More bread

My husband and I slept in this morning. So we're sitting around drinking our coffee. My husband is quite smug that he got three containers of International Delight creamer for the cost of one large Coffeemate. I am less smug, because I think International Delight tastes nasty and he forgot the half-and-half. But that is far from important. I will deal...

My four-and-a-half-year old gazes up from playing with her new toys and asks, "Mommy, can we make bread?"

How can I say no? Especially since my good friend Shannon will be staying with us starting this week. And she survives on coffee and carbohydrates. Hence the need for half-and-half. I ask the family if they are all willing to help make a double batch, which is about EIGHT loaves of bread.

It requires the entire family's support because we'll need every surface for bowls and mixing and rolling. They agreed. So, we cleaned the kitchen until it sparkled and began our work. One batch is white, the other wheat. I sneaked some honey into the wheat base. Will update this post throughout the day... You can click on 'bread' or 'French' to find my other discussions of making bread.

It looks like I never posted the (original) recipe. Here it is:
From FamousFrenchDesserts.com
French bread baguettes
4 cups flour
1 TBS dry yeast
1-2 tsp. salt
2 cups warm water
oil

1. In a bowl, mix together the flour and salt.
2. In another bowl, combine yeast, warm water, and half the flour/salt mixture (I use more). Using your hands, mix until a dough forms. Cover with a dish cloth and let sit at room temperature for three hours. It should triple in size.
3. Gently incorporate the rest of the flour/salt using your hands.
4. Place on lightly flour surface and knead for ten minutes. It should be supple and elastic.
5. Lightly oil a bowl. Place dough in bowl. Cover with dishtowel. Let sit for one hour. It should double in size.
6. Preheat oven to 450. Knead again. Cut dough into three parts and form into baguettes. Place on a baking sheet. Let sit for at least twenty minutes.
7. Place a bowl of water in the oven. Bake baguettes for 15 minutes, remove bowl of water. Cook baguettes for ten minutes more, maybe less. *I often turn mine when I remove the water, helps the consistency of the crust.

Another note... Speaking of bread... My husband and daughter walked to CVS today. We had two dollars in CVS 'extra bucks' to spend and the walk gives them something to do outside. (The ExtraBucks came from an emergency trip to CVS when I needed bathroom supplies and had no grocery stores available.) To my surprise, CVS had the 12-pk of Thomas's English Muffins on sale for $1.99. So my husband bought them and treated our daughter to a cheap pack of stickers. The second six-pack went into the freezer.