The Bread Thread!

[frustratedearthmother]

That's awesome! My granddaughter - same age - loves to cook. Last year for Christmas one of the gifts I got her was a cooking basket. A couple of cookbooks, a spiralizer, an apron, and a bunch of utensils. She loved it!

 

[Junebugaboo]

I noticed a lot of people posting about sourdough bread...I'm a huge fan. My husband and I have had a mother in the fridge for just two years but it's become a weekend ritual to make bread!

I love this recipe: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/beginners-sourdough-bread/

Looks complicated at first, but not so much once you go through the process one time around.

And my two girls love his sourdough focaccia: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/a-simple-focaccia/

All of his recipes look delicious and maybe I'll branch out sometime, but these two are simple and soooo good.

 

[Beekissed]

Bread perfection achieved!!!

 

[Beekissed]

Sure do! I just throw them in the freezer until I get enough, put them on the counter in a bowl and let them thaw out. They they slither out of their skins like a tube of mush....perfect for making the bread.

They also make great dog treats in the summer months in that state...my dogs LOVE bananas and to get to chew on a frozen one on a hot day is just supreme.

 

[Mini Horses]

I think I'd like some banana bread right about now.

warm from the oven, yum!

 

[Beekissed]

That sounds quite delicious. Do you have a recipe for the "good ol' bread" you could share? Please

Sure can...this recipe makes for a large batch of bread, so you'll have to split it if you want to make less, of course.

4 c. warm water
3 T. yeast
1/2 c. to 1 c. of honey (your preference)
2 c. whole wheat flour

Combine and let sponge form.

1/3 c of ground flax seed
1/3 c. ground sunflower seed
1/2 c to 1 c. of Quaker oats
1 T. salt
1/2 c. oil (your preference...right now I'm using coconut oil)

Mix into sponge and start adding whole wheat and/or white flour one cup at a time until the consistency is right for kneading. Knead bread, adding handfuls of flour, until the consistency is firm, springy and ready to form into your dough ball. Form your ball and coat lightly with oil, cover and let rise, punching it down each time, for 3-4 proofs before forming into rolls or loaves and baking at 350* for 30 min. or lightly brown.

 

[Britesea]

An interesting thing I found out-- In the old days the bread wasn't mixed in a bowl. You just poured the liquids etc. into a "well" in your bag or barrel of flour and mixed it until it didn't grab any more flour. At that point it was perfect for kneading. The clever thing about it is that you don't have to worry about adjusting for humidity and so forth!

 

[Beekissed]

Started a sourdough starter last night and it's starting to smell sooooo good already!!! Will feed it tonight and let it sit again. Can't WAIT to start using this, as I'm going to try a lot of new recipes I've found for sourdough bread for making flat breads, pizza crust, etc.

I'd like to use it often for small meals and also for family functions.

 

[sumi]

@sumi for most of my life, I struggled to keep the weight I had. I could catch a cold, lose 5 pounds and take months to gain it back. Menopause changed my metabolism and I S L O W L Y started gaining weight. At 130, I was pleased, at 135, still pleased, but it kept coming and I finally decided to get my weight back down.

What really sucks is, what if I have to stay low carb, low calorie the rest of my life? I don't like this diet, no matter how well it works.

I've been thin most of my life, but after I had DS my weight was very low (I lost a few pounds during pregnancy, from being sick ALL THE TIME) and I never really got it back. 3 Years ago, after a hellish stressful time emigrating, the cancer and all the drama with my ex, I got weighed at the hospital and found my weight dropped to 106 lbs. I was in the "get medical attention NOW" range. With a lot of help and support from a wonderful friend who decided at the time to lose weight and build muscle (he did both at the same time and looks amazing now), I managed to learn to eat more and better and slowly regain weight. From his teachings I'm learning what and how to eat and what works, how to have some "bad" stuff now and then and still be o.k. It's doable. A piece of cake is not the end of the world, just cut back a bit the rest of the day to balance things out.

 

[Britesea]

I'm overloaded on eggs right now. Normally I would make a pound cake, it uses 12 eggs. But not now!

This uses 8 eggs, instead of 12... but it's low carb. Rather than extract, I think I would prefer to use lemon zest...

This makes a total of 16 servings of pound cake. Each slice comes out to be 254.19 Calories, 23.4g Fats, 2.49g Net Carbs, and 7.9g Protein.

The Preparation
[LIST]
[*]
Pound cake
[*]2 1/2 cups almond flour
[*]½ cup unsalted butter, softened
[*]1 1/2 cups erythritol
[*]8 eggs, room temperature
[*]1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
[*]1/2 tsp. lemon extract
[*]½ tsp. salt
[*]8 oz. cream cheese
[*]1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
Glaze
[*]¼ cup powdered erythritol
[*]3 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream
[*]½ tsp. vanilla extract
[/LIST]
The Execution
[LIST=1]
[*]Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large mixing bowl, toss in room temperature butter, softened cream cheese and erythritol.
[*]Cream together the butter and erythritol and until smooth. Then, add in softened chunks of cream cheese and blend together until smooth.
[*]Add in the eggs, lemon extract, and vanilla extract in with the blended ingredients. Blend with a hand mixer until smooth.
[*]In a medium sized bowl, mix together the almond flour, baking powder, and salt.
[*]Slowly add in the ingredients from the medium sized bowl into the batter. Use a hand blender to blend the clumps until very smooth.
[*]Pour batter into a loaf pan. Bake for 60 - 120 minutes at 350F or until smooth in the middle with a toothpick.
[*]If creating a glaze, blend together the powdered erythritol, vanilla extract and heavy whipping cream until smooth. Wait until the pound cake is fully cooled from the oven before spreading the glaze on top.
[/LIST]
@Beekissed here is the recipe for the avocado fries: Use the ones that are hard; they are easier to peel and slice, and they end up crispy on the outside and creamy soft on the inside.

Avocado Fries

Serves 3

3 avocados (works best with “hard” ones)
1 egg
1 ½ cups almond meal
1 ½ cups oil (the recipe called for sunflower, but whatever)
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp salt


Start heating your oil in a heavy pan or deep fryer
Beat egg in a small bowl. Mix the almond flour and spices in another.
Peel and slice your avocados in half and remove pit. Slice each into 4-5 vertical pieces, depending on size of avocado.
Coat the avocado pieces in egg, then roll in almond meal until you can barely see the green
Carefully lower each slice into the hot oil and allow each piece to fry from 45 seconds to a minute, until light brown (dark brown means you’ve cooked them a few seconds too long)
Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel to soak up the extra oil.