I get more emails about breadbaking disasters than anything else. I’ve been making bread since I was a kid, so sometimes I wonder if I’m the best person to ask about making bread, but I do like to talk to people about bread and teach people to make bread. My main thing is making bread from scratch, by hand, not using a bread machine or stand mixer. I got this email yesterday, and it was of the most entertaining emails about bread I’ve gotten lately. I thought this email was hilarious–NOT in a bad way. In a cute way. I get a lot of email, so I really appreciated the humor here. I decided to share it because I’m not a big stand mixer bread baker and maybe some of you have better advice than I do.

Oh, CITR!

I was beside myself to stumble across your website! I am a stay at home mom of two, plus we homeschool. I am always looking for ways to reduce our amount we spend at the grocery store! So you can imagine my sweet surprise when I saw you making everything from scratch! I was first interested in the Grandmother Bread recipe. My son is allergic to milk so I thought, “I’m a decent baker, I should be able to do this….plus I have a KA mixer…….This has not worked for me! First, my dough was very sticky, so I added more flour….well it didn’t rise all that well and tasted somewhat watered down. No big deal, nobody dies from the first batch not turning out right?….so next day, I mixed it all together with hook, and let it go for about 4 mins….well it went from not sticking to the bowl to being really sticky and back to being really wet…(almost as though I beat the gluten out) this loaf was awful tasting…..so today I tried again….(After I went to the grocery store and had to buy bread…..it was mocking me….so now it is ON!!!!) I haven’t gotten mine to rise as nicely as yours yet and I am desperate to do this for my family as well as others that have the same allergy issues!

Do you happen to have a video of you making a single loaf ?

I have made bread before, but always use the dare I say….bread machine….

Please help me……

I have every intention of coming to your farm for a workshop one day….hubs has already said that would be a great gift! I agree!

Thanks for your help

Angel
in Mississippi

How cute is that? I just want to take away her stand mixer and hand her a bowl and a spoon.

I wrote Angel back:

Hello, Angel. I don’t have a video (yet). First, you need to just get rid of all the machinery. Learn to make bread by hand then you can use a machine (if you insist). You can find all my bread posts on my Grandmother Bread page:

http://chickensintheroad.com/cooking/archives/grandmother-bread/

Have you see the How to Make Bread post?
http://chickensintheroad.com/cooking/how-to-make-bread/

I do have a post here about making bread with a stand mixer, though I don’t recommend it for starting out. You need to learn to feel dough and get to know it before you try to use a machine, which separates you too much from the breadmaking process.
http://chickensintheroad.com/cooking/making-bread-with-a-dough-hook/

Any more/better advice out there? Help Angel!

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My cousin is selling his fresh ground cornmeal at the farmers market this season. He’s been talking about expanding and trying some cornmeal-based products. We’d talk about ideas driving back and forth together to master gardener classes. We both liked the idea of cornmeal cookies, so I came up with a recipe. I’m not sure I’ll get him to make cookies for the market, but it was fun creating the recipe anyway.

If you love cornbread, you’ll love this cookie.

If you’re one of those people who loathe, despise, and abhor cornbread, forget that I mentioned cornmeal. You won’t even be sure what’s in here. It’s just a darn good cookie with an interesting texture and unique flavor complemented by the dusting of cardamom and sugar on top. Morgan came in from school as I was taking the last pan of cookies out of the oven. She (thinks she) doesn’t like cornbread. She ate a cookie then said, “These are good!”

Ha. (And of course I said nothing about the cornmeal in the recipe.) I gave some to my cousin to try and he said he could taste the cornmeal. Though I’d already told him they were cornmeal cookies, so that wasn’t exactly a blind taste test.

I’m experimenting, and I made this batch plain, but I think they would be excellent with raisins or any diced dried fruit, too. Blueberry-Cornmeal Cookies. Strawberry-Cornmeal Cookies. I’ll have to try that next time. Or you try it and tell me about it! Don’t let me experiment alone!

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How to make Cornmeal Cookies

1/3 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup hot water
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 eggs
1 cup raisins or diced blueberries, strawberries, etc (optional)
1 1/4 cups sugar
ground cardamom and sugar for sprinkling

Place cornmeal in a small bowl. Add 1/3 cup very hot water. Stir the water and cornmeal until the cornmeal is completely moistened. Let sit 10 minutes for the cornmeal to soften.

Cornmeal mush:

In a large bowl, measure flour, butter, baking soda, salt, almond extract, eggs, and the 1 1/4 cups sugar. Add softened cornmeal. Mix till well blended.

Stir in dried fruit, if using. Shape dough into logs and wrap.

Chill dough for two hours or until easy to handle. Cut slices and place on a greased baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.

Combine 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom and 1 tablespoon sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle cardamom-sugar mixture on tops of cookies. Cardamom is a sweetly aromatic spice, and I think it’s underused. It suits the slight earthiness of this cookie. Pull out your cardamom!

Bake at 400-degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Cornmeal-icious!!!

Makes 3-4 dozen cookies, depending on size.

See this recipe at Farm Bell Recipes and save it to your recipe box.
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Posted by Suzanne McMinn | Permalink  

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