Day 4 - Bread

Dinner last night: I made spinach and bean stew with bulgur. It was meh. Not terrible, not great. But I'm pretty sure it was my own fault that it wasn't as good as it could have been. I didn't have the peppers so I did it without them, that may have been part of it. I chose chick peas for the bean, thinking the texture would be good, but they were too earthy, or something. Just not quite right. I also sauted fresh baby spinach because I had them on hand and they made the broth kind of murky. It could be tweaked.


Something you should know about me - I could think a thing to death. I mean it, if a task could die by being thought about and never acted upon, I would be the murderer. Like taking updating my blog (before I started this vegetarian challenge) for an excellent example, if I don't sit down and force myself to write a post, then it will never, ever get written. I'm the same with other projects too. I think about what I want to get done, what it will look like, how it will turn out, but I never get to it! But I think my biggest hang up to date, of all my life, is baking bread. I really want to bake bread and get good at it, but I am so intimidated by the entire process that I just never do it. I've read that you have to keep trying and doing different things and tweaking it and it may not turn out, and that discourages me before I'm even out of the gate. I mean, I've made banana, apple and zucchini bread, but those don't really count. I'm talking about real, rising, yeasty goodness. Then yesterday my sister-in-law sent me a recipe that she makes (thanks, Sarah!) and told me (twice!) how fool-proof it is, so I decided to go for it. She was right, too, it was so easy. I am happy to show you my very first loaf of bread! I'm hoping this will just be the confidence boost I need to branch out and do more. 

Here is the bread recipe, if you would like to try it for yourself:

1 1/2 cups of warm water, Sometimes I have to add a tiny bit more water

1/2 cup wheat flour

2 1/2 cups white flour (Sarah suggested half white and half wheat instead and that's what I did)

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. yeast

Mix flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Add water and mix, being careful not to over-mix. The dough will be wet and sticky.

Cover the dough with a dish cloth or rest a lid on top. Let the dough rise for a minimum of four hours or until the dough has doubled in size. It is actually best to leave the dough out overnight.

Take the dough out and shape it. Let it rest for 30 minutes. Bake at 425 for about 30 minutes.