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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1981)
ezzia umo jhoa aj/ei/u ^japjo al/m Thursday. IMoveiriber 12. Baking bread without panic By Debbie Nelson Battalion Staff Let one thing be understood: any dunderhead with a little patience can bake homemade bread. Contrary to popular myth, the art of baking bread is not whispered to a chosen few by mystical voices. Non-domestic- type people are impressed by the bakers of bread because a) they didn't belong to a 4-H Club and learn down-home kitchen skills, b) they didn't have a grandmother who passed down the sacred family bread recipe, or c) Poppin' Fresh is the closest they've come to baking. But you can do it and be admired by all. Pick a day when you don't have much (besides baking) that you want to get done. Creativity takes time. Bread is made of five basic ingredients: flour, sugar, liquid, fat and those tiny little powdery things called yeast. They make bread bread instead of card board. Yes, yeast is available in Col lege Station. Any grocery store worth it's produce sells yeast, usually next to the spices. Yeast is sold in foi) packets, with three %\. TVaI's enough, to raise more loaves of bread than you'll eat in a month, un less you're considering opening a bakery. Bread recipes range from raisin to pumpernickel to sour dough. But for a first-time bak er, white bread is probably the best. Wonder and Pepperidge Farms, move over. First-time White Bread 5 3/4 to 6 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 package dry yeast 2 1/4 cups milk 2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon shortening 2 teaspoons salt Combine 2 1/2 cups of the flour with the yeast. Heat re maining ingredients in a sauce pan, stirring until warm and the shortening melts. Add to dry ingredients in the mixing bowl. With an electric mixer, beat at low speed for 30 seconds. (It is possible to do this stirring by hand). Scrape the sides of thee bowl to mix in all the flour. Then beat at high speed for 3 minutes. (Not possible for weaklings stir ring by hand.) Then stir in enough of the re maining flour, with a spoon, to make a moderately stiff dough. You are going to turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and don't want it to run all over the floor. But don't make it as stiff as Play-Doh, or your bread could serve as a doorstop. Spread a thin layer of flour on a flat surface. (A countertop works well). Turn the dough out onto the flour. You are going to knead it for 8 to 10 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic. To knead dough: curve fin gers over side of dough farthest from you. Fold dough toward you, then press down and away from you to seal the edges. Turn the dough a quarter turn, then repeat. The dough will become satiny and elastic. We offer a full variety of mixed drinks, domestic and imported beers, and a menu of sandwiches, salads, steaks and oysters. NOW OPEN SUNDAY 5 p.m.-ll p.m. woodstone commerce center on hwy. 30 (If the dough starts to stick to the countertop or your hands, sprinkle on a little more flour. But not too much). Shape dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl. Turn the dough over once to grease the surface. Cover the bowl with a cloth and put it in a warm place. Warm place = near a hot air register, near a coffeepot = near 80 degrees. Let rise until double, about 1 1/4 hours. (Too much heat kills the yeast). The dough will have puffed up magically. Punch the dough down by folding the edges into the center. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and divide in half. Shape each half into a smooth ball. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. (You'd need a rest, too, if people were poking and punching you). Shape into loaves. To do this, roll or flatten one of the halves into a 12 x 8-inch rectangle. Starting from a narrow edge, roff up the dough into a loaf. At each turn, press the dough together with the palm of your hand or your fingertips. This makes a good tight loaf. Then press each of the ends to seal, and fold them under the loaf. Repeat with other half of the dough. Nestle each loaf in a greased bread pan. For variety, try a round pan or shape the dough into a heart. Cover and let rise again, in a warm place, for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the bread starts popping out of the pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 mi nutes or until golden brown. Brush the tops with melted but ter before baking to add extra flavor. If the tops brown too quickly, covet with an alumi num foil tent during last 15 mi nutes of baking. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks or a burner on the stove (don't turn it on). That's it. You probably will want to take full-color snapshots of your masterpiece. It may hurt you to see some one slice into the golden crust, but when you and your admir ing friends dig into thick slices of steaming bread covered with slabs of melting butter, all the work will be worth it. Homemade soup warms up the soul By Debbie Nelson Battalion Staff When the cold wind turns your nose red, nothing is better for raising the spirits than a bowl of hot, homemade soup. Soup is an inexpensive meal that's easy to make. You can probably whip up most of these recipes with items already per ched in your refrigerator. Real Homemade Mexican Food Open till 3 a.m. Saturdays, 10 p.m. Weekdays Open at 6 a.m. for breakfast Banquet facilities available Sunnyland MEXICAN RESTAURANT Bring in this ad for a free coke with current TAMU I.D. TOWNSHIRE UNIVERSITY DRIVE (And for a really hearty cold- weather meal, check out the bread recipe also on this page.) Just pretend you're the cook for a chuckwagon, simmering soup for the tired cowhands. Or play grandmother and take a warm container of soup to a sick friend. Soup revs you up, fills your stomach and clears your sinuses. And it's a nice change from burgers and fries. Quickie Soup 1/2 pound hamburger 1 bay leaf 3 cups water 1 carrot 2 stalks celery 1 small onion 1 small tomato 1/4 cup rice or barley 1/2 teaspoon salt Dash pepper 2 or 3 beef bouillon cubes Brown hamburger. Add bay See page 12