I am so tired

[hippywife]

and I have bread to bake yet. Who's staying up with me. It's just after 11 p.m. here.

[Lucinda]

1. I'm here...reading beer bread recipes.

Why do you have to bake tonight?

[hippywife]

2. So I can take this food

over to my friend's family tomorrow. I was going to bake the bread in the morning, my first attempt at Ain5, and I re-read the instructions and it said to let it sit for 40 minutes before baking. That threw off my schedule.

I love beer bread. :9

[Lucinda]

3. Ahh....that explains it. I tried the NYT no knead today. Pretty loaf but

the Ain5 tastes way better.

I'm wading through reviews on a beer bread that I found at Recipe Zaar
http://www.recipezaar.com/Beer-Bread-73440

I usually do cornbread with chili but I wanted to do a Guiness bread, this one is no yeast. Looks interesting.

[Lucinda]

4. Do you have a fav beer bread recipe?

I've never made one before...

[hippywife]

6. I haven't made it before

but a friend of mine does. It's wonderful.

When do I slash my Ain5? Just before I throw it in the oven? They weren't too specific on timing in the Mother Earth article.

[Lucinda]

7. Yup. Thats when I do mine.

[hippywife]

9. Thanx. I'm going to buy the book

and started to order it last week but I want to order Cookwise, too, and it was out of stock. I want that savings on shipping! :)

[Lucinda]

10. I 'm getting a copy from interlibrary loan to make sure I want it

I've got three no knead books that look interesting but i'm only going to buy one...so i'm taking them all for a test drive.

I want a shipping deal too. LOL

[hippywife]

11. That's what I did with

Ain5, Cookwise, and Bakewise. I want all three but want to order them all together. The library is a great resource for checking out cookbooks before buying them.

[Lucinda]

12. I think so too....I dont need a zillion books

And with a lot of cookbooks, there aren't that many recipes that I want to try. Ain5 is an exception. I really want to try their bagels and brioche too.

I need to lookup Cookwise and Bakewise. I don't think i've researched either title.

[hippywife]

13. I have a mess of cookbooks

but the funny thing is that I always end up searching the internet for recipes. LOL I need to change that.

[Lucinda]

14. I do too! Mostly ethnic and a few vegetarian and bread. I love doing the internet search though

because you get reviews from people who have made the recipes. Tips, variations etc.

[hippywife]

15. Yeah, that one of the things I do like

about some of the sites. Time to put the first two loaves in!

[Lucinda]

16. Cool! Soon you can sleep!

[hippywife]

17. I am such a klutz sometimes!

I had two loaves on the underside of a large cookie sheet with lots of cornmeal and they still were trying to stick. I dumped a bunch of cornmeal into the broiler pan and the bottom of the oven. It's in there burning and stinking but I can't do anything about it now. Graceful I ain't! LOL I put the rest of the dough in the fridge. These two are all I'm going to make it through tonight.

I made mushroom tomato sauce, thinly sliced three eggplants and fried all of that and made two eggplant parmesan (some of the kids are vegetarian.) I bought salad fixings and I'm taking over some of our frash aigs. She and her husband always loved to get our eggs.

[Lucinda]

18. Oh gosh! I'm sorry.... that sucks! I don't use the cornmeal at all

I just dust them with flour, plop them out on a silpat or parchment paper and let them rise. I have a corn allergy, though I do eat masa from time to time, so I avoid the meal. I actually prefer the bread cooked in a covered container ( NYT recipe style). But the Ain5 dough is much tastier. So I mix and match now.

Eggplant parm sounds yummy! I'm sure they will appreciate it.

[hippywife]

19. I wonder if I can just

put the loaves on the rack to cool and go to bed. I would imagine the outer crust would keep them fresh through the night. They have them stacked out in the open on wooden racks at the organic bakery so I think it would be okay. What do you think?

[Lucinda]

20. Yup. I store mine on the counter. They also reheat beautifully

They'll be fine. Get some sleep!

[hippywife]

21. Here they are.

My slash patterns got messed up when they stuck to the cookie sheet but I think they are perfectly done and will taste just fine.



Now I must really go to bed. Thank you so much for keeping me company, Lucinda. You're a great friend. :hug:

[Lucinda]

22. They are beautiful! Well done chickie!

Sleep well!

[hippywife]

23. Thanx, doll.

You, too! :hi:

[grasswire]

5. I read elsewhere what you've been doing.

Blessings to you for cooking for a bereaved family. You're a good soul, HW. :-) I'd gladly help you if I could.

What do you think of this pie idea I had yesterday at the coffee house? I didn't have enough frozen peaches for a whole pie, so I googled "buttermilk peach pie" for basic proportions. I put the peaches in the food processor to make them into half inch chunks, and mixed it with the buttermilk egg custard filling. I added a little shot of cream sherry to the mix. When it was finished baking, I thinly glazed the top with melted orange marmalade. It was a real pretty pie. I hope it was tasty.

[hippywife]

8. It sounds delicious to me.

Don't you hate serving something you haven't tasted yet? Always makes me nervous, even if it's something I've fixed a hundred times before.

Thanx for the offer of help. Not much to do except sit here and wait for the oven to heat up now. Oh, and gazillion dishes piled up in there. Oy!