Hopelessly Flawed

I don't usually have very many pictures of myself - being that I am always the one "behind" the camera. Once in a while it gets turned on me and when it does, it isn't usually pretty. (For example the "windstorm" picture with my friend Tina in the sidebar!) The picture here was taken this weekend at the youth's "progressive dinner". Anybody that knows me at all will recognize this as quite typical. (laughing at me is the pastor's daughter, Missy on the right who I am sure will be happy to find her picture here as well!)
And while I am confessing my faults, let me say that the other day, I had not one but TWO WHOLE BATCHES (that's 8 loaves) of bread flop. The first batch flopped because I forgot to add yeast. Flour + water + oil - yeast = bricks! The second batch was put in the oven before I left for church, and although I asked Travis to take it OUT of the oven in 30 minutes (when the timer went off), he claims he didn't hear me. I came home to 4 lovely charcoal briquettes!
How about you? Are you weird? Do you fail? Aren't you glad that Jesus loves us anyway? But don't you sometimes ask yourself why???

My Favorite Bread Recipe – Buttermilk Oat Bread

Ever since I got a Bosch kitchen mixer, I've been making our family's daily bread. I really do enjoy it most of the time, although there are days when I wish I didn't have to do it. It isn't that it's hard – it's just those days when it is just one more thing to do. However, the results are so wonderful that we don't really like store bought bread anymore – and find most of the time, even the better brands that we used to swear by taste much like a dried up sponge. I have tried several different recipes that we've liked, but boy did we find a great one last week. I hadn't tried it before because it called for "buttermilk powder" – and it wasn't a staple ingredient I had in the cupboard. I think this is the favorite of the whole family. The recipe is from Marmee Dear's Bread Basket Cookbook.

Buttermilk Oat Bread

Mill 2 cups hard wheat in your mill – set aside (I don't do that – I just use whole wheat flour)

Place these ingredients in your mixer equipped with dough hook:

4 cups boiling water

1 ½ cups oatmeal flakes

9 Tbsp softened butter

9 Tbsp raw sugar or granulated sugar

1 ½ Tbsp sea salt

9 Tbsp dry buttermilk powder

Add the wheat flour from above – then add:

2 Tbsp SAF yeast (or any brand – I can never find SAF)

Unbleached bread flour will be used in the next step.

Mix until ingredients are combined with the mixer on a low speed. Now begin adding unbleached bread four, 1 cup at a time, until dough begins to clean away from sides of mixer bowl. Add flour very carefully as you only want a soft, workable dough. Do not add TOO much flour but dough should be able to be handled and not sticky. Knead on medium speed for 6 minutes. Let dough "rest" for 1 hour. Turn mixer on briefly to deflate dough. Turn dough out onto clean oiled surface. Form loaves and place into greased loaf pans. If desired, brush with egg wash and sprinkle tops of loaves with oatmeal flakes. Let rise for 45 minutes. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes. If tops have not been sprinkled with oatmeal, brush hot loaves with soft butter. Let loaves cool in pans for 5 minutes after removing from oven. Remove to cooling racks and cool completely. Cool completely before slicing.

This bread makes for a GREAT peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but we've also enjoyed roast beef and havarti, ham and cheese, etc.