Bread and Gravel

Today I wanted to bake bread to go with my tomato soup. I'm making another batch of the soup to take to my mom who returns on Friday after 6 weeks at their cabin in the CA mountains. And it will be our dinner tonight. While Bob went for a load of gravel, I put together the dough for Oatmeal Walnut bread and set it out to proof. This is the dough during the 2nd proofing. Actually, I didn't "set it out", I set it inside my oven which I had preheated to 200 degrees, then turned off. My farrier likes to bake bread and asked me "Do you have a proofing drawer?" Huh? In our cool, humid climate proofing can be a challenge so everyone has their little tricks. Mine is to set the dough outside if it's 70 degrees or warmer. But today was 60 and cool. So in the warm oven it went. Now its time to go outside to rake the path after Bob dumps the gravel. (He is gonna kill me for posting this pic). Bob and his trusty little John Deere. This was a gift from Mom and Herm and Bob loves it. He uses it a great deal around the property. He picked-up the gravel in our 1-ton Ford dually, then when he got home he shoveled it into the little trailer. The least I can do is rake, and supervise.

The path is rustic, but it looks nice; defining a walk way, through this island in our driveway, from the garage to the house. Another project will be to put in low-voltage path lights. Surely we can do that?

By now the bread is ready to bake. I tell ya, shoveling & raking, not to mention the wood stacking we've done, is really good for the stomach muscles. This bread will be great along with the soup.

I must give you this bread recipe. It is on the back of King Arthur's Unbleached Bread Flour sack. Simple to make and really good as morning toast or for sandwiches.

Oatmeal Walnut Bread

3 C's unbleached bread flour

1 C old fashioned oats

2 Tbs butter (warm along with the milk)

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 Tbs brown sugar or honey

2 tsp instant yeast OR 1 packet active dry yeast*

1 1/4 C lukewarm milk

3/4 C finely chopped walnuts

*if you are using active dry yeast, dissolve it in the warm milk before combining with the remaining ingredients.

Stand Mixer method: In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all of the dry ingredients, mixing to combine, then pour in the lukewarm milk with the melted butter. Using the dough hook, knead the dough for 5 minutes. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover and allow it to rest for 1 hour; it'll become quite puffy, though it may not double in bulk.

Then transfer the dough to a lightly oiled 9"x5" loaf pan and smoosh it to fit inside (be sure to oil up to the rim of the pan). Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hurs, till it is crested 1-2 inches over the rim of the pan.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. If the bread is browning too quickly, tent it with foil for the final 10 minutes of baking. Allow to cool a bit, turn out onto a rack and allow to cool more.