Bermudiana Flower

Bermudiana Flower
Bermudiana Flower

Sunday 6 November 2016

Potatoes and Making Homestyle Bread

It's been just over a month since we planted seeds and potatoes in the planters, and we admit the expired seeds did not grow (we tried - what else would have done, lol) but a few of the potatoes did sprout up with leaves!
Wooden Planter made of scrap wood, with potato leaves flourishing
















The plant looks fairly healthy except for a few nibbles off a couple of leaves but they are nice and big, and green, and it's quite a full bush.  I can't wait to pick my own potatoes from the garden soil.

Potato plant leaves
 Last night I made a loaf of bread from the recipe off the Robin Hood bread flour packaging.  Instead of punching down the dough after the first rise, then halving the dough and turning them into 2 greased loaf pans after the first rise, for the 2nd rise, I just put all the dough initially into a greased 9" foil pan, covered & let rise the first time as directed (for me it was about 50 mins where it doubled in size), then I punched it down and evened it out in the same foil pan and let it rise there again for the 2nd rise (about 40 mins this time where it filled the pan completely and was higher than the top) then I baked it in the same pan in one big loaf rather than separating it in two smaller loaves.  I found this to be much easier and less work.  We then just sliced it as normal and cut each slice into 3 pieces to share/eat.
Robin Hood flour bread loaf

Here's the recipe from off the Robin Hood flour package if you want to use it...

HOMESTYLE WHITE BREAD

1/2 cup (125 ml) warm water 
1 tsp (5 ml) sugar
1 (8 g) envelope active dry yeast
1 cup (250 ml) warm milk
1/2 cup (125 ml) warm water 
2 tbsp (30 ml) butter (I used 3 tbsp hard butter left out at room temperature for 15 minutes beforehand, and added the butter in a microwave bowl with the water and milk together, and microwaved it on high, twice at 30 seconds each, stirring in between and after, to get it all warm and to soften the butter - you could even put them all in a small sauce pot on the stove top together, first melting the butter on low heat, then adding the milk and water in and heating it for another minute (or so) until warm)
2 tbsp (30 ml) sugar (I used 1/4 cup)
2 tsp (10ml) salt
5 1/2 cups (1.3 l) Robin Hood Bread Flour (I'm sure you can substitute this flour for another if  you like - sometimes you may need a tiny bit less or more flour depending on what you use - and if you find it's still too sticky - my recommendation is after adding in the first 3 cups, then add in the next 2 cups by 1/2 cups at a time (for a total of 5 cups), then add it in 1/4 cups at a time so you don't put more than needed, or you can add a tiny bit more if desired.  You can always add more but you cannot take it out once it's in the mix).

Here's how I did it...

Combine first 2 ingredients (1/2 cup warm water & 1 tsp sugar) stirring with a medium size spoon for about 30 seconds, into a large mixing bowl

Then add the 3rd ingredient - sprinkle the package of active dry yeast on top of the water/sugar mixture and then set it aside for 10 mins - the yeast will foam up and the mixture will turn a cream color on top.  After 10 mins, stir it a couple times with the medium spoon and set aside again.  

In another medium bowl, combine the next 5 ingredients (1 cup warm milk, 1/2 cup of warm water, softened butter, sugar and salt). Give it a good stir together with the medium spoon for about 30 seconds, then pour this into the bowl with the yeast mixture and stir it all together again, for about another 30 seconds.

Then add in the last ingredient, the flour, bit by bit, stirring with the medium spoon until all flour is incorporated each time, and until the dough is not too sticky to handle.

Put dough into center of a greased dish (I used a 9" long x 2" high foil pan and I took a few seconds to push the dough out a bit in the pan to spread it around a little more) and cover it (I greased a piece of foil and used it to covered the pan, then I laid 3 tea towels over the top of the foil (to cover and for warmth) and set it aside on my kitchen counter to rise for 1 hour.  

Then I removed the covers carefully, and set aside, and punched the raised dough down in the foil pan, spread it out a bit more to cover the corners as evenly as I could (this took about 1 minute of my time) and then I recovered it again with the foil and tea towels and set aside one last time for 45 minutes more.

At this time, the dough had doubled and filled the foil pan.  I turned my oven on and set it to 400F degrees, removed the tea towels and the foil cover (discarding the foil cover) and put the foil pan in the oven on the middle rack and set the time to 30 minutes.  This helped it rise a slight bit more as the oven heated, then it baked perfectly golden brown.  It was done in 30 minutes.  Each oven varies, you may need a little less heat or a little more time, in order to not burn it or fully bake the dough.

The bread turned out of the foil pan very easily - I put it onto a cooling rack and let it sit 10 minutes before slicing the first piece, adding a little butter and eating it with my homemade chicken soup.

Below is a picture of the original recipe on the Robin Hood Bread Flour Package if you want it...

Robin Hood Bread Flour Homestyle White Bread Recipe

Enjoy!
Cheers, B.



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