Thursday, October 29, 2009

Baking....

The sun is shining here at our place and it's simply delightful outdoors! The widows are open upstairs, and in various room throughout the house, letting in the fresh air from outside! It makes the room feel crisp and fresh after being shut up for so long due to rain or humidity.

View from the barn and chicken pen...
After spending quite a bit of time indoors last week, I was surprised to see how much the leaves had changed color!!! The River Birches are beautiful with their yellowing leaves which are quickly calling to the ground... pretty soon the trees will be completely bare and will look quite desolate until next spring.

Fresh from the oven...
With the windows open and the back door rotating between an open and closed state this morning, I jumped into some baking. We were on our last loaf of whole wheat bread so a new batch was on the agenda. For the past month or so, I have had quite a time with the bread... it's been dry and has risen only to fall when it's baked. I've used the same recipe and done nothing different than in times past, but it still turns out... to the eye unappealing. There has been a new recipe that I've been working with as well, and I've had the exact same results. Yesterday, Momma and I got to wondering if our yeast couldn't be 'bad' so she picked a new package up when she stopped at the Pantry Shoppe yesterday. So this morning, once the bread had risen beautifully, I turned the oven on and held my breath willing myself to NOT look at the oven for at least ten minutes (a watched pot never boils). Finally, I could take it no longer and just had to take a peek... the bread had pretty much STAYED risen!!!! Yes, there was a bit of 'settling' but there was a bouncy little person runinng around. I'm tickled pink!!! This is the first 'decent' rising I've had in a month!!! Granted, it could be better but I'm thrilled with what it did!!!

Michelle's Peanut Butter Marbled Brownies...
While the bread was baking I mixed up a batch of brownies. This is a new recipe but it sounded really good per the reviews I read. The 'white swirls' is a peanut butter and cream cheese mixture that tasted really good!! I have high hopes for these brownies... they are sitting on the counter at the moment. I wonder if they will make it to the table without anyone pilfering a bite!!! :o) We like to pilfer!!! Especially if it's good!!!

There is such a sense of satisfaction in seeing jobs well done; and I'm really looking forward to seeing how tasty both the bread and the brownies are!!!

5 comments:

Kim said...

Will you share the recipe for the brownies? I made your Best Brownies Ever and my family devours them! Scratch recipes are a must here.

Sarah said...

Your bread rose!! So it was the yeast after all. :) I'm glad that you figured it out!

And I second the above comment . . . can we have the recipe? Please? They look so good!

By the way . . . do you want to send us some of that sunshine? I'd gladly exchange our rain for it!

Ashley said...

Mrs. Melton- I would be more than glad to share the recipe! Hopefully sometime this week I'll get it posted!

I'm thrilled that you are so enjoying the brownie recipe! They are truly the best brownies ever!! :o)
~Ashley


Well Sarah, we're guessing it's the yeast. Yesterday's batch didn't turn out well but we think that it got too cold during rising therefore it didn't rise much before it was baked. I'm still working on all this... you'd think I'd have it all figured out after four or five weeks, but I don't! Any suggestions?

The brownies were rather tasty although just a touch to rich, but I'm pretty sure I know what caused that. I'll be posting the recipe sometime next week for everyone's perusal! :o)

Sunshine???? What sunshine??? :o) It's cloudy and rainy here today????!!!! If we had any I'd be sure to 'blow' it your direction... :oD

Have a wonderful weekend!
~Ashley

Anonymous said...

The weather can affect the rising of the bread. I read one time not to bake bread on rainy days. I tried it and it was true. LOL! The temperature in your house can have a lot to do with it as well. As you said the yeast could have been bad as well. The temperature of the water you use also has a lot to do with it.
Anyway, hope you find out what the problem is and are able to bake some nice big bread. LOL!
Wendy
in Alabama

Ashley said...

Bravo for the Bread, Ashley!!! (You don't know how happy I was to see it had risen!)

Thank you for your encouraging comment! Now it is my turn, to do so!

I know all about flat bread! In fact the first few loaves were quite a disapointment!!!

Yeast can make a huge difference! I remember one package we had, and started using, was bad an it caused the bread not to rise....Just what we wanted! *wink*

Have a wonderful evening, Ashley! It was SO fun to talk the other day!!!