TIME FOR BREAD

Time for Bread

            Isn’t there a rule somewhere about NOT having more than one blizzard a season?  Apparently mother nature makes her own rules and human inconvenience remains for consideration just for humans.

            Exciting wilderness stories about snowstorms in mountains that close of roads for weeks somehow seem to have lost some of their luster this winter, though modern day cabin fever is hardly the stuff  compared to old legends. Somehow, sitting in a warm house, while the storm howls across the meadow outside, is really not much of a hardship. But time does have a way of stretching when you are not a snowshoe aficionado and have relegated even the shoveling to others.

            This is the perfect time to undertake activities that with our normal schedules seem too time consuming. One of these is making bread.  And I don’t mean quick mix muffins or brownies, but real bread where you start with those original miracle makers called yeast. Some anthropologists insist that humans first tamed yeast for fermentation of mood enhancing spirits, but it is the combination of yeast and grains in production of bread that probably allowed human populations to spread across our globe.

            With soups and stews as staples this time of the year, fresh baked bread is a welcome addition to any meal. I like the following recipe, since it allows me to make caraway dinner rolls and a desert from the same batch of dough. Although I make mine for ease in a heavy duty mixer with a dough hook, hand mixing and kneading for 10 minutes will give you the same result.

                                    Multipurpose and roll dough

            Melt 1 stick of butter in a small bowl, add 1 cup milk, 3 Tblsp. sugar 1 tsp. salt,

½ tsp. freshly ground cardamom (optional), heat to lukewarm and transfer to large mixer bowl. In a cup stir in 2 packages dry yeast and a small pinch of sugar in ½ cup lukewarm water, set aside until the yeast mixture rises to top of cup and then add to the mixer bowl. Fork beat 2 eggs and add to liquid in mixer bowl. Beat in 2 cups bread flour in liquid on low speed, then 2 Tblsp. sour cream. Remove beater and substitute bread hook. Add an additional 2 ½ cups bread flour with bread hook set on low speed. When all the flour has been incorporated, turn mixer setting on 2 or 3 depending on your mixer and continue to mix with the bread hook for 5 minutes. At this point, the dough should easily peel off the stopped hook. Sprinkle the dough lightly with flour, cover with a dish towel and set in a warm place to rise (proof) until double in amount. If your oven has a proof setting this should take an hour. Lightly punch down the dough and allow to proof once more.

            Turn dough out on a floured board and divide  with a sharp knife in half. One half will be used for caraway rolls and the other half for a flattened desert cake or a rolled poppy seed cake shown in the picture above.

                                    Caraway dinner rolls

            Stretch pieces of dough in a thick rope and divide the dough with a sharp knife in pieces and roll lightly with floured hands in 1 ½  inch balls. Arrange on a parchment lined cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Cover with a light towel and allow to rise for 20-30 minutes. Brush each roll lightly with a wash made of a beaten egg with 1 Tblsp. water. Push lightly with thumb to make a slight indentation in top center and place a small dab of butter there. Sprinkle tops lightly with some caraway seeds and bake in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. Cool and serve warm or cold.

                                    Apple and raisin cake

            Roll the other half of the dough lightly to ½ inch thickness and spread  out in a well greased jelly roll pan with sides. Peel, core and thinly slice 6 large apples, toss slices with lemon juice and arrange in overlapping rows on the dough, tucking in raisins under the slices. Brush with ¼ cup melted butter and sprinkle with 2/3 cups sugar mixed with ½ tsp. cinnamon. Lightly cover and proof in a warm place for at least 45 minutes. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. Cool on the pan and cut in squares for serving.

            The smell of fresh baked yeast bread and apple cake is at least temporarily guaranteed to chase away the cabin fewer blues.

            (I. Winicov Harrington lives in Waldoboro and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)