Making Bread With Daddy

Once a week, my hubby makes the family bread.  He took over this task when I was hugely pregnant with our second child and couldn't comfortably reach the counter.  (He was 9.5lbs after all...)  Each week, he has a wee helper.

It's great fun for the both of them!

Pizza

I made pizza the other night.  We love pizza!  Now that there are lots of yummy garden veggies, I like to experiment with different topping combinations.

Usually, all the kids get their own mini pizzas to work with.  They knead it, shape it, top it, and we bake it.  But that night, it was just me and Sweetpea.  I went with yellow squash, zucchini, green onions, fresh parsley, and our canned roasted red peppers from last years stash.  Oh, and cheese of course.

Guess what Sweetpea liked the best?

My standard pizza crust recipe is:
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. corn meal
1 scant T. yeast
1 tsp. salt
1 c. warm water
Mix all that together until it's nice and stringy.
Then add in as much white flour as you need to make a nice dough - usually about 1 - 1 1/2 cups for me.  Knead it until it's nice and elastic.  Cover it with a damp towel, and let rise for 20 - 30 minutes.  Flatten, top with whatever, bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes, top with cheese if you want cheese, and bake for another 5 - 7 minutes.   We bake ours on a pizza stone, so cooking times may vary if you use pans.

This crust happens to not be that recipe.  Nick made whole wheat bread dough the night before, so I just used that.  Also truly delicious.

I also made the standard red sauce variety.

Wish it wasn't all gone.  Writing this post is making me want more pizza!!!

What do you like to put on your pizza?

Happy Bread Baking to You...

Remember these fabrics?  So far they have made this:

It's official name is the bread-taker-outer - for removing hot bread from the stone in the oven.  And it's a birthday gift to my husband, Nick.  He has become the bread baker in our home, baking bread each weekend for us to chow on throughout the week - as pb&j breads, toast, sandwiches, dipping, slathered with hummus, soon topped with tomatoes, or even plain.  I found our potholders to be insufficiently large for such a task.  So I made one.  It measures about 10.5 inches by 6 inches, and is made with quilters cottons and 3 layers of natural cotton batting.  I made an initial version and had WAY a LOT of trouble with the binding (sensing a pattern here?).  So I made a second one whose binding is still flawed, but at least I can stand to be in the same room with it!

So, happy bread baking to you, Nick.  I'm hoping for lots of breads coming soon to a table near me.  And an early Happy Birthday to you (really it's tomorrow, but I couldn't wait).

I have one other project in mind for these fabrics...