I really don’t know what I do with my time. I need to work on that! You know I had so much more going on in Texas and rarely did a week go by that I didn’t make bread at least once. I can’t even remember the last time I made bread! I can’t even remember the last time I fed my sourdough and that’s so bad. Today! I am going to feed the sourdough today.
At least three weeks ago I made English Muffins. I froze some and kept some on the fridge. Last week, I finished those. I’ve been using the street taco size flour tortillas that I picked up when I got groceries Sunday. Every day I say I’m going to make bread . . and I don’t.
Today is tomato soup and toasted cheese sandwiches for dinner. I HAD to make bread yesterday or go to the store and who wants storebought bread? Not me! I wanted English Toasting Bread and this is the recipe I’ve used for years. It’s so easy (no kneading – just use the mixer. Even on a day when my kitchen was cold, this bread rose quickly.
Funny story: I sleep with the heat on 60 or 62, or sometimes 61. I don’t have a wifi thermostat so as I’m passing by the thermostat to go to bed, I just tap it a few times and where ever it ends up, just so it’s below 63 and above 58, I’m good. Vince . . not so much . . but he isn’t here. When I get up in the morning, I usually raise the temp to about 65. Yesterday afternoon, even after making the bread, I thought . . it’s cold in this house. It was probably 2 p.m. and I looked at the thermostat. Still 60. No wonder I was cold.
The cool temp in the house helped the bread cool down so I could slice it and make sure it was tasty. I usually won’t eat the end piece but this bread is so good that I don’t even mind eating the end.
Thanks to Boots for waking me before 5 a.m., you can see on the clock on the stove that before 8 a.m., the soup was made except for the cream and basil. The litter box is cleaned, both critters are fed, the kitchen is clean and the carpets are vacuumed.
I’ll be in my chair stitching if anyone needs me! 🙂
Becky Louise Rhodes says
I’m not a bread maker but noticed yesterday how small my slice of bread is getting to be so I’m going to give these a try. Thanks for sharing.
Judy Domke says
Oh my goodness! Now I need to bake bread. The end pieces are our favorite. Good thing there are 2. Grilled cheese on homemade bread with tomato soup, the perfect meal. Enjoy your day.
Phyllis says
My mixer is really old and only has normal beaters. Would that work, or how would I adjust and knead?
Judy Laquidara says
I probably wouldn’t recommend using regular beaters but you can hand knead it. Keep you hands wet if the dough is terribly sticky and that will keep it from sticking too badly.
Linda in NE says
The fresh, hot end of the loaf, smeared with butter, is my favorite!
Susan T. says
For years, my family thought bread came without end crusts! Now that DH is home all the time, I have to guard the loaves until they are cool enough to slice, and he rarely gets the crust!
All this talk of cross stitch had me hunting through the patterns that I had marked, finding fabric, and pulling out floss. I keep my DMC floss in envelopes with the number printed on the front – they fill 3 shoe boxes!
RuthW in MD says
Growing up, my mom made bread every week by hand, no fancy mixers. The end slices were our favorites! They held the butter so well, and were extra thick so we could put plenty of jam or honey on too if we wanted. My dad was a teacher, and there were 6 kids, so we were on a low food budget. But lots of fun and laughter went along with it.
Rebecca says
While I was growing up, my mother did the grocery shopping on Saturday morning. She always got a loaf of Gai’s French bread, freshly baked, in a paper bag. It was a rather football shaped loaf, with narrow heels. Once we got the groceries put away, we would have cheese sandwiches on that, and yes, we did fight over the heel! So crunchy, but tender inside.
Okay, I really need to figure out how to make good French bread!
Robin R Crittenden says
Do you use the cornmeal? I have everything but that?
Judy Laquidara says
I did but it’s just for “flouring” the pan and on top to make it seem more like English muffins. Use a bit of flour in the pan and don’t worry about the top and it will be amazing!