Bread Attempt #3 - Honey White Bread

Dave wanted homemade bread for his PB&Js that he sometimes brings for lunch. He is a fan of the soft Wonderbread type texture - but wary of the 35 ingredients on the $1 loafs - so I said I'd try to re-create it for him. I dug around and checked out a bunch of recipes and decided on Ina Garten's "Honey White Bread" from her new cookbook mostly because Ina is just fabulous and all the recipes I've tried from her cookbooks have delivered the goods. I was surprised at some of the ingredients in the bread - mostly because I assumed it was flour, yeast, salt & water - but this bread has honey (ok, duh, hence the name?!), whole milk and an egg yolk in addition to the regular stuff. I'm getting the hang of the mixing, rising, re-mixing gig that most bread recipes seem to have but I'm still very pleasantly surprised when my dough has risen or doubled in size in a few hours! This bread has a lot of yeast in it so it was hard to mess up - but after a few hours (mostly of rise time), I had a loaf in the oven. Turned out a thumbs up loaf of bread - not quite as soft as Wonderbread but better tasting for sure. The problem we've run into with the fresh baked breads is that it doesn't stay fresh for very long. So we had to improvise - heated sanwiches as the week went on and then french toast on the weekend. But it was all pretty good - nice pictures, no?

New Favorite Oil

Dave is immersed in studying for finals so not much activity going on out here. The most exciting thing lately is that I found these nut oils (from Northern Cal, of course!) at, of all places, Marshall's! I'd read a lot about these newer oils as options to olive oil. Avocado, Walnut, Grapeseed were just a few that I've wanted to try - but didn't think I'd find them out here. They are made by La Tourangelle - ironically enough - in Dixon, CA! So I picked up a grapeseed, a walnut and an almond. So far, we've tried the two nut oils and truly, it's a revelation! Salads (I don't buy salad dressing, just use oil/vinegar) are super fragrant and taste as good as they smell and bread dipped in the oil is a no-carb-diet nightmare. I don't usually gush about food products (maybe about actual food, like a delicious burger!) but these are better than advertised. Best of all, it's all healthy due to the high concentration of Omega 3/6/9s & natural anti-oxidents. I am not kidding when I say that I make a super simple salad (greens, walnut oil, a bit of some type of acid (lemon or some type of vinegar), salt & pepper and Dave will say "This walnut oil is the bomb!". If you get the chance, I'd recommend you pick some up - and enjoy!