Cornbread sans the cornmeal

I made up this recipe. Well, not really, but I experimented.

Don't buy that Jiffy blue box cornbread. ick, ick, ick.

I made this cornbread with a combination of buckwheat flour, ww pastry flour and some white flour. If you have fresh baking powder to give cornbread its rise, you can mix any kind of flours, an egg, some oil and some buttermilk.

Also, be sure to heat up your cast iron pan (yes, must have cast iron!!) before adding the mixture. Cornbread doesn't have to be with corn. So, I guess this is Buckwheat bread instead.

homemade white bread

I can't recommend this site enough! Although new recipes are infrequent, they are amazing and they are the type to be made over and over again. Susan hasn't ever disappointed me. Her recipes are wonderful.

http://ayearinbread.earthandhearth.com/2008/08/sandwich-loaf-recipes-on-year-in-bread.html


Now to be honest, I am not really a fan of white bread. But, that was before I made my own. I buy large quantities of flour from my food coop. Currently, I am using the Swany Flour. Wiki has some interesting info about them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swany_White_Flour_Mills

I am certain that there is nothing better in the world than a BLT on this bread with local bacon, your own homegrown heirloom yellow tomato and beet greens. I forgot to take a picture, but trust me, it was delicious!

Beer bread

My version of Farmgirl Susan's beerbread.

Whole Wheat Beer Bread with Homebrew

2 C. flour (organic please)
1 C. whole wheat flour (organic)
1 T. of baking powder
1/2 T. sugar
2 heaping T. of dried oregano
1/2 (or 1) t. of red pepper flakes
1 C. (more or less) of hand-shredded parmesan (I buy it in large 1 lb hunks - none of that green can junk from the supermarket)
12 oz of beer. This it the part that brings it all home. I use a homebrewed Nut Brown Ale. It makes all the difference in the world. Our Nut Brown Ale is thick and brown and flavorful. It gives the bread a gorgeous brown color. A storebought Nut Brown ale would most likely work as well. (Those mass marketed large brewery beers work but I really recommend you just pony up the $9 for a good local microbrew.) When we bottle our beer, I save the extra that doesn't quite fit in a bottle in the fridge in a canning jar. Will keep for up to 2 weeks. Has no carbonation but that doesn't matter for this recipe.

Preheat oven to 375.

Stir together all the ingredients except the beer. Add the beer and mix - it will be thick and sticky. Let sit for 20 minutes so the flour can hydrate (very important step!!). Turn into an oiled loaf pan (I use a generous amount of vegetable oil). Bake for 55+ minutes. Remove from oven, cool on rack for 10 minutes, turn out onto rack. Cool completely. I store in a thick paper bag.

Keeps well. Makes beautiful sandwiches. Toasts well. Gorgeous breadcrumbs.