Our Daily Bread!

Whoa! Sorry again for the delay in writing, but any number of things is keeping me away from blogging (and will probably make me sound like a crazy whiner in the process! DOH!)

ANYHOO....

Ok, no doubt, if you are anywhere in the upper Americas, it's cold, freakin' cold. Yesterday, I walked out in the middle of a snowstorm. It started late last night. Normally, I really don't mind the snow, except that in NYC, that stuff stays pretty for about two seconds before it becomes nasty, dirty snow from all the cars running through, and people walking through it. Uggh. Plus, it was wicked cold yesterday. Like, 12 degrees below Hell Freezing Over. MidWesterners, don't roll your eyes at me.....Ok, ok. Maybe where YOU are it's 40 degrees below Hell Freezing Over. But, just allow me my whiny moment, ok?

ANYHOO.

Comfort food would come in pretty handy right about now, donchya think? Forget about diets, that's what all the winter layering is for. Even if you're a size two, nobody's gonna notice under the long-johns, heavy pants, 5 sweaters, parka, BIG coat, windbreaker, 2 layers of socks, gloves, scarf, and hat with the funny pom-pom at the top. C'mon people, get serious.

So, comfort food. In my book, bread has got to be about the most basic "winter food" you can get. Yes, it works in summer, but not quite as well. By the way, I'm not talking about the Wonder bread stuff you get at the store--sheer blasphemy! I mean home-baked, like your grandmamma-used-to-make-it-I-have-the-80-year-old-recipe-here-
somewhere-in-the-attic.

Yep, folks, this is the kind of hearty bread that just seems to make winter, WINTER. It goes with just about every home-baked lunch or dinner dish, it's filling and, while most people eschew bread as "bad for you" these are WAAAAY healthier than any bread at the supermarket.

Now, I know what you're thinking (well, I know what my ultra-cityfied friends are thinking)....that you'd rather pull your teeth out than hand-bake bread. People, you're on a farming blog, for Pete's sake, and you love a challenge, I know you do! Plus, if you're a wuss with all the kneading, they've made bread machines now, you know. So, no excuses!

The ingredients for basic bread aren't all that complicated...though you'll probably find it interesting to note that different people have their own versions for what the ingredients for "basic bread" are. If you search on the internet, or check out different books, you will soon find a half dozen versions of this, I think. You can easily adjust these to bread makers. If you find bread makers to be a bit pricey, you can often find them in garage sales of second hand shops, as it seems that many people get them on a whim, thinking they'll make all kinds of great bread, then lose interest in the whole thing. Or *ahem* they might realize that it's a whole lot nicer to make pure homemade bread by hand.

If you are interested in the handmade bread, start basic, then add other ingredients. The kneading makes for a whole lotta upper body strength, but this is a great kitchen "project" for you to do on a cold winter's day. Plus, you will be rewarded with some great tasting bread to slather butter or jam on. Or both, with some cream. Or dunk in some tasty creamy soup. Remember, diets be damned!

ANYHOO.....

I've included my mama's family recipe for basic bread, but since she's European, her recipes sorta "one-up" a few basic recipes, so we will go with BRAIDED bread for our recipe today. However, if you're looking for a basic loaf recipe, you can find several of these if you investigate a little.

Here it is: KALACS (Hungarian Braided Bread)

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 (.25 ounce) envelope active dry yeast
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 1/4 cups warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• melted butter for brushing

DIRECTIONS

1.In small saucepan heat the milk until it is warm. Remove from heat. Add yeast to the milk. let stand. You will see the yeast "expand."

2. Place flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast/milk into the flour. Stir like the devil.

You can see the thick yeast here, as the milk is being poured into flour.

3. Add in flour, salt, butter, and egg. Stir some more until you form dough.

My mother stirring...

And stirring some more. Trust me, it's not easy...she can whip your booty doing this. I tried and got to about 5 stirs before I gave in! Yes, I am a weakling...especially when compared to a 5 foot tall, 65 year old woman!

4. Allow for dough to rise. Most people leave the dough in a bowl, in a quiet place to rise--my mother speeds up the process by placing a towel over the bowl, and then putting THIS bowl on a metal pot and THAT all goes on top of the oven, which is heated up. The idea is that the heat is conducted up the metal pot, to the bowl and aids the dough in rising.

Here is the bowl atop the pot atop the oven.

Once the dough has risen to double its size (it can take up to an hour for this to happen), punch dough down, place on floured work surface and knead it for a few moments.

Kneadin' the dough!

Then, cut the dough into two equal pieces.


Take a rolling pin and roll one section of dough out, then slowly shape into a 1/3 inch thick "rope" or rectangle-ish shape. Do the same for the 2nd section of dough.


Take the two ends and "twist them" around each other so they seem braided. Tranfer to a greased baking sheet. Brush the top surface of the bread with butter.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake until loaves are golden brown, roughly 30-45 minutes.

Wait until cooled, cut, and enjoy with butter and syrup! Or butter and cream. Or melted cheese, or....well you get the idea! Yumminess!