I was a baking MACHINE yesterday. The internet was out...what do you do when the internet is out?! Evan and I talked about it because we were both chomping at the bit for it to come back on, we were going MAD. It made me realize something. Our accessibility to the internet as we know it now, has been around for less than ten years. Ten years ago, people were still using dial up because high speed wasn't available to them. So that leads me to my next question...if, in ten years time, we have allowed the internet to consume us and control us this much, what do we have to look forward to in the next ten years? I'm not so sure I am excited about that. This is something I really want to work on, to limit my internet time, which will be tough! I use it for EVERYTHING! I Skype with my sisters and sister-in-law a lot (several days a week) I look up recipes, I get on Facebook, I Blog Surf, I watch Netflix, Hulu Plus, and I am an AVID Amazon Prime shopper...it's a problem.
So anyway, the whole lack of internet lead me to think about what to do...I turned on my Pandora (another internet user) on my phone and started doing laundry. Once you get laundry started though, you have to wait a while, so I was stuck again! I decided to start baking. We have some new neighbors in the area and thought it might be nice to take them some treats. We had some bananas that were on their last leg on the counter (those are the best for banana bread....but I prefer the black ones myself!) I started with the banana bread. I made two loaves. I then decided that I wanted to keep a loaf of banana bread and I wanted to make some REAL bread to take to the neighbors. I got out my Betty Crocker Bread book we bought it on Amazon originally but they no longer have the hard copy. They only have the Kindle version. (sad day) This book is so amazing. If you have a bread maker, you NEED this book.
Ok, enough jabber, here is the beautimus picture of my LOVELY bread....I know right? It's BEAUTIFUL. And it was so easy. And as the hubby stated, "it smells like Christmas!!!"
The recipe is as follows (I made modifications, of course...because I am my father's daughter and can't ever follow a recipe as it states...I at least know what to change and what has to stay the same!)
Here is the recipe!!!
Sweet Bread Wreath (my modified version)
1 wreath is 24 servings
For the bread:
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup sour cream (I used greek yogurt because I prefer it and it has less calories and fat!)
1 egg
3 cups bread flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
For the topping:
1 egg, beaten
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground anise (I don't like anise so I used cloves instead)
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Place all bread ingredients in the bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer (I put them in in the order they are listed in the recipe which happens to be how Breadman recommends (liquids first))
Turn you bread machine on and select Dough/Manual Cycle (you cannot use the delay feature here as it has eggs AND dairy in it!) Let the machine do its thing, then.....
Remove the dough (flour your hands because I some how managed to miss that key piece of advice...it's STICKY, folks!) You are supposed to cover it and let it rest for 10 minutes which I also happened to miss...I was just SO excited!
Once it has risen, place it in a pre-heated 350 degree oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. And...Just a couple more pictures for your enjoyment. This bread is so good, even without butter!
ENJOY!
Maybe tomorrow I will blog about the most phenomenal Apple Cake that I made! :)
