Self-Esteem Rising

For my birthday our friend, Jon, brought over a wonderful homemade loaf of bread that our family devoured. It was so delicious! He sent me the recipe after I commented that my attempts at making bread have always failed. Yesterday it was cold and windy here (it went from too hot to too cold overnight!) and I told the girls that it was the perfect weather to try out this new recipe. I pulled it up on the computer screen and then let Autumn and Alaina set to work gathering all of the ingredients while I busied myself folding laundry. I had planned on checking their ingredients and helping them combine them but before I came back out to check on them they had already mixed together the ingredients and begun kneading the dough!

We placed it in a greased bowl and waited for it to rise and then punched it down, shaped it into a loaf and cut slices into the top. Then I asked Autumn to get the egg white and water to brush on top.

"Egg white? Why would I do that? I already put it in?"

Autumn read back through the recipe and realized her mistake and we decided that the loaf would probably be fine with a little egg white...

 Well, it turned out better than fine! What a delicious bread recipe...it is the first one that we have ever had work! And to think that the girls did it all on their own! I could tell when they were taking their first taste that their self-esteem rose a bit with that yummy dough.

Thanks Jon for the fantastic recipe....the girls are really proud of themselves! Yum, Yum, Yum !



HERE IS THE RECIPE:


INGREDIENTS

1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (hot tap water seems to work fine)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
cornmeal
1 egg white
1 teaspoon cold water

DIRECTIONS:

In large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the sugar, oil salt and 2 cups flour. Mix until blended. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a stiff dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl (I use about a tablespoon of olive oil) turning once to grease top. Cover (I use plastic wrap) and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour. Punch dough down. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Shape into a loaf 16 inches long by 2.5 inches wide with tapered ends. Sprinkle a greased baking sheet with cornmeal. Place bread on baking sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 25 minutes.

Beat egg white and cold water; brush over dough. With a sharp knife, make diagonal slashes 2 inches apart across top of loaf. (Actually, I do this before brushing on the egg white/water mixture.) Bake at 375 F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to a wire rack to cool.