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Container Gardening

Introducing my new baby...my container herb garden! It sits right outside my kitchen on my very ugly patio. My trellis' have taken a bit of a back seat while I am waiting for things to grow, so in the meantime I am giving most of my time and attention to this beauty. I have always wanted to plant some sort of produce in a container, I just haven't gotten around to it. But this was my year! I chose herbs because 1. I like herbs and 2. I have heard that if you grow your herbs close to your kitchen you are more likely to actually use them in your cooking.

I have planted herbs every year, down in my grow box, and they just grow and grow all summer...that is it. Just grow. I never seem to use them, I guess I am just too lazy to walk down my back steps to get them. So, I thought I would try something new.

What I needed...

1 big container (I got a great wood one from Home Depot for under $25)

1 bag of potting soil ( I used one, 2 cubic foot, bag)

Plants (this year I planted basil, thyme, rosemary, Italian parsley, and a green pepper plant in the middle)

That's it!

If you are interested in a container herb garden I found some great information on the USU extension site. They talk about what herbs grow well in containers, what size of containers you will need, and the best way to plant and care for your herb garden. Click HERE to get to their site.

And I came across the most fantastic bread recipe the other day that uses herbs. Just wait until you see it! It is seriously the coolest looking loaf of bread I have ever seen! My rosemary will be spectacular in this thing! When you click the link, scroll down a bit to get to the bread.

Here is the link...http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/05/the-bread-in-his-words/

Enjoy!!

A Few Bread Making Tips

I have become a bit obsessed with bread making as of late. I don't know what it is, but I am on a quest to make the "perfect" loaf of bread as well as master many different types of bread, not just whole wheat. I spend hours reading and researching bread making techniques and I can't wait to try them all out!

Here are a few tips I thought might be helpful.

~Cover your dough with plastic wrap when it is rising. If your recipe calls for a "double rise", put plastic wrap over the bowl holding the dough, then cover it with a towel. Let rise until double in size (usually about an hour). When the dough is rising in the bread pans, cover them with plastic wrap again to keep the dough warm and moist. Dough that dries out too quickly can crack. Remove wrap when dough has doubled and is ready for baking.

~If you are one of those who has called me, frustrated that your bread didn't turn out and you have a KitchenAid, try this. Use your mixing attachment to mix all of the wet ingredients, yeast, salt and 3 cups of flour. Mix until nice and smooth. Then switch to the dough hook and slowly add the remaining flour. Let the machine knead your dough for 8-10 min. Make sure your dough is not too sticky, it needs to be workable. If your machine seems to be having a hard time mixing the dough (i.e. there is too much dough), try cutting the recipe in half and see if that makes any difference.

~ If you don't have a mixer or just want to know how to make bread by hand... Start by mixing all of your wet ingredients, yeast, salt and 3 cups of flour. Stir with a large spoon until nice and smooth. Make sure you get all lumps out as it is VERY hard to do once you start adding the additional flour. Once your dough is nice and smooth, start to add the remaining flour. When the dough becomes too thick to mix with a spoon, put it on a floured surface and begin to knead the dough (slowly incorporating the flour you previously sprinkled down). If your dough is too sticky, add a small amount of flour to the dough until it gets to a nice, workable dough. When you get to this point, knead the dough with the palm of your hand for about 10 minutes. It will give you a nice workout! After the kneading is done, either put the dough in bread pans to rise (for single rise recipes) or in a greased bowl (for double rise recipes).

I am currently trying to master "Cinnamon Burst" bread, like they sell at Great Harvest. I hope I can figure it out! When I do, I will post step by step instructions on the blog and provide a sample to anyone that wants one!

Happy Baking!!

Cinnamon Rolls!! YUM!

I hosted a couple of wheat bread cooking classes in my home yesterday and it was great fun. We talked a lot about the values of wheat, pros and cons of current wheat grinders on the market and other fun tips. The highlight of the class (at least in my opinion) were the tasting Cinnamon Rolls we finished off with. The fancy thing about these Cinnamon Rolls is they are just made out the "Foolproof Bread" recipe and could not be more simple!! If you do not use the Foolproof recipe, I bet you can make these with whatever whole wheat bread recipe you use. If you would like the Foolproof Bread recipe, click HERE.

After you make that...the Cinnamon Roll recipe is as follows!

Cinnamon Rolls (makes 1 dozen)
1/3 FOOLPROOF BREAD RECIPE (I usually make two/three loaves of bread and one pan cinnamon rolls.)
Roll into rectangle 3/4 inch thick. Sprinkle brown sugar, cinnamon, and any other topping you would like (I just do brown sugar and a generous sprinkling of cinnamon). Roll as a jelly roll. Cut 3/4 thick. Place in 1/2 size bun pan covered in parchment paper (I use a jelly roll pan). Let rise until almost double in bulk. When raised bake in 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. Ice and remove from pan while still warm.

FROSTING:
2 C powdered sugar
1/4 C soft butter
2 TB water
1tsp vanilla

A Great Tip #3

Another great tip to help you save money at the grocery store is...

Make more meals from scratch.

Processed foods tend to cost more, have a shorter shelf life, and are not nearly as good for you as the "real " thing. Not only that, but you are increasing your skill level at the same time as improving your health.

If you are already making many your meals from scratch...keep it up! If not, this is a great time to start. I recently posted a great "FOOLPROOF BREAD" recipe that is easy to make and is something that is VERY good for you. Click here to get the recipe.

FOOLPROOF BREAD

The title doesn't lie...this really is a foolproof bread recipe. I had watched my Mom bake bread with this recipe for years and although it took me awhile to start making it on my own, I now no longer go to the store for bread and my kids are eating 100% whole wheat bread and love it!

FOOLPROOF BREAD (Bosch Kitchen Recipes)

Small Batch (4 loaves in 4x8 pans)

4 C warm water

1 TB Salt

1/3 C Oil

1/3 C Honey

1 1/2 TB Dough Enhancer

2 T Vital Wheat Gluten

2 TB Saf Yeast

7 C Wheat Kernels

Freshly grind wheat into flour (medium setting). Add water and several cups of freshly ground whole wheat flour to mixing bowl with dough hook in place. Mix using a few short bursts of the jogging switch. Add the salt, oil, honey, dough enhancer, vital wheat gluten and instant yeast and jog briefly. While the mixer is kneading at speed one, slowly add whole wheat flour until dough pulls away from the side of the mixing bowl. This normally will take most of the whole wheat flour you have ground. It is better to add too little flour than too much flour. Allow the mixer to knead the dough until the gluten in the whole wheat flour is properly developed. This takes about 10-12 minutes. Your dough should have a slightly tacky texture. Turn oven on to preheat to 150 degrees. Shape into loaves and place in pans (previously well greased). Turn oven off. Put loaves in warm oven to rise until double in size. This will take approx. 25 minutes, but watch your loaves so you don't raise them for too long. When loaves are double in size, set oven to 350 degrees an turn it on (leave loaves in the oven). Bake for 30-35 minutes. When loaves are done, immediately remove from pans and let cool on wire rack. (Hint: so pans won't stick, wipe out while hot and don't wash them.)

Another great tip... measure the oil and put it in first and then measure and put in the honey. By doing the oil first, the honey then just slips right out!

I will be doing a video demonstration on this in the weeks to come, but give it a try...practice makes perfect!