April 13th is Peach Cobbler Day!
The birds are chirping, and the snow is all but done failing, except in the mountains. The days are finally getting longer, and sunshine should be a mandatory ingredient in every upcoming recipe.
Too much of anything always seems to end up being a bad thing in one aspect or another. Please let that act as a warning for the Peach Cobbler recipe included in this issue. It is delicious, but just because it has a lot of peaches in it doesn’t mean it’s very nutritious. But we had to share this treat with you knowing that April 13th is Peach Cobbler Day! Enjoy in moderation.
Peach Cobbler
Ingredients
- 4 cups sliced peaches
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 8 TBS butter
- 1.5 cups self-rising flour
- 1.5 cups milk
- Cinnamon
Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a pan combine peaches, 1 cup of the sugar and water. Bring mixture to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Set this to the side. Melt butter in a clay baking dish in the oven. Mix the other cup of sugar, the flour and milk together till smooth. Add this to the melted butter, without stirring. Place fruit on top and slowly pour in remaining syrup. Top with cinnamon. Bake for 30-45 minutes. Enjoy with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream!
National Sourdough Bread Day on April 1st
In honor of National Sourdough Bread Day on April 1st, this article will take on the sometimes-scary idea of baking bread at home. Once you realize that delicious homemade bread is simply four ingredients and some elbow grease away, I’m sure you will be eager to getting baking. [For a Beginner’s Sourdough bread recipe and instructions go here. Lots of ads on this site.]
Bread Baking 101
Bread is delicious. Picture a Crispy Baguette, a Country French bread, some Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Loaf or the Classic Sourdough Loaf. If you had the audacity to actually say that the idea of these breads doesn’t make your mouth water, then I simply don’t believe you. The only thing that would make the aforementioned bread better would be if it were homemade. Baking bread at home scares so many people away, but once the concept is explained, we can see that baking up some homemade bread is simple, rewarding and delicious.
Despite the laundry list of ingredients on the back of most breads, a standard loaf actually only needs four basic ingredients: flour, water, yeast and salt.
The diversity of flour types that are readily available these days may be daunting, but don’t fret, a standard, unbleached all-purpose flour, will do just find for bread making (plus it will be affordable)! The flour forms the foundation for the bread. The water acts as a dissolving agent for the ingredients and it activities the yeast. Too much water means a flatter loaf and to little water will end up making your bread dry and hard. Instant yeast will be the simplest means for bread making. This will be responsible for the dough rising but adding too much can result in the yeast affecting the taste of the bread. Sea salt, kosher salt or simple table salt will all do for break making. The salt delays the yeast and maintains control of the fermentation process.
Here is a simple bread recipe: 3 cups flour, 2 teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons yeast, a tad more than 1 cup of water.
Now just mix all the ingredients in a large bowl.
Kneading is very simple. Roll,
squash, fold, squash, repeat. Just don’t rip or tear the dough apart. The kneading releases the gluten in the flour, which then help form uneven pockets of CO2. This is responsible for your bread having all those different sized pockets once it’s baked. Kneading generally takes about 7ish minutes. The dough’s consistency will transform into a smooth, almost creamy texture. Once you feel this happen pound out a few more minutes of kneading. Spread down a bowl with some canola oil and place the dough in it to rise.
Bread rising is simply the yeast munching down on the simple sugars in the flour. The yeast releases CO2 while snacking, which forms the pockets and results in the dough rising. Proper kneading leads to proper rising. Once the dough has doubled in size it’s done rising (typically 45 minutes to 2 hours). The quantity of yeast and the temperature of the room influence the rising time (warmer = faster).
The dough must be re-kneaded now. This serves two purposes: bringing the dough down in size and also releasing more food for the yeast to consume. The yeast will eat more and release more CO2, which will bring out more diverse flavors in the bread. But yeast also releases acids and alcohol so too much yeast food feasting will result in off tasting bread. After the last rise shape the dough into a loaf. Pick whatever shape you dig: baguette, round, Batard, etc. Once shaped let the loaf sit for another hour to grow a bit more in size. Lastly score the loaf with a clean and very sharp blade. The slits allow the gases inside to escape without the loaf ripping open while baking. Get creative with your scoring and impress your friends…or just yourself (it’s hard to share homemade bread, especially really cool looking homemade bread).
The baking process will kill the yeast after about 5 minutes; during this time the loaf will experience an “oven spring”, which is one last rising action as the yeast eat more and more before they die. The baking temperature and time will vary based on the size and shape of your loaf. For the ingredients listed above I would suggest about 375 degrees Fahrenheit and 45 minutes baking time.
That’s the nuts and bolts of bread making. Now hunker down during a stormy, rainy day and craft yourself some loafs of bread!
