Adventures in Baking: Challah Dough

And it did really turn into an adventure before the dough was all gone!

After my success with the Olive Oil Dough, I decided my next challenge should be Challah dough. Challah is a traditional Jewish bread and, in my bread book, it is the basis of several sweet bread recipes.

While you can do a lot with Challah dough, I decided the first thing I would do is what is traditionally done: a braided loaf. It seemed like the best way to tell if I had mixed the dough correctly.

So once again, I pulled out the big bucket and got to mixing.


Just mixed:
2 hours:

Obviously it didn't rise near as much as the Olive Oil Dough, which initially had me concerned. Had I done something wrong? I decided to let it sit in the fridge overnight and whip up my braided loaf the next day anyway

I was daunted by the thought of braiding bread. Surely it couldn't be as simple as braiding hair, right? Turns out, it is pretty simple (note: this is a 3 braid loaf, not a 6).

Just braided:

Once it is braided, it has to rest for an hour and 20 minutes. That's a long time. I was glad I started early.

Let me take this pause to praise parchment paper. I've seen recipes recommend it before and just dismissed it as a fancy-schmancy way to bake. I ran across some in the grocery store one day and decided to give it a go since so many of the bread recipes seem to suggest it if not using a stone. I am a believer now. I love parchment paper!

Anyway, after the very long 80 minutes had passed, the recipe called for you to brush the loaf with egg wash (1 egg + 1 tsp of water) and then sprinkle with poppy seeds.

All ready for the oven:

Bake for a mere 25 minutes at 350* and you get a little something like this:


Jake said it looked like a slug. LOL

Overall, it was pretty good. I expected it to be sweeter, but then recalled that the only sweetness it had in it was 1/2 cup of honey. I could taste the egg wash, and I wasn't really a fan of that, but I may have brushed it on too heavily or something. I'd give it a solid "7" for a first effort.

The next morning, I used some Challah dough to make the Sticky Caramel Pecan Rolls. Even though I followed the recipe, the "sauce" somehow came up over the side of the pan and got all over the broiler pan. It smoked a lot, but I thought nothing of it really.

It'll burn itself off," I said to myself.

Today, I went to use the last of the dough, making a traditional loaf again, and the smoke was unbearable. I checked the oven and it was pouring smoke. I opened the oven door, closed the oven door, and then went to open the screen door b/c Spencer was coughing up a storm.

By the time I came back across the oven, it was aflame. Huge flames in my oven! I yelled, "fire!" and ran for the fire extinguisher (which we only have b/c it was left by the previous owner). I couldn't get it off the wall, but Jake was right behind me, yelling to get the boys out of the house (which I was hesitant to do b/c Jack was taking a good nap).

Jake was so mad at me, but I maintain that every woman is allowed to start a kitchen fire once in her life. I'm lucky that mine didn't occur until I was 27.

One positive thing that came out of the fire is that our fire alarm never went off. It totally should have, so now we know that it needs new batteries or to be replaced.

On the negative side, A) I had to toss my bread b/c it was covered in fire extinguisher goo and B) the house smells TERRIBLE. I have no clue how to get the smell out or how long it will take to dissipate. Jake's clothes got it worse than mine. Luckily.

Adventures in Baking: Olive Oil Dough

Lately, my mother-in-law (who shall hence be known as "Karen" or "MIL" ;-) ) has been whipping up some phenomenal bread items. From scratch! With no bread machine! In seemingly no time at all! Fortunately for me and Jake, she revealed her secret to me and then bought me a copy of her secret.



The whole basis of this book is that you can make fantastic, specialty store type breads with very little time investment. They basically give you a recipe that makes roughly 4 loaves (or flatbreads or whatever) per batch. You can stick it in the fridge (for about 12 days) and tear off the appropriate amount to bake when you need to. On top of the basic dough recipe, they give you recipes for the dough.

The last two times I've been at my in-law's house, Karen has made a flatbread with onions and rosemary that has rocked my socks using the Olive Oil Dough recipe. So that was the first dough recipe that I was determined to tackle.

I mixed it all up in a giant tub that she gave me. Once you do that, it has to rise for 2 hours. But you literally do just that: mix it and then leave it for 2 hours.


Just prepared:

At 1 hour:

At 2 hours:


I decided to use the Prosciutto and Rosemary recipe in which you basically roll the dough out, put prosciutto and rosemary on top, roll that into a ball, and then re-flatten it so the meat and herbs are in the bread.

I forgot to take any pictures of the process, but I did snap one of the aftermath:

For a first batch, I think it was great. And obviously so did Spencer and Jake. Tonight I'm planning to tear off another hunk of dough and make the onion and rosemary flatbread. Bon Appetit!

Snow Days

I don't think there is any greater joy than being a child and waking up to, as Spencer says, "beautiful blankets of soft snow" ( I believe that is a quote from Thomas the Tank Engine, go figure, LOL). I can remember being about Spencer's age when we got about a foot of snow, or at least it seemed that way to me. Goodness it was fun! Dara, my sister, was still too little to go out and play with me in it, but I can distinctly recall making snowmen and snow tunnels. What a blast.

As much as I dislike Mountain Home, I will say this: they get some winter weather. I've preferred cold weather to hot since I outgrew (or got too busy for) living in the swimming pool all summer. Give me a wind chill and some snow ice cream any 'ol day of the week. That was too big of an order to fill most months living in central Arkansas, but not up in the northern part of the state. And I have to say, I love it!!

And Spencer has certainly been having a great time...

Notice how Trogdor is all up in Spencer's business the whole time they are in the backyard. Trogdor is part Great Pyrenees and, way back in the day, they were bred to guard sheep in the Pyrenees Mountains where it is super cold. He has been going out into the snow and just hanging out. I think he is enjoying the fact that it has been cold enough for it to stick around and was hoping that Spencer would frolic with him in it. :-)

The Walters' Year in Pictures

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER



NOVEMBER


DECEMBER

From our family to yours, happy new year!

The Decade in Review

Some ladies on one of my message boards were reviewing the first decade of the new millennium. Apparently, Time Magazine is calling it the worst decade ever and she wondered how the decade panned out for people individually. Here's my contribution (and my age will totally show here, LOL):

• 2000- Got a leading role in the school play, where I met Jake, Jake graduated high school and went off to college, I began my senior year in high school
• 2001- Got my hours cut at my waitress job and had to find a new job (very traumatic at 17/18), graduated high school, went to college, pledged Delta Zeta
• 2002- Jake went to basic training, so I wrote letters every day for a good part of the year, learned the way to Ft. Leonard Wood, got engaged, left Delta Zeta
• 2003- Got married
• 2004- Lost 43 pounds, got pregnant, Jake deployed to Iraq
• 2005- Pregnancy got all traumatic, had Spencer prematurely, Jake came home, did my student teaching (probably my worst year of the decade)
• 2006- Started a job teaching at NLR high school, worked at a bank the summer between semesters (worst job ever!), Marla had her car accident
• 2007- Jake got on meds (yea!), we decided to move to Mtn. Home over La Grange, GA
• 2008- Lived with Mom and Pop while trying to sell our house (no luck, but we did rent it out), finished my second full year of teaching at NLR then joined Jake in Mtn. Home, got pregnant again, Crickey died
• 2009- Got our first real profit sharing check, Jack was born at home, lost 26 pounds (and will still be working on that in 2010)

Best wishes for a very awesome 2010!

A Very Thomas Christmas

Our theme this year for Christmas was very obviously "Thomas the Tank Engine." There wasn't a single non-Thomas item on Spencer's list, so Santa did her very best to accommodate that.



The Loot:

The fun:

Jack telling the grinch (aka Daddy) to cheer up and have a good time:

Jake is always in a terrible mood at Christmas. He's decided next year that he's boycotting it all, so for those who buy him gifts, just be aware. If he's going to be a scrooge about it, then he sure doesn't deserve anything.

All in all, it was a really great time. We were exhausted by the end, but I think that's to be expected with the amount of driving we did while corralling two kids. The best thing of all: Jack is getting better in the car. There was very little screaming on the way down to Little Rock or back. I don't think I could've asked for anything better!

Nestle Free Zone

I am trying to live a Nestle free life. Nestle. Yes, that Nestle. Makers of such goodness as Butterfinger, Hot Pockets, and Haagen-Dazs.

So why would I want to boycott such a tasty company? Well, strap in. It is kind of a long story.

Nestle is also the maker of a little thing called Nestle Good Start, which is artificial baby milk (further known as ABM, aka formula). Now I'm not quite insane enough to hold it against them for simply making formula. There are always women who need it (last I read, about 3% of women physically can't breastfeed). It is the way Nestle has marketed its ABM on a global scale that has had lactivists in a tizzy since the 1970s.

According to many sources, Nestle is (or was) doing dirty deeds in the marketing department, specifically in Africa. There are many reports of "nurses" (who are actually just women working for Nestle) going into African hospitals and giving breastfeeding "advice" (you can imagine how good it is) and free samples. They keep supplying "advice" and free samples until mom's milk supply is gone. Then, WHOOPS!, the free samples also dry up and now mom has to buy the formula.

As you can imagine, this can cause some problems in most of Africa, where poverty is so rampant. First of all, formula costs money. These poor women are now forced to buy ABM thanks to the underhanded marketing that Nestle practices. This often causes another big problem: watered down formula. This really doesn't sound so bad, but it can be really harmful. Infants who get watered down ABM aren't getting all the nutrients they need in the right concentrations. Formula is very specifically manufactured and tampering with it can be devastating.

Along with those problems, you have a water supply and cleanliness issue. Poverty stricken countries typically don't have great infrastructure, which tends to lead to things like lack of easily accessible water or dirty water. Many infants have died because of formula usage in Africa.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has actually issued guidelines for the marketing of
ABM. The recommendation was made in 1981. Obviously the US does not participate.

Nestle now claims that they are in full compliance with the code, but who knows. I doubt their self reporting.

As for my household and the boycott, I do what I can. It seems Nestle owns so much and every once and a while I stumble across something that they own and I had no idea. For example, I have a package of Hot Pockets (Jake's lunch food of choice) in the freezer. Lamespice for sure.

By far the hardest thing to avoid has been Gerber products. Yes, they own Gerber too. *sigh* So far I haven't been able to find freeze dried yogurt bites in any other brand, so Jack has had to do without. Which is a real pity, b/c he loves those things. To further complicate matters, in the big town of Mountain Home Gerber is pretty much it. Even Wal-Mart only carries a few items made by Parent's Choice or Beech Nut. The toddler feeding area is by far Gerber dominated.

Like I said, I'm doing what I can.