kitchen culture
Freezing Bread (a question and reprint)
Written by Kimberly Eddy Friday, 12 March 2010 10:04
Joy sent me this question regarding freezing bread:
I have been making bread from your ebook and am wondering how you wrap your bread. Your books says that you freeze you bread but that it must be properly wrapped. I was wandering if you cared to share what you wrap your bread in so that it is safe in the freezer. Thanks so much!
I usually wrap them in clear plastic wrap (tightly) and then stick them in a large zipper freezer bag. I buy some special 2 gallon freezer bags for bread, and
I just wash and reuse them. I usually get 2 loaves of wrapped bread in the freezer bag, and then I get as much air out as possible too, as that keeps it fresher (this is good practice for freezing anything!), and helps prevent freezer burn. The 2 gallon bags work better with loaf sized loads, because of the length. I have tried that new press and seal wrap stuff that they just came out with the for freezer, but I have had mixed results with it (and it's expensive!). In a pinch, I've also used foil, but then you can't do any sort of quick thaw in the microwave in a pinch that way ;).
Does anyone else have any other tips for wrapping and freezing bread? Please share below or in a link to a blog post on your blog. I'd love to know!
Dense, Flavorless Bread Questions [ a reprint]
Written by Kimberly Eddy Friday, 12 March 2010 09:58
Recently, Amy emailed me a question regarding my bread book. Unfortuately, Amy, I am hoping you are reading this as your spam blocker at MSN is blocking my email reply to you! Apparently it has recognized my email address as spam for some reason, and so no one who I email at MSN or Hotmail can get email from me. It's a bother.
Amy's question was:
I've tried your white bread, 100% whole wheat bread, and the mixture bread (white/wheat.) The white turned out the worst, just flat. I'm having trouble in two areas: 1) lack of rising, and 2) low flavor.
My response:
Hi Amy,
The lack of rising is most likely because of one of three things: poor quality yeast (too old or otherwise not active), not enough kneading, or not enough gluten in the flour. Most likely with a new baker it is not enough kneading. It may help to set a timer when kneading the bread to make sure you are kneading long enough, and start the timer once you have put enough flour into the dough so that it is no longer sticky.
For the flavor, did you add the salt to the bread? The salt tends to make a world of difference in the flavor and texture, I have found. Also, what sort of oil did you use? The oil may make a difference in the flavor of the bread. I usually use either butter or olive oil. Usually olive oil, as I like the flavor. Something with less flavor may affect the flavor of the bread.
Also, when the bread rises well it also slices better, and thus works better for sandwiches. The kind of knife you use for slicing bread also makes a big difference, as well as letting it cool completely before it is sliced.
Turkey Tips
Written by Kimberly Eddy Monday, 16 November 2009 11:57
I received this question from Ann:
Hello, dear Kimberly! I always enjoy your blog. Do you have any helpful pointers for making turkey? this is my first year having Thanksgiving at my house. I'm a little nervous. My husband says, "Just throw it in the roaster. It can't be that hard." Thank you.
Hello Ann,
I love doing Thanksgiving at my house, and I cook plenty of turkey all year long too. All of my life, I heard the ladies in the family complain or whine about having to make the turkey, and that made me think it must be so very complicated to prepare Thanksgiving dinner. I was a little scared of it...but it wasn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Cleaning the kitchen aftewards...well, that's another topic. ~smile~
Well, Hubby is sort of correct. The essence of what you are doing is sticking the bird in your roaster. However, here are some things that may make it easier.
Review: Basic Cake Decorating with Mrs. Kathy Brodock
Written by Kimberly Eddy Monday, 23 February 2009 00:00
Growing up learning Calculus, Advanced Chemistry, and reading Chaucer, I sadly missed out on other skills that I now use every day, namely homemaking skills. As a young wife and mother, beginning my career as a stay home mom (quite different from the training I had received), I tried to catch up on learning things I wish I had learned in the first place. This task of learning was difficult as there were few resources I could find that truly helped me.
That's why I appreciate Mrs.Kathy Brodock and her ministry www.TeachingGoodThings.com, because she is providing resources that will help to teach and disciple other young wives and mothers who also didn''t get their training early in life. Even better, you can use her wonderful resources to help you in training your own daughters, as I am doing.
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When deciding which of Mrs. Brodock''s DVDs to get first, the choice was easy: ">Cake Decorating. Why? Because that is one thing that I either outsource to others, or do a lousy job at, though I have always wanted to learn. Being an artsy sort of person, I've figured it can''t be that hard to learn, but alas every workshop I've taken or book I''ve read has been of no help to me. I figured the real test here would be whether or not she could teach me (yes, even me) how to decorate a cake that didn''t look like I had fallen somewhere in the process. Worst comes to worst, I figured, maybe one of my girls could learn how to do cakes and take that job off of my hands. Up until I watched Kathy Brodock's DVD, my pastry bag and star tip were used almost exclusively for filling taco shells with sour cream.
As soon as Mrs. Brodock''s DVD arrived, I popped it into the DVD player and started watching. Even though the video was done on a home video camera and not produced slickly in a studio like other instructional videos, the content is superior, and the quality of both sound and video is well done. In a real-life, practical, down-to-earth way, Kathy Brodock takes you by the hand and shows you how to do it, making no assumptions that you already know things like how to fill a pastry bag with icing, or how to even make your own icing for that matter. For the record, I found out while watching the video that I had been doing both wrong all along. I felt like I had a girlfriend over, showing me how it's done.
I wasn''t the only one watching the cake decorating DVD, though. Each of my children were soon digging through the pantry to see if we had some Crisco and powdered sugar so they could whip up some icing to practice with. For the rest of that week, too rainy to work in the garden or play outside, my girls practiced making cake decorations on waxed paper, then scraping it back into the bowls to practice more again tomorrow. They watched the engaging DVD over and over again, and even the neighbor''s girls joined in and practiced making roses, leaves, stems, clowns, and more.
Mrs. Kathy Brodock has really hit on something big with these training DVDs that offer practical Titus 2 style training in a style that anyone can understand.
I''ve included some pictures to show you just how effective her video really is.
~Esther (age 10), ready for action~
~some first samples of piping and stars~
~Anastasia, age 11, did this rose on the first try, thanks to some wonderful instructions!~
~The Girls did this Thank You for Mrs. Brodock after they were done
~Esther, age 10, and Isobel, age 9, designed this cake all by themselves, just from watching the video
And Proof that Kathy Brodock was able to teach this old dog a few new tricks:
Success on the first try!
So, if you are looking for an easy to use video for decorating cakes, I give Basic Cake Decorating with Kathy Brodock 5 stars, and two thumbs up. One of my girls said it should be more like 10 thumbs up because each of them are also giving it two thumbs up too. :-)Look at www.TeachingGoodThings.com for more quality videos and instructional materials to better learn new skills for hearth and home, and to pass those skills onto the next generation.
Intro to Bulk Food Shopping
Last Updated on Wednesday, 10 March 2010 12:04 Written by Kimberly Eddy Monday, 10 November 2008 00:00
This week Saturday, I went to my bulk food store, and got some great deals, including an amazing box of apples for just $5. They are red delicious, emphasis on the DELICIOUS.
Someone emailed me recently with a question about bulk shopping, and I guessed it would be useful to post my response to her here:
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