Top of the Morning to ya!
Did the morning take the top of my bread by chance? :D
So you didn’t really think that my first attempt at baking bread from scratch would be a hit, did you? lol.
My homemade attempt at making Spelt bread was a pretty big bust! I tried so hard to follow all of the steps in this recipe, by the lovely Angela over at Cottage Magpie (Great website!) but alas my bread came out short (pun intended!).
I even kneeded it for the full 7 minutes (by hand!!) and it still came out flat! Hmph. I am wondering if it didn’t rise enough because our house is so freezing and cold??? I had it on the oven and put a wet teacloth over it, but the teacloth kept getting ice cold (I warmed it up a few times). I would appreciate any tips!
I wonder if my Kitchen Aid Mixer would make better bread using the dough blade?
So in search of making a better bread, I found these awesome videos on You Tube:
This lady is hilariously cute!!!!! I felt like I was doing Yoga for Bread makers!! LOL
“Were going to make life. That’s what bread is.” :)
Part 2:
Poll of the day:
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Phone Interview:
So I had my scary phone interview this morning- it was a conference call with 5 other people!!! I was so nervous. Agh. Sweating bullets too. I don’t think it went very well, but I never think interviews go well so who knows. I may be contacted for a second interview….I am just glad that is out of the way!
Before the interview at 9:30am, I made a Brain smoothie, filled with blueberry brain power (sadly, I don’t think they ‘kicked in’ fast enough! haha).
The Line up:
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1 hanful organic spinach
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1 large organic kale leaf
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1/3 cup organic frozen blueberries
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2/3 large banana
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1 Tbsp flax
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1 cup unsweetened Almond Breeze
I love when it makes an adult and a kid sized glass! :D
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Ok, I am off to steam wall paper! This just never ends! Luckily I am one strip away from being done the family room! Yippee. :)
Stay tuned today:
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Valentine’s Day Recipe
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A special ‘What I ate’ segment
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More home reno pictures
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The next contest!
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pictures, quotes, and more!
PS- I anyone else following this horrible Chris Brown/Rihanna trouble??? Good grief!!
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“Any human being is really good at certain things. The problem is that the things you’re good at come naturally. And since most people are pretty modest instead of an arrogant s.o.b. like me, what comes naturally, you don’t see as a special skill. It’s just you. It’s what you’ve always done.”
– Stephen Jay Gould, evolutionary scientist
My husband keeps our house really cold so when I make bread I let it rise in the oven with the oven light on.
It looks yummy though!
The bread looks yummy atleast!! Just keep trying, I’m sure you will get it!
Good luck with your wallpaper…seems like quite the job!
My key to good bread is making sure to THOROUGHLY proof the yeast before mixing it with anything else. Sometimes a touch of sugar in the yeast helps to get it going.
I commend you for trying to knead/bake your own bread – it’s definitely a difficult task!!
i’m sure the interview went better than you think! i’m excited to hear about the next contest and see reno pictures!!!
Phone interviews always make me nervous! I don’t like when you can’t see who is interviewing you!! I’m sure you did fab!
I would think it was probably the temp – I’m no expert tho!
bread still looks yummy though! ah yes the drama with chris brown/rihanna! i am always so involved in celeb gossip :) love that we have that in common!
It still looks delicious! I have heard that a bit of wheat gluten added will help with heavy wheat/spelt type of breads.
The same thing happened to me the first time I tried to make bread with out my mom. My dad told me I should use olive oil instead of butter to make it healthier and we ended up with bread sticks!
I’ve made bread a few times – once it came out great, and the last time was a dud :(
Good job trying though! you’ll get it, and at least it’s cheap to make!
I love that quote! The bread looks like it tastes good, it’s just missing some height! :)
Interviewing is terrible. I’m sure you did much better than you think! Don’t worry bout it!
Have a good day!
Kaneil, balanceisbest
Hi Angela,
I make my own bread every week and have done so since I was 12 years old – that’s a whopping 10 years of baking :-) I make spelt bread, ryebread (Danish speciality), normal whole wheat bread, durum bread, bread with flax seeds, sunflower seeds – you name it! I normally bake without recipe, but here’s one for you to try that I absolutely love!!:
Speltbread:
300 g whole spelt flour
510 g regular spelt
5 g yeast
0,75 tbsp salt
0,72 L luke warm water
1 tbsp oliveoli
100 g whole wheat flour, sunflower seeds or something like it – optional though (just 100g in total if you add anything)
Mix yeast, salt and water. Mix everything together with an electrical mixer for a couple of minutes. The dough should be soft, and you shouldn’t be able to knead it. This is because whole spelt absorbs more water than e.g. regular wheat. Put the dough in a clean bowl that is drizzled lightly with olive oil, and put it in the fridge over night.
The next morning you take out the bread and let it rise to approx. double size. You can put it in the oven with the light on as suggested above. Pour the dough onto a lined baking tray, and cut it into bread sizes. Form into bread, but be careful not to touch the dough too much – the air should stay in it. This is the crucial step! Heat the oven to 250 degree celcius, and while it heat, brush the bread with a mixture of half water/half olive oil. Bake the bread at 250 degrees approx. 20 minutes, but it varies (knock on the bottom of the bread – it should sound hollow, then it’s done). You can leave a bowl of water in the oven with the bread, it makes a harder crust.
It sounds like a lot of work, but it’s really very easy!
Enjoy!
Cheers from DK,
Julie
Good for you for taking a shot at making homemade bread! It has a beautiful colour and I’m sure it tastes great.
I know what you mean about interviews. I always second guess myself afterwards, especially if I really want it! Easier said than done but try not to stress out too much about it. Good luck and I’m sure you’ll hear back from them soon!
On a side note, I can’t believe how long those beautiful flowers are lasting! They’re so bright and sunny, I might have to go get myself some soon!
OMG I am embarassed to say I am obsessed by the R/C scandal, mainly because there are no confirmed details. Oh interviews suck. I once had 9 nine in a row, some one on one, some large group and me. glad you got through!
you know, i tried making spelt bread this summer, and mine didn’t rise either! maybe spelt takes special handling? i really have no clue.
don’t worry too much about the interview because even good phone interviews are incredibly awkward. it’s so much better to meet people face-to-face.
also–the rihanna/chris brown is insane…it seemed like it came out of nowhere!
my guess would be just to give it more time to rise, mara’s tip of a little sugar to get the yeast going is also helpful. that way you know for sure it’s working. You really want it to double in volume, then punch it down, put it in the pan, and it probably won’t rise anymore in the oven, so make sure it’s a good height before putting it in
Kath told me you had some spelt problems and thought I might be able to help! The most annoying thing about spelt is how stretchy it is without being elastic and pulling back. There’s pretty much two options if you’re going to make 100% spelt bread: 1) take advantage of a loaf pan to hold the bread up from sagging or 2) you have to REALLY tighten it up before its final rise. I’m talking hard, vigorous, thorough kneading and shaping for a good 10 minutes. You also may want to let it do its final rise in a bowl so that it gets the shape you want, then plop it on a sheet pan right before the bake in the hopes that it retains the shape.
I love spelt but man I hate making it…
Thank you for everyone’s advice!!
Matt: Wow the celebrity husband left a comment on my blog! hehe. :) So very exciting to hear from you! I actually meant to ask you about this bread issue because I have seen your amazing breads on Kath’s site. I am so relieved to hear that Spelt is a tough cookie for baking with. I suspected it could be that. It just didn’t seem to rise, even though I kneeded it for a full 7 mins. I am not sure when I will get the courage to try it again. It deflated my ego quite a bit. haha. Maybe I should start with simple wheat bread?
Angela
My key to good bread is making sure to THOROUGHLY proof the yeast before mixing it with anything else. Sometimes a touch of sugar in the yeast helps to get it going.
Kath told me you had some spelt problems and thought I might be able to help! The most annoying thing about spelt is how stretchy it is without being elastic and pulling back. There’s pretty much two options if you’re going to make 100% spelt bread: 1) take advantage of a loaf pan to hold the bread up from sagging or 2) you have to REALLY tighten it up before its final rise. I’m talking hard, vigorous, thorough kneading and shaping for a good 10 minutes. You also may want to let it do its final rise in a bowl so that it gets the shape you want, then plop it on a sheet pan right before the bake in the hopes that it retains the shape.
I love spelt but man I hate making it…