Bread

I have been wanting to make bread for a long time, but I have always been intimidated by the rising and waiting and smushing and waiting some more all before baking and waiting. I'm not very patient. So after seeing a very simple recipe for white bread on This blog, I decided to give it a try. She found the recipe in a cook book called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I plan on checking the bookstore for this book this weekend because I just can't wait for it to be shipped to me. Anyway here way go, Homemade bread!

The Nice people at this blog have typed out the recipe so I don't have to! Check it out.


Here are the pictures from my break making experience.



Mixing the yeast with warm water.



The dough!

I forgot to take pictures of the dough rising. Ooops.



The refrigerated dough.



Two formed loaves on a pizza peel covered with cornmeal. Rising one last time.

I forgot to take a picture of them after flouring the tops and slashing the pattern. Again Ooops.



The finished product. So Yummy! Not to mention bread baking is about the best smell ever. It makes you feel all cozy inside.



Yum.

Zesty Lemon Pie

This recipe was on the cover of Southern Living Magazine in August I think.



Lemon Ice Box Pie
Southern Living, August 2010


Total: 6 hours 20 minutes
Yield: Makes 8 servings
Ingredients

* 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
* 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
* 3 tablespoons butter, melted
* 6 egg yolks
* 2 (14-oz.) cans sweetened condensed milk
* 1 cup fresh lemon juice
* 1 cup whipping cream
* 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
* Garnishes: lemon slices, fresh mint leaves

Preparation (with pictures of my pie)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Stir together first 2 ingredients; add butter, stirring until blended. Press mixture on bottom and up sides of a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. Bake 10 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack (about 30 minutes).





While the pie crust cooled I juiced my lemons.




2. Whisk together egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, and lemon juice. Pour into prepared crust.







3. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack (about 1 hour). Cover and chill 4 hours.

Apparently I don't believe in wire racks because my pictures say I didn't use one.



4. Beat whipping cream at high speed with an electric mixer until foamy; gradually add powdered sugar, beating until soft peaks form; dollop over chilled pie. Garnish, if desired.

*I made this pie just for my husband and myself so I made whipped cream in my ISI cream whipper and stored it in the refrigerator so we could have fresh whipped cream with every slice. I knew if I put it all on top when I made it it would go flat by the time we ate the whole pie. So if I make this to serve to more than two people I would prepare the cream and dollop as instructed, however for the two of us making it in the cream whipper made more sense.

A cheesecake project pt. 2

Over the weekend the hubs and I tasted two more of The Cheesecake Factory's offerings.

Chocolate Coconut Cream Cheesecake - YUCK! Now I don't like coconut so I figured I wouldn't be too thrilled with this cheesecake, but the hubs loves coconut and he threw almost half of it away because he said it just wasn't very good. It was creamy and had a nice texture, until you got some coconut shavings stuck in your teeth. It was just bad. Definitely the worst flavor yet.


Tiramisu Cheesecake - This was good. If I am ever at The Cheesecake Factory and feeling Italian, I'd get this again. I love Tiramisu so I was excited about trying this. It was a great balance between the creamy cheesecake and traditional espresso soaked plateful of delicious.

Only 16 flavors left.