Bread Making

Where fresh bread is concerned, I normally use a bread machine to at least mix the dough.  Whether or not I let the machine bake it depends on how much time I have, and who the intended audience will be.  On special occasions, like when I feel like torturing myself with some obscure specialty like a Parmesan Pepper Wreath, I use an electric mixer with dough hooks.  However I have yet to get adventurous enough to mix dough by hand.

Making a Parmesan Pepper Wreath is quite the adventure in bread making!  Working out of a 1950's cookbook found on the Word's Longest Yard Sale, it must have taken me half an hour just figure out how to braid the thing together, then another 15 minutes practicing the technique.  In the end, the dough, tired of me repeatedly retying it, all but crawled into the oven to escape me.

Although I like spinach a lot, the rest of the family does not care much for it.  One day, for whatever reason, I wondered what a bread baked with spinach would taste like.  An internet recipe search was somewhat fruitless as the only recipe it returned appeared to be more of quiche than a bread.  But since it was calling for Monterey Jack cheese, I revisited my bread machine cookbook's recipe for cheddar cheese bread.  After splitting atoms to figure out how much spinach and Jack cheese I should use in place of the requested cheddar, I arrived at a recipe.

Bread machines are nice, especially for mixing the dough.  But ya got to be careful about putting too flour in it. With that in mind, I thought my creation was going to be a bit on the dry side, so I stood ready with some tepid water to drip in a drop at a time.  After pushing 'start', it quickly became apparent that additional flour was required, and NOT just a sprinkle at a time.  I was all but shoveling it in before the dough looked right.

After the dough rose the first time, I thought about scooping some of it out for better results.  I didn't figuring the Boyz would get a kick out of watching it ooze out of the machine onto the counter.  The best memories are those of watching your parents screw up.  :-)

While my spinach bread creation was gestating, I started brainstorming on an English Pea casserole-type side item to accompany the bread, and a chicken which had earlier been prepped with olive oil, and special seasonings.  I knew I had free reign here because my wife would eat dry spaghetti before she would eat green peas.  So it did not matter what new horizon I wanted to explore in preparing green peas.

My wife rolls her eyes anytime she catches me making Cream-O-fill-in-the-blank type soup bases, "No one does that, dear;  Are you feeling okay?"  Luckily, the mess associated with the spinach bread obscured this journey's road, and I proceeded to sauté some onions, celery, and carrots before adding chicken stock & marjoram.  I knew something good was about to be had when Daniel wandered through and told me, "Umm! Smells good, Daddy!"  Its the little things that inspire me to continue [-sniff-].

Much to my amazement, the spinach bread, for the most part, stayed in the machine although it was touching the inside of the lid.  After the cycle was complete, the bread was transferred to a cooling rack, and tossed in the hot oven for a couple more minutes just to be sure it was done.

 In a roundabout way, Number 1 son is responsible for my latest culinary creation.  If I eat any sort of breakfast at home, it consists of whatever I find in the refrigerator.  Usually, it is some leftover component of the previous nights' meal.  I prefer to eat whatever it is (fried porkchop, bowl of rice, etc.) before Number 1 son awakes, because, if he is awake, I can count on him to tromp into the kitchen, look over my repast and advise me "That's not breakfast food!"

My wife left early one morning to take advantage of the Black Friday Sales & left me in charge of the Boyz.  After feeding them "breakfast food" for breakfast, I decided a big bowl of collard greens would suit me just fine as the last batch, made with smoked pork, was particularly good.  Not that ANYONE ELSE in my house shares my sentiment.  Actually eating collards is a precursor to rating them.

So, there I am sitting in the kitchen enjoying my collards, and mapping out the days' activities when Daniel calls in from the den, "What are you eating, Daddy?".  "Something!" I replied.  "Oh".

I could hear the gears in Daniel's mind spinning as he considered whether getting up & brow-beating me about my breakfast selection was more important than the cartoon he was watching on television.  In the meantime, the gears in MY mind were plodding along trying to develop a reasonable adult response to whatever he said, and somehow stress how important collard greens were to strong bodies.  Luckily, the cartoon won, Daniel stayed in his chair, and I did not have to present my losing argument.

Then it dawned on me - Disguise the collards in bread dough!  The spinach bread of a few weeks ago was good, but the cheese made it a little too heavy to be enjoyed as a meal accompaniment.  The bread pictured above has no cheese, but it does have a full cup of collard greens in it.

Last update: Sunday, December 19, 2004