Banana Bread

With a mixer, beat the mashed bananas with the sugar. Add the egg replacer and applesauce and beat again.

In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients. Add this to the banana mixture and stir with a spoon until the dry stuff is all moistened. Not too much stirring!

Pour batter into a loaf pan. (About 5 x 9 inches, preferrably non-stick or you can spray with Baker's Secret for a split second and spread with a paper towel.)

Bake at 325 (be sure to preheat first) for about 55 minutes.

This is great the second day and freezes great, too. If you have enough bananas make two and freeze one.

Beer Batter Bread

Mix all together and pour into a regular bread pan..Bake 350 about 30 minutes or until lighly browned on top....Remove when cool enough to handle and place on rack.

Now..seems to me that you can add some cooked well drained veggies to this..I have used herbs and sun dried tomatoes in this bread..I don't see why you couldn't use some dried bell pepper flakes or onions..or even some sauted and well drained zukes or carrots or frozen corn...I would not, however use anything like sweet potato, carrot or pumpkin puree as it is a moist heavy bread to begin with...

INGREDIENTS
whole wheat flour
water
non-instant powdered milk
7 grain cereal
rolled oats
wheat flakes
rye flakes
honey
yeast
salt (optional)
ginger

YIELD: 2 loaves

The following recipe routinely takes between 3 hours 15 minutes and 3 hours 30 minutes from the beginning until the bread comes from the oven. It involves a total of four risings, one as the sponge, two as the dough, and one as loaves.

IMPORTANT! In order to bake bread successfully there are two things to remember:

1. All ingredients must be warm, that is, not too cool and not too hot. Yeast requires an environment of 85 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit in which to work;

2. The only two ingredients which should be carefully measured are the water and yeast. The water determines the overall quantity of bread and the yeast determines the speed at which rising takes place and the amount of air in the bread. Too little will result in a good bread, but one which tries your patience; too much will result in a large air hole running the length of the bread which is a definite embarrassment to the baker.

METHOD

1. Take the flour from the fridge or other cool spot and half fill a 13" x 9" x 2" pan. Put the pan in the oven and slowly turn the dial until the oven just comes on. Turn on the oven light too.

2. Take out 2 beer mugs, a coffee cup, a 1 cup measuring cup, large bowl, a tablespoon, a teaspoon, measuring spoons and a whisk. Take the yeast and oil from the fridge. Also take out the honey, 7 grain cereal, rolled oats, wheat flakes and rye flakes.

3. Fill one beer mug with hot tap water and let sit for just a moment. Empty the hot water and refill 1/3 full with tap water that is warm, but not hot, to the wrist, (like baby's milk), and stir in a teaspoon of honey and 1/4 teaspoon of ginger.

4. When the honey has mostly dissolved, stir in a level tablespoon of yeast and stir immediately. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rise until at least double in bulk. This should take about ten minutes.

5. In the meantime, fill the second beer mug three quarters full of non-instant powdered milk. Put a large tablespoon of honey in the bowl. This "tablespoon" probably contains 1/4 to 1/2 cups honey. Add 2 1/2 coffee cups of warm-to-the-wrist water. Add the non-instant powdered milk and beat well with a whisk. As you beat, the phrase "non-instant" in non-instant powdered milk will take on real meaning. If there are a few lumps remaining, don't worry, they won't survive the next steps.

6. Add a handful of rolled oats, a handful of wheat flakes, a handful of rye flakes, and a handful of seven grain cereal. Beat lightly with a whisk to moisten. 7. By now the yeast should have risen to with an inch of the top of the beer mug. Using the teaspoon, give it a good stir for about 5 seconds and pour it into the bowl with all the other stuff.

8. Take the flour from the oven and turn the oven off! <-- IMPORTANT! Leave the oven light on as it will be the only heat source required for the risings. Add flour to the bowl one handful at a time and beat vigorously with the whisk. You are done when its kinda hard to add more flour and the resulting mixture can best be described as thick mud. Adding the flour with the whisk only takes about 3 minutes.

9. Using a rubber scraper, clean the sides of the bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and put in the oven to rise. This rising will take about 30 minutes. At this stage, the bread with half the flour added is called the "sponge."

10. Pour 1/4 to 1/3 cup oil into the coffee cup and put it into the oven to warm. Also, half fill the 13" x 9" x 2" pan with flour again and put it in the oven to warm. Put the measuring spoons over to where you will be working next and get out the salt now so you don't forget.

11. Wash everything else and put it away. By now you should have about 25 minutes to do other things like have a beer, do FreeNet, or both.

12. When the sponge has risen to within 3/4 of an inch of the top of the bowl, or until double in bulk, remove from the oven.

13. Sprinkle 3/4 of a tablespoon of salt on top if you wish. If you would rather not add salt, omit this step. Your bread will be just a little sweeter, that's all.

14. Slowly pour most of the oil around the edge of the bowl. Save an ounce or so of oil in the cup. Using the rubber scraper, fold the sponge down so that it is almost its original size before rising. This process should take no longer than 2 minutes.

FOLDING? It goes like this. Grab the bowl with your left hand at the ten o'clock position and insert the scraper with your right hand at the twelve o'clock position. While turning the bowl counter clockwise with your left hand, bring the scraper clockwise around the edge of the bowl with your right hand. When you left hand and right meet at the 6 o'clock position, that's 6:30 in Newfoundland and 8:00 the next day in Thailand, flip the dough across the bowl back to the twelve o'clock position. Try to keep the sponge together as a whole.

15. Sprinkle a handful of flour on top of the bread and fold it in. Sprinkle additional flour around the edge of the bowl and fold it in too. When the folding gets tough, stop.

16. Sprinkle a handful of flour on the counter. Pour the dough onto the counter. Using the rubber scraper, clean the bowl the best you can, Pour the remains on top of the dough. Nothing gets wasted here. Using the bit of oil remaining in the cup, oil your hands and the bowl.

17. Knead the bread until three consecutive kneads don't stick to the bare counter.

KNEADING? It goes like this. Grab the far side of the dough and bring it towards you, thus folding the dough in half. Using the heels of your hands, push the dough away from you. Using your left hand, give the dough a quarter turn, grab the far side, bring it towards you, thus folding the dough in half, and push the dough away from you. Using your left hand, give the dough a quarter turn, ... , et cetera. Ya' got it?

18. Put the dough, good side down, in the bowl, remove, and put it back in the bowl good side up. If there is any noticeable accumulation of oil in the centre, rub it to the outside with your hand. Cover the dough with a damp tea towel, return to the oven and let rise about 30 minutes or until double in bulk.

19. This step is called "punching down." Take a moment, close your eyes and picture someone who you would like to punch, oh, come on, you can think of SOMEBODY... Punch the dough down by first nailing it right in the centre (face) and pushing all the way to the bottom of the bowl (floor). Punch down the rest (body blows) working from the centre to the outside of the bowl. Finish off by punching the centre again. This punching down process should take no more than 25 - 30 punches, then, KNOCKOUT!. I like this part!

20. Again, cover the dough with a damp tea towel, return to the oven and let rise about 25 minutes or until double in bulk.

21. Punch down as before, this time when you are done roll the dough out onto the counter.

NOTE: If you are a bit pressed for time, one of these intermediate risings can be omitted with negligible effect on the final product. If, however, you are a perfectionist (not) like me, you'll do all risings, time permitting.

22. Using a sharp knife and a good eye, cut the dough in two. Using four or five folds each, form the two pieces of dough into loaves, cover with a damp tea towel and let rise for a few minutes while you perform the next step. Please note: in this step don't be too concerned about the shape of the loaves, the actual final shaping comes in Step 24.

23. Grease two loaf pans with butter.

24. Using four or five folds each, form each loaf and place good side up in the loaf pan. Cover the loaves with a damp tea towel, return to the oven and let rise 15 to 20 minutes. If your risings so far have corresponded to the times mentioned above, use 15 minutes in this step. If they have been five or so minutes longer, use 20 minutes.

25. Remove the covered loaves from the oven and turn the oven on to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. It will take about 5 minutes to warm up.

26. Uncover the loaves and put into the oven. Bake for 50 minutes or until the loaf rapped on the bottom gives a nice hollow sound.

27. Remove the loaves from the pan by giving each pan a gentle twist. Put the loaves to cool for about eight hours. An oven rack makes a good cooling rack for bread.

28. Clean the loaf pans immediately with a paper towel. If you use soap and water on loaf pans, it should only be on the outside for appearance sake.

Okay, so it ain't easy...Who ever said PERFECTION was easy!

29. You may have heard that you should not eat bread straight out of the oven because it will sit heavy on your stomach and be bad for you. Bull****! How can anything this good possibly be bad for you?

If mine wasn't good enough for you, here's another....

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups milk, very warm
2/3 cup sugar or honey
2/3 cup veg oil (not olive)
4 teaspoons salt
3/4 oz (21 grams) of dry yeast (3 pkgs here)
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup bread flour
remainder all purpose white flour

Procedure:

Mix all the non-flour items (make sure the milk is not too hot to the touch, or it will kill the yeast). Mix in the whole wheat and bread flour. Then knead in enough of the all purpose flour so that the dough does not stick appreciably to your hands (this may take 10 minutes of kneading).
Put the dough into a really large bowl, rub some oil on the top of the dough so it doesn't get crusty (dry out) when rising. Cover the bowl with some waxed paper (etc.) and put in a warm place. When approx. doubled in size, form portions of dough into loaves and put in pans (This makes about 6 small loaves for me).
Put pans with dough in them in a warm place (I just put them in the oven at this point and don't turn the gas on until its risen). Let them rise until about doubled.
Bake at 325F for small loaves, 300F for big loaves (my oven's a bit hot, so you may need a slightly higher temperature) on the bottom rack in the oven until the tops are all brown. After taking the pans out of the oven, let cool for about 5 minutes then take the bread out of the pans and lay them on their sides on cooling racks. When they're cool, I put most of them in zip-lock bags and freeze them for the week.

Dissolve 1 package quick dry yeast or soften 1 cake fresh yeast in 1/4 cup luke warm water. Let stand for 5 minutes. Put 1/2 cup lukewarm water into a bowl and add 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt and 2 tablespoons shortening. Add 1 cup unbleached flou r, beating thoroughly. Add the yeast mixture. Add 1/2 cup more flour, beating again very hard. Then fold in 2 egg whites beaten stiff. Add enough flour to make a soft dough -about 2 cups or 3 1/2 cups flour altogether.

Knead on a floured board until smooth, satiny and very elastic. Put in a greased bowl and let rise until doubled in bulk. Punch it down. Let it rise until doubled again. Knead it down lightly. Cover it and let it rest 10 minutes. Roll out the dough on a f loured board into an oval shape - fold long sides in toward the center. Shape into a roll about 15-18 inches long, slightly wider in the center and tapering at either end. Place it on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with corn meal. Cover it with a damp cloth and let it rise until rounded and light.

Brush the loaf with a glaze made by cooking 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 cup cold water until thick and clear, stirring constantly. Cool before spreading on the bread. Cut 1/2 inch diagonal gashes in the bread with scissors. Put a l arge pan of boiling water on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake the bread in a hot oven 450 degrees F, fifteen minutes until a golden brown. Then reduce the head to 350 degrees and bake 20 minutes more. When you thump the bread and it sounds "hollow", the bread is done. remove it from the baking sheet and cool it on a rack.

German Onion Bread

Saute bacon. Drain most of the fat from the pan. Add the onions and saute until clear. Do not brown. Set aside to cool.

Beat the eggs and sour cream together in a medium-sized bowl. Sprinkle the flour over the top and beat it in. Stir in the salt and pepper.

Prick the bottom of the pie shell several times with a fork. Spread the onions and bacon over the bottom of the pie shell. Pour the sour cream mixture over the top.

Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees f and bake for another 15 minutes or until pie is nicely browned. Serve hot!

Try it! It's GREAT!

Lemon Bread

In a small bowl, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water. Allow the yeast to activate and foam.

In a food processor, combine the flour, pepper and salt. Add the lemon rind and chop very fine. Add the yeast mixture and lemon juice and process until a ball forms; work just until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.Add the olive oil. Remove immediately to an oiled bowl, cover with a clean cloth, and allow to rise in a warm, draft free place until doubled- about 10 min. Punch down.

Place a baking stone on the lower rack of the oven and preheat oven to 400o. Form the dough into a long, thin ficelle. Allow to rise 1 1/4 times in volume, ab. 10 min. Place on the stone in the lower rack of the oven. Bake for 10 min, reduce the heat to 350o and continue to bake until golden, ab. 10 min. Remove to a rack to cool.

Yield: 1 ficelle loaf, ab. 1 1/4" in diameter and 16" long.

Sourdough Starters and Breads

After curd has formed, gradually stir 1 cup flour into the starter until smoothly blended. Cover tightly and let stand in a warm place 85F (30C) until mixture is full of bubbles and has a good sour smell, approximately 2 to 5 days. If clear liquid forms on top of mixture, stir it back into starter. Each time you use part of your starter replenish it with equal amounts of warm milk 100F (38C) and flour. Cover and let stand in a warm place several hours or overnight until it is full of bubbles. Cover and store in refrigerator until needed. Starter should always be at room temperature before using. Low-fat or skim milk may be used in place of whole milk. Always be consistent in type of milk used.

Yeasty Sourdough Starter

Mix flour with yeast. Add enough water to make a thick batter. Set in warm place for 24 hours or until house is filled with a delectable yeasty smell.

Plain Sourdough Starter

Mix flour and water to make a thick batter. Let stand uncovered for four or five days, or until it begins working. This basic recipe requires a carefully scalded container.

VARIATION: Use milk instead of water to make the recipe.

NOTE:
All containers for starters not using yeast must be carefully scalded before use. If you are careless or do not scald them the starter will fail.

Potato Sourdough Starter

Boil some potatoes for supper, save the potato water, and use it lukewarm with enough unbleached flour to make a thick batter. without yeast. This is a good way to make it in camp, where you have no yeast available and want fast results. This is also the way most farm girls made it in the olden days. Let stand a day or so, or until it smells right.

NOTE:
All containers for starters not using yeast, must be carefully scalded before use. If you are careless or do not scald them the starter will fail.

Old-time Potato Sourdough Starter

Put all ingredients in a crock or large jar and let stand in a warm place uncovered several days.

This is the author's last choice for making a starter, but seems to be in all the cookbooks dealing with Sourdough Starters. Use only as a last resort.

NOTE:
All containers for starters not using yeast, must be carefully scalded before use. If you are careless or do not scald them the starter will fail.

Makes four loaves

• 3 cups expanded sourdough starter
• 3 1/3 cups lukewarm water (sometimes I use beer or buttermilk, at room temp)
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 4 1/2 tablespoons margarine, melted
• about 9-10 cups flour

Mix sourdough, water, sugar, salt, and margarine. Add 5 cups flour and beat until smooth. Let stand 15 minutes. Add flour to make a soft dough.Knead, adding flour, until dough is no longer sticky.

Place dough in large bowl. Cover with a dish towel. Let rise until double in volume.

Knead down and divide into fourths. Let stand 15-30 minutes. Shape into loaves and place into greased and floured one-pound loaf pans. Let rise until 3/4 inch over top of pan. Bake at 350° for 40 min.

*On a cold day, you can speed the raising process. Set the oven to 200 degrees for 2 minutes. Turn oven off immediately and place bread, covered with aluminum foil - in metal or glass bowl only - in oven to rise.

Suzie's Amazing Sourdough