Hopefully this will be a good memory

Baking Bread today. Haven't done that for a long time. I like rolling it around on the counter, kneading it until it's smooth and "elastic." Here's a photo of the dough before it was put aside to rise.

Toasted Oat Bread

5 1/2 to 6 cups all-purpose flour (total)
1 cup rolled oats, toasted*
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 pkg. active dry yeast
2 cups milk
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1 egg

Topping
1 tablsp. water
1 egg white
1 tablsp. rolled oats

In large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, 1 cup rolled oats, sugar, salt and yeast; blend well. In small saucepan, heat milk and margarine until very warm (120 to 130 degrees F). Add warm liquid and egg to flour mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened; beat 3 minutes at medium speed. By hand, stir in an additional 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups flour until dough pulls cleanly away from sides of bowl.

On floured surface, knead in 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl; cover loosely with plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place (80 to 85 degrees F) until light and doubled in size, about 30 to 45 minutes.

Grease two 8x4 or 9x5-inch loaf pans. Punch down dough several times to remove all air bubbles. Divide dough into 2 parts; shape into loaves. Place in greased pans. Cover; let rise in warm place until dough fills pans and tops of loaves are about 1 inch above pan edges, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Uncover dough. In small bowl, combine water and egg white; beat slightly. Carefully brush on loaves; sprinkle with 1 tablesp. rolled oats.

If this turns out, I'll post a picture!* ;-)

*Oh, oh. No picture... must mean the bread wasn't photo-worthy. (Well, it wasn't. It didn't rise very well the second time. It may be due to the fact that I substituted 1 cup of whole wheat flour for the white. Today is another "enforced stay-at-home day," so I'm going to try again.)

Monday, January 14, 2008

It was the night before I was to leave my parents' home in Clear Lake. My sister-in-law was dropped off with her three grandchildren while their mom and her sister (my nieces) did a little shopping.

We were delighted to spend time with Landon and his little twin siblings:

Landon and his Grandma

Landon and his Mommy

Conner

Kennedy

Here's a video of Landon and Grandma

A Rockin' Good Time!

You never know what will unfold at a family gathering at Christmas-time! In this case, the two adults in the rocking chairs are holding twins. One boy and one girl born a couple of months ago. However, neither of these adults are the parents! But aren't they doing a fine job of baby-tending? :-) Way to go, Scott and Darby!

Good conversation and good memories often start and end with Good Food! :-)

And the other thing that brings about excitement is the opening of presents!
Here's Mommy (of the twins) and her 2 1/2 old!

Mom helps our 2 1/2 year old open his gift... and here's the proud Dad!!! ;-)