The Daily Bread

"I was taught from childhood the sanctity of food. Not a piece of bread could be thrown away without kissing it and raising it to one's eyes as with all things holy." -Attia Hosain

The Daily Bread

“‘A loaf of bread,’ the Walrus said, ‘is what we chiefly need: Pepper and vinegar besides are very good indeed.’” - Lewis Caroll

The Daily Bread

“The sky is the daily bread of the eyes.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Daily Bread

“A slice of bread eaten is a million times more nourishing than a loaf of bread imagined.” - Mokomoma Mokhonoana 

The Daily Bread

“What must you break apart in order to bring a family close together? Bread, of course.” - Jodi Picoult, The Storyteller 

The Daily Bread

"Cou cou, tu as pris le pain?"  translates to, "Hi there, did you pick up the bread?" - French Campaign slogan to eat more bread. 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/09/23/224059675/got-baguettes-bakers-lobby-tells-france-to-eat-more-bread 

The Daily Bread

“Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,

A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and Thou

Beside me singing in the Wilderness -

And Wilderness is Paradise enow.” 

 - Omar Khayyám 

The Daily Bread

"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread." - Mother Teresa

I will now for sure keep up with the Daily Bread and blog now that I am back from the trade show in Atlanta. Keep baking and eating my friends.

Trade Show

Sorry about no Daily Bread today but I was at a trade show today for gourmet food items and gift items. It was overwhelming and awesome at the same time. So many great products out there for baking and cooking and it makes me want to buy them all. Here is a picture of one of the cool products I saw. 

That's right America bakes and the Statue of Liberty supports America's baking habit. 

The Daily Bread

"I judge a restaurant by the bread and the coffee." - Burt Lancaster 

The Daily Bread

                                                                Solitude 

HAPPY the man, whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air
In his own ground.
Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire;
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire.
Blest, who can unconcern’dly find
Hours, days, and years, slide soft away
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by day.
Sound sleep by night; study and ease
Together mix’d, sweet recreation,
And innocence, which most does please
With meditation.
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie. - Alexander Pope

The Daily Bread

"Here is bread, which strengthens man's hearts, and therefore called the staff of life." - Mathew Henry

The Daily Bread

"My bread is sweet and nourishing, made from my own wheat, ground in my own mill, and baked in my own oven." - Tobias Smollett, Humphrey Clinker

Let's just say I look forward to the day when I can get my very own mill. Then I will be able to really do some baking. Don't get me wrong I love using King Arthur Flour and only use other flours when KAF is not available (like on short notice). It is the Porsche of flour but milling your own flour is the Rolls Royce of flour and nothing can compare with the freshness of it.

The Daily Bread

"Corn and oats is much the same as saying people and horses." - F. Braudel

The Daily Bread

"The great thing about baking with yeast is the difficulty of failure." - George and Cecilia Scurfeild, Home Baked

The Daily Bread

"Unless you have experimented you cannot realize the difference in the flavour, volume, tenderness, and texture between a bread dough allowed to rise slowly and gently and a dough quickened by the use of too much yeast or heat." - Dorothy Allen-Gray

The Daily Bread

"The final weight of a loaf of bread is in God's hands as much as the baker's." - E. S. Gaskell

The Daily Bread

"The judging of bread by its whiteness is a mistake which has led to much mischief, against which the recent agitation for 'whole meal' is, I think, an extreme reaction" - W. Mattieu Willams (1885)

Baking with Christine Part Two: Two Bite Pretzels

    It's Football Time!! And that means weekly parties on Saturday/Sunday. Christine's family is heavily involved in Tennessee football and I attended a party at her house. I whipped these wonderful pretzels up in two hours just in time for kickoff. They are good served with plain mustard or if you have a beer cheese dip.

   Maybe you are going to a party but you want to bring something but want something different than that normal dip you make. These pretzels are made using only a few ingredients, and will make everyone rave about your baking skills. They are even in little football shapes so it will fit in great with the decor. You could probably use them to toss around the house if you want of course.

   Now on to making the pretzels for your party.

Supplies:

• Baking Sheet
• Baking Stone
• Stand or Hand Mixer

Ingredients: 

• Bread Flour - 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons
• Yeast - 3/4 teaspoon
• Malt Powder (if you have it this time I did not use it) - 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt - 1 1/8 teaspoons
• Water - 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons
• Unsalted Butter - 1 tablespoon
• Egg White Glaze

Steps:

1. Mix together the flour, yeast, salt, and malt powder. With the mixer turned on low, pour in the water until all the flour is moistened. Add the butter, raise the speed to medium and knead for seven to ten minutes. The dough should form a smooth ball in about five minutes if not add more water. You will get a stiff dough that is slightly elastic. 
   
   
   
2. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured counter and shape into a ball. Let it rise, covered for 1 hour. It will not double just relax and spread out some.
   
3. Divide the dough into twenty or so equal pieces. You can divide into any amount you need but don't get them too small. I made twenty.
   
   Roll each piece into a ball then using your hands shape into a tapered football about three inches long or so and about one inch high. Set on the greased cooking sheet a couple inches apart from each other.
   
4. Cover the footballs with oiled plastic wrap and let sit for thirty minutes, just to rise a little bit. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 400 F. Oven shelf at the lowest shelf with a baking stone and pan on the floor of the oven.
5. Make two long, diagonal slashes in each roll. Whisk together 1 egg white and 1/2 teaspoon cold water. Brush each roll with the egg white twice. Then sprinkle the top with sea salt.
6. Set the baking sheet on the hot baking stone immediately after putting the salt on the top of the pretzels. Toss 1/2 cup ice cubes in the pan on the bottom of the oven and close the oven door quickly. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, they should be deep golden brown. 
   
7.  Remove the bread form the pan and let cool until warm. Serve and enjoy (also take in the praise you will get for your baking prowess. 

Tell me how your football parties go and how the pretzels are received. Happy Baking!

The Daily Bread

"It is important to realise that whenever one reads of a mill in the Old Testament or in Homer one must picture a saddle quern...for no other type was known." - Dr. E. Cecil Curwen

The Daily Bread

"...as Bread is the best nourishment of all other, being well made, so it is simply the worst being marred in the ill handling." - Thomas Muffett 

The Daily Bread

I have been behind on posting The Daily Bread but I am back on track now. More posts to come.

"Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf is better than a whole loaf." - G. K. Chesterton