Whole Wheat Bread

Witness my first foray into the world of yeasted bread...baked in loaf form. I think it wasn't too shabby for a first attempt. I used the 100% whole wheat sandwich bread recipe from the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day.

This bread is a no knead type of dough, which is perfect for those of us who aren't swanky enough to own a stand mixer. I made a half batch in case the whole thing ended in disaster.

I was lucky enough to not have a complete disaster, but something didn't quite turn out. Maybe I didn't let the bread rise long enough on the second rise, or my loaf pan was just too big. It was probably a little bit from column A and a little bit from column B.

The dough should have filled slightly more than half the loaf pan. It filled only half. Since the full recipe was for three 1.5 pound loaves, a half recipe should have had more than enough to fill the pan properly. I do know that the yeast was not the culprit. The dough and bread had lots of nice bubbles in it.

The loaf was pretty tasty, especially as cinnamon toast. It didn't grill up well for grilled cheese though. Maybe the middle was too moist and the crust too crisp? Slicing the bread went like a dream. I got nice thin slices, which was nice since the bread was on the dense side due to the lack of rising.

If you'd like to attempt this recipe, see the directions over at Instructables. The directions are rather lengthy so I don't feel like typing them all out. Plus they did such a nice job with pictures and everything.

Here are the ingredients I used to make a half batch of Whole Wheat Bread(page 76 in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day):
3/4 c lukewarm water
3/4 c lukewarm milk
3/4 T granulated yeast
1/2 T plus 1/2t kosher salt
1/4 c honey
2 1/2 c neutral flavored oil
3 1/3 c whole wheat flour

Pizza Spaghetti

Wow! The creativity of my post titles are astounding aren't they? This is a bit hit with the Blockette. I like to make a double batch and freeze half. Here is my doubled version.
Pizza spaghetti adapted from http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Pizza-Spaghetti
1 lb gr beef
1 lb italian sweet turkey sausage removed from casings
1 cup chopped onion
1 29oz can tomato sauce
1 jar spaghetti sauce (you could use another can of tomato sauce and increase the spices)
6 oz pepperoni, halved, quartered or some of each
1 tsp dried basil (4 tsp fresh)
1 tsp dried oregano (4 tsp fresh)
1 tsp fennel seed
1 box of pasta (or 1/2 box if you are going to freeze half the sauce for later)
Shredded mozzerella and/or parmesean cheese to garnish

In a large non stick skillet, brown ground meat and onions. Drain the fat. Stir in the tomato/pasta sauce, pepperoni and spices. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered 20-25 minutes until thickened. Meanwhile, cook spaghetti. Drain pasta, toss with sauce. Top with cheese.

Blockette and I had No Knead Bread with this. You can see a half slice in the wonky photo above. I don't have a better picture because this was the last slice in the loaf. You can find the no knead bread recipe here: http://steamykitchen.com/blog/2007/09/10/no-knead-bread-revisited I'll take a photo of the whole loaf next time I make it.