I ran across this site, Breadtopia and watched some very interesting videos about bread making. One of them talked about letting the dough set for many hours, 8 or more and that doing that developed character or some such. I thought that letting the dough set overnight would require no work and therefore fall into the "lazy" category. I mixed up a batch as noted below, transferred it to a bowl and let it set overnight for about 16 hours. Then I transfered the dough to the baking pans. It looked a little odd but I attributed that to the character it received by that long setting.
Then the trouble began. After 2 hours it became obvious the dough wasn't going to rise enough to bake. I "guess" the yeast had died. Not wanting to waste it I put it back in the bread machine, added yeast, salt and sugar and ran the dough cycle again. Then back into the pans and wait for it to rise and then bake it. The resultes were exactly the same as if I hadn't bothered doing all that, "character" stuff.
Live and learn.
Jo and Frank travel to Canada in the summer of 2022 to do two caravans. The Viking Trail Caravan spends 54 days in Newfoundland while the Maratines Caravan spends almost the same in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. A total of more than 97 days before we head home to Virginia.
The Old Fart Bachelor's Lazy Bread Recipe
by Frank Hogg
Store bought bread is full of bad stuff and home made bread is delicious but hard to make. I like homemade bread and have been working on the easiest way to make it. I use a bread machine to make the dough but transfer that to baking pans for the final rise and bake. This is my current effort based on others. It makes two 1 1/2 lbs loaves of substantial bread.
If your bread machine is not big enough then just use half the ingredients.
Start with the liquids first and load into the bread machine's bowl.
14 oz Water
6 oz beer (Great use for old beer... Who has 'old' beer???)
2 tbl vinegar
4 tbl molasses
4 cups white bread flour
2 cups wheat flour
3 tsp salt
3 tsp yeast
8 tbl wheat gluten (optional)
So far we've spent about 5 minutes on this.
Set the bread machine to the dough cycle. Mine does this in 1 1/2 hours. Check it after 10 minutes. You're looking for a nice round ball of dough. Add either more flour or water a wee bit at a time to achieve this.
I turn on the oven light at this time because my house is cold and the light warms up the oven enough to use for the bread rise.
Dump the dough out of the bread machine's bowl onto wax paper that's been sprayed with cooking oil. It doesn't hurt to get a bit of it on your hands to stop them from sticking. Play with the dough a bit and using a large dry wall knife or one of those fancy kitchen gadgets, cut the dough in half. Shape them into rough loaves and put them smooth side up into two oil sprayed 4 1/2 by 8 1/2 bread pans, Put both pans in the oven covered by the wax paper oil side down. BTW your oven shouldn't be too hot, 75-80 or so is good. Set the time for 20 minutes and come back to check it. Keep doing this in 10 minute increments until the loaves are 1-2 inches above the top of the pan. Usually takes 30-40 minutes.
This effort takes about another 5 minutes for a total of 10 minutes so far.
Take the pans out of the oven, keep the wax paper on and set the oven to 350. BTW that's the default setting on my oven which is why I use it. Bake the loaves for about 40 minutes or until the internal temp is about 200-210. Longer gives you more crust.
Take the loaves out and dump them out of the pans onto a cooling rack and leave them alone. Cutting into a hot loaf has negative results, so be patient.
That's it. The total working time is 10-15 minutes and the results are great. Total time start to finish is about 2:30 to 3 hours depending on how fast your oven heats up etc.
Besides great tasting bread it's a lot cheaper than buying bread at the store so it's a win win.
Comments: You can use the bread machine to do the whole thing but I've had problems doing this. Primarily because you can't control things after you put stuff in there. The dough may not have risen enough before the bake starts and you end up with squirrel food. You can get a decent loaf but it requires trial and error and precise measuring and is a pain. Then when you do get a good bake you end up with an odd shaped loaf with a hole in the bottom where the mixer goes. The main problem is controlling when to start the bake, when the bread has risen enough and that's why this system works best for me.
Variations: You can use all white flour but if you do that you don't need the molasses. You can substitute honey or maple syrup for the molasses which would give a different flavor to the bread. Sugar will even work. The main reason for any of it is to enhance the wheat flour and give the yeast something to feed on.
Variations: You can use all white flour but if you do that you don't need the molasses. You can substitute honey or maple syrup for the molasses which would give a different flavor to the bread. Sugar will even work. The main reason for any of it is to enhance the wheat flour and give the yeast something to feed on.
FREE eBook!
On November 11th I uploaded the updated and corrected version 1.1 of my book, "Yikes, you can see my underpants!" to Amazon. If you look at the Look Inside feature or download the Free Sample you will get version 1.1. But if you buy the book you will get version 1.0. Amazon is aware of this but has not fixed it yet and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it until they do. I am embarrassed that version 1.0 of the book with all those errors is still being sold by Amazon.
Therefore, I have decided to give everyone a free full copy of version 1.1. It has over 200 corrections and several pages of additions that I thought everyone had gotten.
If you haven't bought the book then please enjoy this free copy as my present to you. If you have bought it then please judge it and me by this version and not the one with all the errors
To read this eBook you need the information available here: Yikes, You can see my underpants!: Here is How to Buy and Read the Book
Please note that print copies of the book were always version 1.1.
To get your FREE copy just email me with the words, "Free Book Kindle" or "Free Book ePub" in the subject line. ePub is the format Apple, B&N and just about everyone else uses.
Thank you and have a wonderful Christmas,
Frank Hogg
Ah, the first day of spring is upon us…
Many years ago while suffering through yet another cold, dreary, snowy, miserable Syracuse New York winter I looked for a way to make it through. I decided that winter was a state of mind created by the devil or maybe politicians. (Please excuse the redundancy.) I decided that I could change my state of mind by redefining winter to something I didn't mind.
I started with summer. As a kid summer was defined by school. It was July and August and then back to school. Two months is too short for a good summer. I thought about it and concluded that summer really started with Daylight Saving Time. That's when the days suddenly get longer and everyone feels good. Therefore my Summer starts with Daylight Savings Time.
What about Spring? The days start getting longer on December 21st, the Winter Solstice. From the 21st on each day gets longer so what better time to start Spring.
What about Fall? It follows that Fall starts when we go back to Standard Time.
So far we have Spring, Summer and Fall and if you've been paying attention you'll notice there is no winter. I'm fine with that but others said we should have a 'winter'. I don't have one in my calendar but to appease those who want a winter I would suggest Winter starting on Christmas morning or eve and ending on New Year's Day. For me today is the first day of spring, the rest will have to wait 10 more days, it's up to you.
My calendar for now through 2012
12/21/2011 First Day of spring
3/11/2012 First Day of Summer and Daylight Saving Time
11/4/2012 First Day of Fall and Standard Time
12/21/2012 First Day of Spring
Happy First Day of SPRING!
Thanks Apple, You're a class act!
A few months ago I got an email from Apple saying that the battery in my 6 year old iPod Nano could go bad and that I should send it in for a free replacement battery. I haven't had any problems with it but after hunting around a bit I found it and sent it in. There was speculation on the net that Apple might give new iPod Nano's rather than fixing the old ones but I kept my hopes low. Today Apple sent me a brand new iPod Nano for free. (They cost $129) Makes a nice wrist watch too.
Yee Haw!
Merry Christmas to me...
I never thought I'd be doing this!
I've enjoyed the warmer weather here in southwestern Virginia since I moved her from Central New York almost 4 years ago. There have been a few surprises I wasn't expecting. Several new species of bugs I hadn't seen before and the threat of snakes although I've never seen one.
The most noticeable thing for me was the grass, or what substitutes for grass in my lawn. During the summer I usually have to cut it every 3-5 days rather than the two weeks back in CNY. Of course the season is longer here so I have to start earlier and cut longer but I never thought I'd have to cut the grass on December 19th! I put the mower away weeks ago thinking I was done for the year but for the last week I've watched the grass get longer and longer and it became obvious another cutting was in the works. Oh well, I could always use the exercise and it wasn't all that bad. I'm pretty sure I'm done for this year but I don't know how soon I'll have to start again next year. Still, cutting grass beats shoveling snow any and every day.
Merry Christmas!
The most noticeable thing for me was the grass, or what substitutes for grass in my lawn. During the summer I usually have to cut it every 3-5 days rather than the two weeks back in CNY. Of course the season is longer here so I have to start earlier and cut longer but I never thought I'd have to cut the grass on December 19th! I put the mower away weeks ago thinking I was done for the year but for the last week I've watched the grass get longer and longer and it became obvious another cutting was in the works. Oh well, I could always use the exercise and it wasn't all that bad. I'm pretty sure I'm done for this year but I don't know how soon I'll have to start again next year. Still, cutting grass beats shoveling snow any and every day.
Merry Christmas!
I Gave Up on the Kindle Fire
Let me first say that if you've never used an iOS device, an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad then the Kindle Fire should work fine for you. But what the pundits refer to as its 'rough edges' just got so annoying that I stopped using it and sent it back. At first I thought that Amazon would, in time, get those rough edges ironed out but I don't know how long that will take, if ever. The problem for iOS users is that we know how this stuff is supposed to work and when we use something like the Kindle Fire that doesn't work that way it gets annoying. I don't mean differences in the OS. I mean things like having to exit the video that's playing to adjust the volume. And not knowing what the volume will be until you let go of the slider. Then if you go back into settings to change the volume that you just changed, it's not selected and you have to click it again. It's just too stupid to put up with. I also know that these things are small and can easily be fixed but there are so many of them that I don't know how long that will take. Also the Kindle Fire is running Android 2.3 while Android 4.0 is the current version. I don't know how long it will take them to get up to speed there either. Android users say the Kindle Fire is the most advanced Android device out there. If that's the case then Apple has nothing to fear as iOS 5 is heads and shoulders about what I've experienced with the Kindle Fire.
BTW The reason I told Amazon I was sending it back was because the screen was too bright and hurt my eyes. The brightness slider only works on the top 2/3 of it's range. The bottom 1/3 does nothing. I'm not the only one who noticed this. There is a application that Android users can get to correct this but it doesn't work well with the version of Android the Kindle Fire uses. That's another area that is annoying. I found that app but I couldn't download it from any Android store because they blocked it. It's annoying to know a fix is available but you can't get it because of restrictions Amazon puts on the Fire's Android store. It just got to be not worth screwing around with anymore. iOS devices just work and eventually the Fire will too. Maybe then I'll give it another shot.
Update: Rumor has it that Amazon will release a software update,"in the next two weeks" that will address, "some of the issues". The Fire, in my opinion should not have been released so early. I assume Amazon did it to take advantage of the Christmas sales season and they probably thought it was good enough for most people who didn't know better. But it tarnishes their image in my mind and I'll never buy any of their products before I know it's finished and really ready to use. I don't want to be a pioneer anymore. The old saying fits well here, "You can always tell a pioneer by the arrows in their backs."
Update 2: Read an article about the Amazon Fire's problems here.
BTW The reason I told Amazon I was sending it back was because the screen was too bright and hurt my eyes. The brightness slider only works on the top 2/3 of it's range. The bottom 1/3 does nothing. I'm not the only one who noticed this. There is a application that Android users can get to correct this but it doesn't work well with the version of Android the Kindle Fire uses. That's another area that is annoying. I found that app but I couldn't download it from any Android store because they blocked it. It's annoying to know a fix is available but you can't get it because of restrictions Amazon puts on the Fire's Android store. It just got to be not worth screwing around with anymore. iOS devices just work and eventually the Fire will too. Maybe then I'll give it another shot.
Update: Rumor has it that Amazon will release a software update,"in the next two weeks" that will address, "some of the issues". The Fire, in my opinion should not have been released so early. I assume Amazon did it to take advantage of the Christmas sales season and they probably thought it was good enough for most people who didn't know better. But it tarnishes their image in my mind and I'll never buy any of their products before I know it's finished and really ready to use. I don't want to be a pioneer anymore. The old saying fits well here, "You can always tell a pioneer by the arrows in their backs."
Update 2: Read an article about the Amazon Fire's problems here.
Frank Hogg Book Reading Rotary Luncheon 11/30/2011
I did the first cut of the video and while it looks okay it also looks like it could use some more work.
Book Reading Video Coming...
I did my first book reading at the Radford Rotary luncheon last week and a video was made. I'm in the process or editing out the embarrassing stuff before I post it. :)
This would go much faster if I knew what I was doing but editing video is not my strong point. I hope to have it done soon for you to view.
This would go much faster if I knew what I was doing but editing video is not my strong point. I hope to have it done soon for you to view.
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