @dmsilev: What dmsilev said–always measure flour on a scale by weight, rather than measuring in cups.
I had massive problems with my bread being too heavy and dense, and two things fixed it: using a scale to measure the flour out in grams, rather than cups, and being careful not to overflour my hands or the kneading surface to introduce too much extra flour in. Those two steps made all the difference in the world for me.
The recipes at the King Arthur Flour/Baking School site (like this one) let you choose your measure: volume (cups), ounces, or grams, and in the classes, they always teach you to measure by weight, not volume, to make the single possible improvement in quality. The reason it works is that flour settles to varying amounts, so cups is only a very approximate method of knowing how much flour you’re using, while grams are always the same form one bake to another.
Gin & Tonic
@Suzanne: I have never heard of this tradition.
LuciaMia
Beautiful mixer and beautiful bread. Ive coveted one but like so many here, price and space have been a hinderance. With a cuisinart you can only mix up enough dough for one loaf. More than 3 cups of flour and it sounds like youre burning out the motor.
Made some cinnamon raisin bread today. Dont know if I had gotten some bad yeast before, but lately Ive had really good luck with my bread. Today I got such a good rise I divided it into two loaves even tho it was supposed to make just one large one. So one for me and one for the freezer to be given away. I think that and a sunny side up egg (with some sausage) will be dinner tonight.
joel hanes
@TaMara (HFG):
sounds amazing
Fats and salt and carbs and cheese: hyperstimulus.
The problem with it is that even a smallish serving utterly kills the appetite.
I’ll go look up the real recipe and come back.
Princess
@Suzanne: Yes, the first thing I thought of was Mormon funeral potatoes. I used to know a few ex-Mormons and they only thing they kept from their backgrounds were the funeral potatoes. Yum.
dexwood
Stand mixers are great. We have your model in gray, but we also have a KitchenAid manufactured in 1978, one of the Hobarts and it is the real go to machine in this house. Heavier, with sturdier attachments. The old one was a wedding present, the newer model we inherited upon the death of my mad baker best friend. We use them both, love ’em. We recently bought the pasta making attachment for the new one, but haven’t used it yet. Winter kitchen experiments coming up. Gotta make some bread this week. Enjoy Tamara.
divF
We got a black Kitchen Aid mixer, ’cause that was what was in stock. Of course, as soon as you first use it, you realize you have to be meticulous in cleaning up, because the black shows everything left behind (I am not, by nature, meticulous in cleaning up).
The one thing we don’t use it for is baking bread. There is a stellar bakery / cheese store six blocks from the house, and the Acme Bread bakery (which appears in the Smithsonian exhibit on the California food revolution) is about a mile and a half away – I just can’t compete. So I stick to baked goods that are too much of a PITA for even “artisanal” bakeries to do really well, such as puff pastry.
joel hanes
Here ’tis. Glad I looked, I’d forgotten the cream of chicken soup.
2lbs frozen hash browns
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz sour cream
2 cups shredded med. or sharp cheddar.
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 lb butter (one stick), melted
crushed corn flakes
“Presbyterian Pride” cookbook 1988 Mason City IA p. 238
Because I’ve long lived away from Iowa, my tolerance for flavor has grown:
adding a some garlic powder and cayenne and paprika are my own variations,
as is swapping out the corn flakes for potato chips
chopper
recently upgraded the old kitchenaid artisan to the larger 6qt pro model. now i can make a double batch of challah dough without thinking it’s gonna break in half.
otherwise working on the house so it’s all pretty and ready next month for our yearly chanukah/holiday party fry-up.
joel hanes
In my youth, I once worked a summer as kitchen help / grounds maintenance at a summer camp; the kitchen had a floor-standing Hobart that I’d guess had a 48-quart bowl. One of the cooks could make yeast-raised sweet rolls and butter-brushed fresh dinner rolls in volume, and get them perfect, and the camp director held on to her as long as she could, even though that cook was a selfish and dishonest woman, difficult to work with.
chopper
@JR:
my immersion circulator has gotten more use than any other gadget in my kitchen.
zhena gogolia
Thanks for reminding me about that soup. I made it when you posted it earlier and we loved it, but I totally forgot about it! I’ll make it next week.
satby
I have the same Kitchen Aid as TaMara, mine is a gorgeous copper finish. It was my 50th birthday present to myself, and when I still had kids around it got a lot of use. Haven’t used it for just me in a while, but I’m thinking of breaking it out to make these, a South Bend tradition I had never even heard of until I moved here. Kieflies are addictive! Probably will make the regular flour version though.
ruemara
@Elmo: An exchange between me to my workmate whose husband used Scotch Bonnets as fresh minced pepper garnish and made her food too hot:
“How do you eat those pepper?”
“We don’t it!”
“Then why did he put it out like that?”
“You’re white and doing it wrong! It’s to season the dish, not as an eating vegetable!”
These aren’t jalapenos so if you’re not making a sauce, don’t mess with the west indian peppers.
Edited to reflect my deep jealous of the Kitchen Aid
Tbone
@joel hanes
I make the same, except add a pound of thin black forest ham. Yum!
joel hanes
@Tbone:
With ham sounds delicious.
I was thinking maybe one year I’d cut back on the cheese and put in 3 cups or more of various kinds of chopped mushrooms, use cream of mushroom soup instead.
TaMara (HFG)
@thalarctosMaritimus: The first cookbook I ever saw measure things in weight was an Italian (as in, everything was in Italian) cookbook. I thought it was genius. I should do it…and maybe next loaves I will REMEMBER!
@joel hanes: Thank you. And your additions are what takes it past the finish line IMHO
Cowgirl in the Sandi
TaMara – I have the KitchenAid with the tilt top and have the meat grinder attachment. It works great. I buy a big chuck roast from Costco and then grind it up into hamburger ad put it in the freezer – much safer than buying hamburger at the grocery store and it really tastes better too. I can also mix up the ingredients for meatballs in the feed tube and then put it through the grinder to mix it up.
joel hanes
@TaMara (HFG):
You’re more than welcome.
I’m pretty sure I use more than the called-for teaspoon of black pepper, too.
I just keep grinding for what seems like a long time.
joel hanes
@satby:
I’d never heard of keiflies before, and I don’t remember ever having eaten one, but you inspired me to look up several recipes, and I hope I can do a batch in December to try them out; maybe do one batch walnut, one batch pecan, and one pistachio.
Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot
We’ve had our 5-quart Kitchen-Aid (looks to be about the same size as TaMara’s) 25 years or more, still going strong being used on average a couple times a week, with a ball-bearing re-pack a few years ago as the only maintenance/repair. Basic black, fairly heavy (but we store it on top of a baker’s rack and lug it back and forth to the kitchen counter for each use) and we use it for baking, juicing (mostly for our backyard citrus) and other food mixing tasks. Glad we have it, it’s our best food-prep appliance. Our darling 3-1/2 year-old granddaughter has become adept at its use for baking-prep, being well-trained in all aspects of baking by her grandmother (my wife of lo these 40 years and more) who is the baker (I’m the primary cook).
Just yesterday we used it (with the help of our granddaughter staying over for the weekend) to make a Georgian-style (Caucasus country, not the state) filled bread that’s a staple there, called khachapuri.
Had it with a couple sauteed veggie dishes and some grilled bacon-wrapped mixed ground meat kabobs that I made (weather here in the Valley of the Sun is around 80F for the high, perfect for grilling and other outdoor activities). Here’s the khachapuri recipe:
Stir: ½ tsp sugar & ½ tsp instant yeast into ¼ cup lukewarm milk, set aside 10 minutes.
In mixing bowl, combine yeast mixture with: 1/3 cup Greek yogurt, 1 TB sour cream, 1 egg (all at room temp), ½ tsp salt, and 1-1/2 cups + 1 TB all-purpose wheat flour (we use unbleached).
Process into a dough ball in the mixer (could be by hand, sure, but like I said we’ve used our Kitchen-Aid for over 25 years). Takes no more than a minute or two in the mixer, ball should be a little sticky. Knead the ball on a lightly-floured surface about 5 minutes, then put in a bowl, cover, and set in a warm spot for 80-90 minutes to rise.
After rising, knead and punch dough down a bit on a floured surface, then roll out to a 12” square. Fill the square with a diamond-pattern of whatever filling you like (yesterday we used a mixed filling of grated boiled potatoes – 3 fist-sized russets boiled 10 minutes, skins on, then peeled and grated after cooling – with about 4 oz combined total of grated pecorino romano and grated mozzarella, plus a couple dashes of salt and black pepper). Fold the corners of the dough in to cover the filling, like making an envelope.
Flip the dough-envelope over, roll or press lightly a little by hand to stretch it a bit, place onto a preheated (pre-heating helps ensure the bottom of the bread is well-baked and a bit crisp) and lightly-oiled baking sheet (we use one of those Silpat silicone mat things instead of oiling, but I imagine not many people have those), poke a little hole in the center, and put on an upper rack in an oven pre-heated to 325F. Bake about 30 minutes, serve out-of-the-oven hot or cooled to warm, cut into wedges.
Seriously tasty (and filling — I did a few extra minutes on the gym stairmaster this morning) peasant food.
Oh, and go Kyrsten Sinema! I think she’s going to kick smarmy Republican McSally’s ass here.
laura
@Suzanne: there was an architect here in Sacramento who started making quilts when she was home having a baby. She started making quilts so painterly and beautiful. She’s a full time artist who never returned to architecture. Here’s a link:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pinterest.com/amp/pin/568649890426436888/
Maybe you too will find a sa th is dying balance of family and work.
stinger
@FlyingToaster: I always kick off the holiday movie-watching season with The Ref! So, so funny. My other holiday films are more traditional: About a Boy, White Christmas, Christmas in Connecticut, Love Actually, Meet John Doe, Bridget Jones’ Diary, and wrap up with one of my Top Five films, Remember the Night. If winter has already begun to get me down, I might add Ball of Fire (set in the springtime) and Much Ado About Nothing (set in Tuscany). Then I’m pretty well set for 3 months of winter.
Kattails
Late as usual. I baked this morning using my 15 y.o. Kitchenaid to make focaccia and cookies to bring to the campaign office, then went canvassing, then crashed on the couch. My machine lives in a corner on the counter. I used to make about 90 dozen Christmas cookies with it. Fabulous for bread, cakes, buttercream frosting. For long-rise and sweet breads like stollen I usually use SAF Gold yeast, available at King Arthur Flour online, but right now I’ve got the SAF red instant. Keep it in the freezer where it lasts nearly forever. It’s a 1# bag but for the money, $5.95, it’s cheaper than a couple of rounds of the little individual packets. King Arthur are a great resource for specialty ingredients, based in VT and employee owned, also a “B” corporation if I recollect rightly.
Their white whole wheat flour is identity-preserved. They have quite a range of specialty flours like French, ancient grains, rye blend, gluten-free and so on. Shameless tout for them.
I have the meat grinder attachment, but also the ice cream attachment, basically a large insulated bowl that’s kept in the freezer (but I also have a deep freezer which helps).
TaMara (HFG)
@Kattails: Never too late. I’m envious yours can fit on the counter, mine is too tall for my cupboards – otherwise it would be on the counter in a back corner, but I can’t fit it under the top cupboards.
My friend swears by King Arthur flours. Would love your focaccia recipe.
catclub
@TaMara (HFG): If you are new to the kitchenAid, i recommend the (non-kitchenaid) batter beater that has rubber side scrapers on its edges. Mine is plastic, but the side scraper is great.
debit
Gabe looks so happy. I am in love with his sweet little face.
Jeffg166
I got one and didn’t like it. It broke and didn’t get replaced. I found the food processor works better for me.
Butch
We got one because some friends received one as a wedding present; they hated the lime green color of the mixer and sold it to us for five bucks. We use it constantly.
karen marie
@Wag: My SIL and I made marshmallows once. It was EVERYWHERE. What a mess! They were good – better than store-bought – but given the mess, I won’t do it again.
karen marie
@Mike S: Duct tape it to the inside wall of the cabinet where you store the mixer and/or the parts with clear ID of what it is written in Sharpie.