TWD: Whole Wheat Bread

This past weekend was very busy so it was wonderful to have a recipe that could be made on Monday. Sarah, Nathan and I got home and got right to work on this bread.



One of my all-time favorite smells is yeast.  I have a love affair with bread.



I was worried that this amount of flour would overwork my KitchenAid but it ended up mixing with no problems. I ended up using 3 cups of bread flour and 3 cups of whole wheat flour with about 3 tablespoons more during the kneading process.



The recipe called for malt extract. We looked up getting this from King Arthur flour but it only came in large quantities.  Apparently malt extract is used in the beer making process. My husband found that you could substitute malt for molasses.  Combined with the honey that the recipe already called for, the sweet taste came  through wonderfully but delicate in nature.



The bread was not baked until after the kids went to bed so they enjoyed in the morning.



I couldn't resist sneaking a couple of slices while the bread was still warm.  

Onward to cranberry walnut pumpkin loaves.  If anyone is looking for the size tins recommended and for the high-gluten flour for the bagel recipe, we placed an order from the King Arthur flour on-line store.

Warmly,
Broad Brook Bakers

TWD: Nectarine Upside-Down Chiffon Cake

It may be called nectarine above but we used peaches.  We have a local peach, apple and vegetable farm.  I bought two boxes of almost-the-end-of-season peaches.



Next time I make this recipe I will slice the peaches a bit smaller. The peaches held up beautifully in the cooking but I like them to be a bit on the softer side. This picture is Sarah pretending to slice the peaches on her own; please no worries I did this job.



We used a bundt springform pan.  This in the end was not one of my best ideas. 



Big slabs of butter.  What could be better.  



The end result was very much like granola.  Next time I would cut down on the sugar for the recipe but it was very good to eat on it's own.




Sarah discovered that she loves meringue. The batter of this cake was very good.



We came back from the day before school open house to the cake ready to plate and eat.



Here's a slice.  Again, the bundt pan was not the way to go.  Some of the pieces came out perfect like this.  But half the cake never made it on the platter.  I'm beginning to think this blog is fine-tuning us more as food stylists than bakers!




Can't resist showing off some lavender harvested the same day. Lavender and peaches are a wonderful smell combination.



See you later this month .....whole wheat bread.