Bread

3 cups of lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tbs yeast (2 packets)
1 1/2 Tbs kosher or other coarse salt
6 1/2 cups of unsifted, unbleached all-purpose flour measured with the scoop and sweep method *

Warm the water slightly-100 degrees about.

Add yeast and salt to the wate in a 5 quart bowl with a lid (not airtight)r-don't worry about fully disloving.

Mix in the flour-KNEADING IS UNNECESSARY. Add all the flour at once using a dry-ingredients measuring cup, by gently *scooping up the flour, then sweeping the top leval with a knife if spatula, don't press down in to flour asyou scoop ro you will throw off the measurement by compression. Mix with a wooden spoon, a high capacity food processor (14 cups or larger) fitted with the dough attachment or a heavy duty stand mixer with the dough attachment until the mixture is uniform. If you're mand mixing and it becomes too difficult to incorporate all the flour with the spoon, you can reach into your mixing vessel with very wet hands and press the mixture togther. DON"T KNEAD! It isn't necessary. You're finnished when when everything is uniformally moist with no dry patches. This is done in a matter of minutes.

Allowto rise. Cover with a lid (not air tight). Don't use a screw top, such as a Mason jar-that could explode. Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse-or flattens on top-about 2 hours. Refrigerating the dough will make this easier to handle, so you can at this point stick your dough in the fridge until ready to shape and bake, or up to 2 weeks.

This next step is different form any other bread recipe-DON"T KNEAD THE DOUGH! Just shape a loaf in 30-60 seconds. First sprinkle a pizza peel with cornmeal or whatever flour your recipe calls for. (I just used a large plate). Sprinkle flour on the surface of your dough, pull off a grapefruit sized portion of dough and add a little more flour to keep the dough from sticking to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter turn as you go. Most of the dusting flour will fall off-it's supossed to. This should take 30-60 seconds.

Rest the loaf on the pizza peel (or plate) for 40 minutes. No need to cover.

20 minutes before baking preheat an oven to 450 with a pizza stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray for hoolding water on any other shelve that won't interfere with the rising bread. Dust and slash the bread 3-4 times.
After a 20 minute pre-heat slide the bread onto the stone and quickly pour about 1 cup of warm water onto the broiler tray and quickly close the door. Bake for about 30 minutes till deep brown and firm to the touch.

Now, this is the hardest part for me! Don't slice the bread hot-wait till it's cool-that way you get the Panera effect with the crust. Enjoy!!!

Curry

Here is my curry recipe, per request:)Keep in mind this ALL by taste!

1/4 cup butter
1 onion
3 apples
1/4-1/2 cup rasins
1-2 chicken breast (cooked)
1/2 -1 lb burger(cooked)
2-4 cups water
2 rounded scoops of chicken base (Tones)
1/4-1/3 cup curry powder
2-3 spoonfulls of Apricot Jam
1-2 Tbs of brown sugar

Melt butter in large pot, add onions and cook till tender. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook till apples are tender. If you like it more sweet, add more jam or sugar, if you like is a little more savory, add more bullion and more curry powder. Again, this is ALL to taste. And if you are like Dad and don't like raisins (weirdo :-P)don't add them!!

Warning: this stuff is addicting, Miles and I can't get enough and Elisabeth asks for it all the time! Enjoy :)

Pear Harvest!

Here are a couple of recipes I've tried in the last week or so, since the pears are fresh and ripe right now. Enjoy! :)

Pear Zucchini Bread

2 c. all-purpose flour (I used white-wheat)
1 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
2 tsp. pumpkin spice (I improvised with some cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves)
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs
3/4 c. oil
3 tsp. vanilla
2 c. finely chopped peeled ripe pears (abt. 3 medium)
1 c. shredded zucchini
1 c. chopped pecans or walnuts

In a large bowl, combine first eight ingredients. In another bowl, beat eggs, oil, and vanilla. Add the pears and zucchini. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in nuts. Pour into two greased/sprayed 9x5" loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 50-60 min or until toothpick comes clean. Cool for 10 min., then remove to wire racks.

Note: I reduced the sugar to 1/2 c. of each kind, but I don't think it was necessary - my bread was good, but a little more sugar wouldn't have hurt it. :) I think they'd make good muffins, perhaps with a crumb topping...


Cranberry-Pear Crumble Pie

1 single pie crust
24 vanilla wafers, crushed (abt. 3/4 c.) (I used 6 graham crackers instead, and added some pecans as well)
1/4 c. packed brown sugar (I used 2 T)
1/4 c. butter, melted
1 8-oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 c. chopped cranberries (more won't hurt!)
2 large fresh pears, sliced
1 3.4-oz pkg vanilla instant pudding mix
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Cool Whip or whipped cream, if desired

Heat oven to 400.
Bake pie crust 5-6 min, or til lightly browned; cool.
Mix wafer crumbs, sugar and butter til will combined.
Reduce oven to 375. Spread cream cheese in bottom of crust; sprinkle with half the crumb mixture.
Combine fruit in a bowl. Add pudding mix and cinnamon and toss to coat. Spoon into crust and top with remaining crumbs.
Bake 35 min or until fruit is tender and crust is golden brown. Cool completely, and serve with whipped cream.

Naomi and I think this one is great!

Poppy Seed Creamed Chicken

I got this recipe from my sister-in-law Karen.

2 c. cubed cooked chicken

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted*

1/2 c. sour cream

1 t. poppy seeds

3/4 c. crushed butter-flavored crackers - like ritz (about 18 crackers)

2 T. butter, melted

Hot cooked noodles or rice

In a bowl, combine the chicken, soup, sour cream and poppy seeds. Pour mixture into a greased shallow 3-cup baking dish. In a bowl combine cracker crumbs and butter; sprinkle over top. Bake, uncovered, at 350 fro 30-35 minutes or until bubbly. Serve over noodles.

Yield: 2 servings

* Or you can use this recipe for your own homemade cream soup.

1/2 cup buter

6 T all purpose flour

2 cups milk or whipping cream

2cubes chicken bouillon

ground pepper to taste

Melt butter in sauce pan, add flour and make a paste, add milk/cream and bouillon cubes.Cook over low heat until thickened. Add pepper to taste. You can use this recipe for any cream of (anything) soup. Just add the other ingredients like, mushrooms, chicken, broccoli, bacon etc.....

Banana Pancakes

This recipe comes from my Betty Crocker cookbook, and they are definitely the best pancakes ever!

Banana-Pecan Pancakes (I leave out the pecans...)

2 large eggs
2 cups flour
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 medium)
1/4 cup granulated or packed brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted, if desired

Beat eggs in medium bowl with hand beater until fluffy. Beat in remaining ingredients except pecans just until smooth. Stir in pecans. For thinner pancakes, stir in additional 1 to 2 tablespoons buttermilk.

Heat griddle to 375 or heat skillet over medium heat. Grease griddle if necessary.

For each pancake, pour slightly less than 1/4 cup batter from cup or pitcher onto hot griddle. Cook pancakes until puffed and dry around edges. Turn and cook other sides until golden brown.

makes about 27 pancakes

1 pancake: 90 calories, 3g fat, 15mg cholesterol, 150mg sodium, 14g carbs, 2g protein.

Taco Bake

Hello! I tend to make A LOT of taco meat when we have tacos. Mostly because too many times we ran out and the kidlets were still hungry. It's amazing how many tacos they can eat! Anyway...I ended up with a decent amount of taco meat left over in the fridge and decided to experiment. It turned out really good, so I thought I'd share it with you all. :) This is just how I did it. As with all recipes, it can be tweaked to fit your tastes. :)

Spread taco meat on the bottom of a lightly oiled/sprayed baking dish appropriately sized for the amount of meat you have. It doesn't need to be a thick layer. Just cover the bottom of the dish.

Drizzle taco sauce over the taco meat....enough to moisten it. You can mix it in and spread the meat back out, but it's not necessary. I've done it both ways.

Spread shredded cheese (your choice...I like sharp cheddar for tacos) over the meat to cover.

Okay, if you're using a small pan like an 8" round cake pan or a casserole, you'll only need one of the following. If you're using an 8x11 or 9x13, you'll need at least two. According to package directions, make cornbread batter (of course, can be done from scratch but this is supposed to be a quick, easy recipe). I've used regular cornbread and the Mexican Cornbread mix. Both were good. Pour the batter evenly over the cheese and bake according to the mix directions adding about 5-10 minutes to the bake time, or until the bread tests done.

I like mine piled with lettuce and sour cream, but it's good the way it comes out of the dish as well. It also keeps well in the fridge for lunch the next day. :)

Raspberry Tapioca Pudding

Not your typical pudding! Think "raspberry sorbet of puddings" - tons of flavor, a hint of lemon, no dairy or eggs... Just perfect for a warm summer day! I think we'll be making this one again, and maybe trying it with some other berry flavors.

10 oz. frozen raspberries, THAWED (don't forget this part!)
1 c. red grape juice (I actually used white grape/raspberry blend -worked fine)
1/4-1/3 c. sugar
1 lemon peel strip (1 inch)
1/4 c. quick-cooking tapioca
whipped cream

Mash and strain raspberries, reserving juice. Discard seeds. Add enough water to the juice to equal 2 cups. Combine with red grape juice in large saucepan; add sugar and lemon peel. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 10 min. Remove lemon peel, add tapioca, and cook and stir for another 10 min. Pour into bowls, cover and chill 4 hrs or until set. Serve with whipped cream, and maybe additional fresh berries.

The recipe says it serves 6, but the half-batch I made for Naomi and myself (the boys were on a camp-out!) would have been hard to stretch for another person. It did set up really fast and thick for me though, so maybe elevation and dry climate had something to do with that...

Anyway, Enjoy!