Lisaopolis.comA Nurse's Journey to a Healthy and Balanced Life

This morning I was really cold! Our heat is still turned off. I decided the best way to warm up was to make some warm bread and hot soup. Since we celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday this year, we had an abundance of cooked turkey in the fridge. I decided I would make some turkey noodle soup and Challah bread to warm up on this cool morning.

My bread turned out amazing! Using butter in this bread makes it to die for. It’s soft and warm on the inside and golden brown on the outside.

Challah Bread
(makes one large loaf)

5 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp quick rise yeast
1 cup skim milk (luke warm-warm)
2 tsp white sugar
6 tbsp salted butter (melted)
2 large eggs (beaten)
Olive oil spray
1 egg yolk
Poppy seeds

Preheat oven on your lowest setting. Once your oven reaches this temp, turn it off. In a large stainless steel  bowl add the flour, salt and sugar and mix well. Add the yeast and mix well. Stir in the luke-warm milk. Add the eggs, and continue to stir. Add the melted butter (making sure it is not hot before adding). Stir well. Knead the dough for 10 minutes straight to form a soft ball. If using a stainless steel bowl place spray some olive oil on plastic wrap and cover the bowl with it. Place in the warm turned off oven. Let rise for 30 minutes. Remove from oven. Shape into braid (form 4 rolls and braid them). Place on a cookie sheet. Place in the turned off oven covered in the plastic wrap again for 30 minutes to rise. Remove from oven take off plastic wrap. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush with egg yolk. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until lightly golden. Enjoy.

Today I decided to make some bread by hand. It has my first time making bread the old fashioned way. I use to make bread often when I was younger with the bread maker . However the bread maker died many years ago. I chose to make a basic french bread. A picked a recipe from an old book on the kitchen cooking/baking bookshelf.
 Here is the recipe from A Guide to Good Cooking–Five Roses Flour. I changed the 1.5 tablespoons of shortening to 1.5 tablespoons olive oil because it is a more healthy.
 I also modified the water from 1.5 cups water to one cup water one cup milk to add some extra calcium to the bread.
 

 French Bread

 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
 1 tablespoon sugar
 1 cup warm water
 1/2 cup warm skim milk
 3 teaspoons active dry fast rising yeast
 4 cups all purpose flour
 2 teaspoons salt

 Comine dry ingredients in this order: flour, sugar, yeast. Mix well. Add the salt. Mix well. Add moist ingredients. Mix well with a spoon. Now knead until the dough is a nice
 consistency. Now continue kneading the dough for 10 minutes. Now place a towel over the bowl and let the dough rise for one hour. Punch the dough down and knead a few times.
 Shape the dough into two long rolls. Place on a cookie sheet and let rise for 30-40 minutes. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes. Enjoy.

The bread was very yummy.