Making Bread in Australia
Making bread in Australia might not be that special to you, but I am so proud of myself for making the best bread of my entire life today!
Maybe it's just being somewhere different and quiet. Although I miss my friends, my tennis in Wyoming, my garden, my kids (and their friends) and our extended family, there is something about being on the other side of the world from your "life" and finding a place for yourself while you're there.
I'm not getting sidetracked and don't worry, you'll get to hear all about the bread adventure, but as I'm writing I realize that something as simple as making a good loaf of bread, making basil butter or trying to find out what bird is tweeting so sweetly have all been things I haven't had time to enjoy for a while. It's my fault for sure! I get caught up in everything and everyone and love having people over and doing everything "big". I won't change that about my life, but I think this sabbatical this is good for me. I'm fortunate to have married someone that knew I needed this sabbatical every 7 years:)
Now, back to the exciting part... the BREAD! While hitting garage sales a couple of weekends ago, trying to find plates and forks and other basic household goods, we found an entire food processor, chopper, mincer, juicer etc for $20. Considering everything here in Australia is expensive, garage sales are good deals and I couldn't pass up this deal... it was an adventure calling us.
I also found an "All about growing, storing and cooking with herbs" book at a used bookstore. I decided that I had everything I needed to make a loaf of bread so after finding the perfect recipe I started with the goal of having fresh bread to go with the pasta we were having for dinner.
Never using a food processor, it took me a while to find the right attachment... not sure if I ever did really use the correct attachment but it did get mixed up pretty good.
I worked it over and really don't know how to knead very well, but my brother taught me some moves and then I've done pottery before so I just worked it like clay. It started getting better but not sure that it was as "elastic" as the recipe wanted.
I worked it over another 5 minutes and then put it in a REALLY big bowl since it is supposed to double in size. It looks pretty good if you ask me.
Maybe it's just being somewhere different and quiet. Although I miss my friends, my tennis in Wyoming, my garden, my kids (and their friends) and our extended family, there is something about being on the other side of the world from your "life" and finding a place for yourself while you're there.
I'm not getting sidetracked and don't worry, you'll get to hear all about the bread adventure, but as I'm writing I realize that something as simple as making a good loaf of bread, making basil butter or trying to find out what bird is tweeting so sweetly have all been things I haven't had time to enjoy for a while. It's my fault for sure! I get caught up in everything and everyone and love having people over and doing everything "big". I won't change that about my life, but I think this sabbatical this is good for me. I'm fortunate to have married someone that knew I needed this sabbatical every 7 years:)
Now, back to the exciting part... the BREAD! While hitting garage sales a couple of weekends ago, trying to find plates and forks and other basic household goods, we found an entire food processor, chopper, mincer, juicer etc for $20. Considering everything here in Australia is expensive, garage sales are good deals and I couldn't pass up this deal... it was an adventure calling us.
I also found an "All about growing, storing and cooking with herbs" book at a used bookstore. I decided that I had everything I needed to make a loaf of bread so after finding the perfect recipe I started with the goal of having fresh bread to go with the pasta we were having for dinner.
Never using a food processor, it took me a while to find the right attachment... not sure if I ever did really use the correct attachment but it did get mixed up pretty good.
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| not sure if it's supposed to look like this... |
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| getting better |
This special recipe called for a really long rising period, which is part of the reason I chose this recipe. I needed to get some work done and wanted it ready for dinner, so 6 hours later, it looked pretty darn doubled!
Punching it down was really fun. Rise more, punch more, rise more roll it out, roll it up, rise more... I did all of that very well. David and Cullen decided to go for a hike before dinner and when they returned I was just hoping that when I cut open the bread it would not be like a brick... or maybe even hollow (I've had both of those results in the past).
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| ta da! |
Now I'm excited so grabbed my new 2nd hand recipe book and decided to make some special butter. Again my new garage sale processor came in handy when I made.... BASIL BUTTER! It was quick and delicious! See what you can do when you relax and listen to life!
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| and it's not hollow... yay! |
That processor has give us hours of entertainment, and since going to the movie is apparently $25 here in Australia, that is good news for us.
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