Happy No Rhyme (Nor Reason) Day!

Today is national No Rhyme (Nor Reason) day.  I'm sure you are all going to be celebrating this wonderful holiday!  In case you aren't in the know, and have never heard about this holiday, it is the day that we celebrate those words in the English language that do not rhyme with any other word.

Have you thought of any yet?  If not, let me give you a few:

• orange
• bulb
• month
• amongst
• fifth
• flange
• pierced
• false

There are actually quite a few and the list above is just a very small list.  Did you think of any others?  Comment below and let me know if you can add to the list.

This past weekend we had some friends come to the farm that we hadn't seen in quite awhile.  We had a great time just visiting with them, and they were able to see all the new additions that we have.  We got out the dutch oven and made campfire chili and fry bread over an open fire.  It was delish!  Our friends happen to be YouTubers just like we are.  The funny part is that there was hardly a time when something happened that there wasn't at least one person yelling out "get your camera!" or "why isn't anybody filming this?"  After awhile we all started laughing about it.

However because of us wanting to film just about everything we did, we got some great videos.  Some will be posted soon to my channel at Henslee Farm Adventures .  In the meantime, you can watch this great video from RobThePirate about their time at the Henslee Farm.  Once your done, please check out his other videos, they are cool and funny!

In other news, I will be starting my Christmas gift making series.  I will be showing you some things you can make for Christmas gifts.  After all there are only 114 days  or only a little less than 4 months until Christmas!
 

2 comments bread, cast iron, cooking, family, farm, friends, holidays, simple living, yeast bread

Homemade Kefir Bread - A Bread Machine Recipe

How many of you have had kefir?  To be honest, even though I had seen it in stores, I really didn't pay any attention to it.

Then the other day, my sister texted me and asked if I wanted all the ingredients to make kefir.  The catch?  It had to be made immediately.  So before I said yes, I started doing some research online.  I realized that it wasn't that hard to make, and it was very good for you, so I said yes!

Once you get started making kefir, it just keeps going.  The grains grow or expand and you can use them over and over.  In fact, once they get to a certain size, you can even share them with friends.  You can see how to make kefir by watching my YouTube video.

Kefir is a great probiotic.  Like yogurt it provides the good bacteria needed in your gut.  In fact, it is even more powerful than yogurt!  It also provides great nutrients that your body needs like protein, calcium, magnesium, vitamin B12, and so on.  It also has antibacterial properties and can help aid in bone health.  The list goes on and on.

I decided that I wanted to do something different with the kefir.  I love bread.  I know there are different ideas on whether or not bread is good for you, but there is just no way that I can ever do without it.  So why not try and make it as healthy as possible? 

For the ingredients, I use a non GMO unbleached white flour, a non GMO evaporated can juice sugar, grassfed butter, and homemade kefir.  My salt and yeast are plain janes. :-)

Kefir bread ingredients...if you look real close you can see a tomato and cucumber peeking out.

For my ancient bread machine (which still works so hey, why get a new one?) I need to put the wet ingredients in first, then the dry, with the yeast on top.  I then select the "Normal" bread machine setting and push start.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

The cycle takes 2 hours and 40 minutes.  It was the longest time of my life.  The aroma of the bread baking was so good, I couldn't wait.

And then, it made the prettiest loaf!  I usually use a standard bread machine recipe, and last night when I wanted to make some bread, I couldn't find my old stand by recipe.  So I used the basic ingredients that I always use, only added in kefir.  Also my standard recipe calls for shortening, which is why I used the butter.  I did cut down on the yeast a little bit because the kefir also helps with the rising. 

Can't wait to eat a slice!

I had to wait till the morning to actually slice into this loaf and taste it.  I love the texture!  It is dense, but light and soft.  It will make a great sandwich bread.  You can actually taste the kefir in it and it reminds me a little of sourdough.  It is soooo good!

I hope you enjoy this recipe and let me know below how you use kefir.

To get the print version of the recipe, click HERE.

9 comments bread, bread machine, kefir, Our Videos, recipes, yeast bread

Throw-Back-Thursday Recipe Post - Simple Yeast Bread

I just love Throw-Back-Thursday or otherwise known as tbt.  I love seeing all the pictures on Facebook and at times I will get tagged in pictures from my younger days.  I thought it would be a great idea to make every Thursday here a tbt with a great recipe from my parents or grandparents.

So today I am sharing with you a very simple recipe for yeast bread.  This recipe comes from my mom who uses it for her homemade rolls.  When I made this yesterday for my family, I made it into two loaves of bread.

I thought I would share a picture of my mom.  In fact this is my mom and dad circa 1960.  They were not married yet, but I believe that they were engaged at this time.  They were on their way to my dad's brother's wedding.  I just love the clothes, the hat, the gloves.  Ah, why can't we dress like that anymore?

My mom and dad circa 1960

 Anyway, back to the bread.  Have you ever gotten recipes from your family and just by looking at it you know that not all the steps are included?  Well this is how this recipe was.  Luckily I love to bake and I knew the steps to making the bread.  I will of course include the steps here for you.

So the recipe that my mom gave me was this:

Yeast Bread
2 cups warm water
1/3 cup sugar (a little more)
1/4 cup melted shortening (not oil)
1 egg
2 pkgs yeast
1 1/2 t. salt
6 cups flour

Mix first 6 ingredients together.  Place in a greased bowl and cover.  This will also keep in refrigerator.

That's it.  That's all she wrote. Literally. Now if you follow these directions, you add in all the ingredients except for the flour.  Then place in a greased bowl and cover.  So like I said before I think there might be a few steps missing. ;-)

So here are my ingredients that I have ready for the bread.  I just have to say that I love my little baking corner that I have set up in my kitchen.  It makes it so handy to bake, and cook for that matter!

My ingredients

I do mix the first 6 ingredients together and that is what you see next.  Actually you see them before I mix them together.

First 6 ingredients

Next I add the flour.  I first add 3 cups and mix it up.  Then I add another 2 cups and mix that.  That is what you see below.  It is a sticky dough and it still needs more flour, but I like to add that last cup as I am kneading the dough.

After 5 cups of flour added

So here is my dough after I have kneaded the last cup into the dough.  You want a nice and soft smooth dough.

Kneaded dough

Now this is where you will put it in a greased bowl and cover.  From here you have two options.  You can let it rise which is what I did.  You want it to rise until doubled which for me was about an hour.  Or you can put it in the refrigerator overnight and take it out the next day to get it ready for the second rising.

After first rise

So here you see how my dough has doubled.  I need to take out the dough and divide it in two equal parts.

Ready for second rising

I form each of those parts into loafs and put them in a greased loaf pan.  Now they are ready to rise for the second time.  This time it will only take about 30 minutes to rise.  Be sure and keep an eye on your dough.  I know from experience that I have let it risen too long (because I forgot about it) and they fell.  :-(

Ready for oven

Now they are ready to bake in a 350°F preheated oven.  They will need to bake for 25-30 minutes. See my beautiful loaves below!  Now the hardest part of the whole recipe is waiting until they are cool to slice into them.

Beautiful baked bread!

What a beautiful soft bread!  Tastes so wonderful and I love this bread toasted with some homemade jelly on top!  To get the printable version of this recipe, go here.

Pass the jelly, please!

Tell me in the comments below what you think of this recipe and let me know if you have a favorite bread recipe.

1 comment baking, bread, recipes, tbt, yeast bread