Brisbee and THE Bread

I haven't done a recipe post in a while, but have I got some news for you: whole wheat bread! I got this killer recipe from my bishop's wife in CO, Marian Richards, who got it from her visiting teacher who got it from her bishop's wife. You know a recipe with a lineage, has got to be good. So good! Riley and Joe eat it up. It calls for ascorbic acid and gluten flour, which I have never used before, but I braved Whole Foods for them because it's worth it.

Also, I made naan bread to go with our curry tonight, and I have to say: I make an exceptional naan. So soft and chewy and delicious, perfect to scoop up your rice and chicken with, or snack on later...mmm. (that was me, literally snacking right now. But I had to wipe the butter off my fingers before I could type that.) So, there's your bonus recipe right there.

But first: a video for your viewing pleasure. They don't care how bad they are at it, they just were having a swell time!

You know, I never regret it when I take the time to just relax and play with them, unstructured, not distracted with chores or phone. We hung out in their little playroom for about three hours yesterday, reading books, and having a "sleepover" with their sleeping backs from Uncle Wora, playing "socca ball" and "bisbee." It was restorative.

3 Crumbs Wheat Bread

2 1/3 cup very warm water
2 Tbs instant dry yeast
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup honey
1/4 tsp. ascorbic acid (Might be labeled as "Vitamin C" in Whole Foods, but look at the ingredients on the bottle - if it just says "ascorbic acid", that means you're good)
1/2 Tbs salt
1/8 cup gluten flour (Rob's Red Mill)
6 cups wheat flour, or 4 cups wheat and two white
*I do it with the wheat/white combination because that is how Marian made the loaf she gave us and I didn't want to mess with perfection. But you want whole wheat, you do it!
*Ascorbic acid enhances the yeast and cuts the rising time. You can probably do without it if you have the time.

Place water in mixing bowl. Add yeast, oil, honey, ascorbic acid, and gluten flour. When the yeasts starts to get puffy, mix in salt, and then about 4 cups of flour. Mix well, then gradually add in the other 2 cups of flour. You might need to add more - elevation makes a difference so making this in MN versus Denver, I had to add an extra cup.

Knead until the dough is smooth and satiny and leaves the sides of the bowl.

Coat a large bowl with oil, put dough in the bowl, turning to coat the whole ball. Let rise till double (about 1/2 an hour), punch down and divide into 2 loaves (or whatever size/number loaves you want) and place in lightly greased loaf pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, let loaves rise about 15 minutes and then put it in.

Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes (you can use a meat thermometer and take it out when it registers and internal temp of 190-195 and the tops are medium-light brown.) Remove from oven and loaf pans and place on cooling rack, brush melted butter over the top and let cool (if you can! Your house will smell like fresh bread at this point!)

If it's quiet too long, they might be in the bandaids. "I'm making Joe feel better, Mom!"

Now for the naan. Adapted from here.

Naan: great side for Indian food, or dare I say, any food.

3/4 cup warm water
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. active dry yeast
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 1/2 cup flour, plus a sprinkle for work space

Mix water, sugar, and yeast in a bowl, let stand till foamy, about 5 minutes. Mix in garlic salt, mix in flour, knead on floured surface about 20 times, fully incorporating flour (it may still be a little sticky, but should mostly hold together). Form into a ball, place in an oiled bowl and cover with wax paper or damp towel, let rise in a warm place (like a slightly heated oven. Make sure it's off though! Yeah, I've made that mistake!)

Let rise 30 minutes. It won't rise too much, but that's okay. Take it out and divide dough into 4, roll out pieces on floured surface nice and thin, abut 1/8 of an inch. Place on medium-high heat - griddle works best, but can use a pan as well. Cook about 2 minutes on each side, till lightly browned; remove from heat and brush with garlic butter. Each naan can feed 2 normal people, as they are very dense. I love them, so I have had one and a half. But everyone else was good with half of one. Luckily.

Bonus bonuses: great curry recipe's here and here. Ooh - and a tikka masala to die for.