Big Day

For a Fried Cook, I've done a lot of it in the past few days. I made my favorite Challah bread recipe, which netted me one huge loaf of Challah, 8 hamburger buns and a cinnamon bread loaf. This recipe always turns out - even in my tiny KitchenAid.

Today is my husband's 50th. Since he's super Irish (like Super Tuscan, but different), I made pot roast with potatoes, roasted rainbow potatoes and potato bread in the bread machine.

Also, had our first CSA farm delivery today. The rainbow chard is beautiful! I don't so much want to eat it, but to put it in a vase. I sauteed the spinach in some olive oil for dinner. We got Oak Leaf lettuce as well.

Here's the Challah recipe, thanks to Bread Made Easy:

2 cups warm water
1 1.2 tablespoons (2 packages) dry yeast
pinch of sugar
8 to 8 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose or bread flour
1 tablespoon salt
4 large eggs (preferably from your backyard flock) :-)
1/2 cup honey
2/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for glaze

Pour 1/2 cup warm water into small bowl, Sprinkle with yeast and sugar. Stir to dissolve; let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. * If it doesn't foam, your yeast isn't working.

Place 1 1/2 cups of flour and salt in bowl of KitchenAid, using paddle attachment. Add eggs, honey, oil and remaining 1 1/2 cups water on low speed. Beat until smooth. Add yeast mixture. On low, add flour 1/3 cup at a time until a ball is formed. Switch to the dough hook, and knead for as long as possible. On the teeny KitchenAid, the dough will start to climb up the hook pretty quickly, so you'll need to knead the rest by hand. Knead till smooth and elastic. Let rise 2 hours or so, until doubled. Shape into bread, braid or buns and let rise 1 - 2 hours. Egg wash before and after final rise. Bake 350 for 30 minutes.