Making Bread with Leon Russell

       I love bread. Not the aerated super processed bread, but those odd shaped loaves that come to the specialty shops and have names like Pugilese, Italian Rustic, Pecan Walnut Whole Wheat, Jerusalem Bakery pita. I love to think about bread and its development in world cultures from our very beginnings. 

       I love the way bread smells when it is baking and the special comfort such thinking brings. I love making bread, but that pleasure is happening less as the years go by for me, especially when I can buy luscious stone oven baked goods prepared by master bakers.

       Sometimes I buy too much bread and need to be creative about remaining crusts or suffer the guilt of having to discard the pieces overtaken by another fuzzy culture.

Stale homemade bread makes fine French Toast – in a wide dish mix egg, milk, a little sugar, a little vanilla (my grandmother’s secret). Mix well, dip bread slices so both sides are coated, place the bread in a hot skillet, fry on both sides. Serve with butter and 100% Maple Syrup. This gift is one of the great pleasures of life.

       Or you could dry the remaining hunks of older bread for a couple of great uses  -

Bread crumbs for coating – cut the bread into cubes, air dry for a day or two on a dish, then process the cubes in a food grinder for a few seconds, bag the fine crumbs to coat meat or vegetables or top a homemade macaroni and cheese

Dressing (any time of year) - tear the bread slices to dry for a day or two, mix the dried bread with a boiled broth (vegetables or meat or purchased) celery, onion pieces, season with your favorite herbs – salt, pepper, oregano, basil, celery salt. Add an egg, mix well and bake in the oven until a nice crust forms. Dressing makes a tasty carbo with an easy sauce.

Or share excess bread with the creatures outside (good for this beastly winter we’ve had – pun intended).

        One of my best memories of making bread is preparing the warm water, yeast, sugar, oil, flour and as I began the gentle body kneading motions of roll, push, tuck and roll again, Leon Russell came on the music box with the lovely A Song for You.

       Thanks for coming by, I love to see you here. Thanks to those who have commented so happily about my book, A Homestead Decade, How Crunchy Granola Changed My Life. Maybe you could jot a review to Amazon or share your feelings with a friend about the book.

      Wait, what’s that? I see something out the kitchen window – Sand Hill Cranes! Spring is coming! I see it on the colors of their grand wings.

Love,helene