I just realized I have never posted my french bread recipe or at least didn’t categorize it under Recipes. It is a basic, simple recipe, good for learning the techniques of baking it.

French Bread

Abbreviations:
tb. = tablespoon
c. = cup

Grease cookie sheet and lightly sprinkle with cornmeal. Now, to make the bread dough:

2 1/4 c. warm water
2 tb. sugar
2 tb. yeast
Dissolve first 3 ingredients in a bowl together. (If you are using instant yeast, note the directions on the package.) Then add the following ingredients:
1 tb. salt
2 tb. oil
6-7 c. flour, until smooth and pulling away from the sides of the bowl.  Add it a cup at a time so you don’t get too much flour.  That’s important because French bread should be light and airy.

Mix until smooth. Knead in the Bosch for 5 minutes (or until smooth to the hand if you are mixing it by hand.) Do not over knead. Pour about 1-2 tb. oil into the bottom of a large bowl. Place the kneaded bread dough in the bowl, turning the dough to coat it with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 10 minutes. Punch dough down and let rise again. Repeat 4-5 times.

Divide dough in half. Form each half into a long loaf and place on greased cookie sheet. Let rise until double in bulk. Slash 3 times across the top of the loaf. Bake in 375 degree oven for 25 minutes.

Alternate sizes:
Divide into smaller loaves for individual loaves.

Pizza Roll-ups
Roll out dough into a rectangle, coat with pizza sauce, browned and drained ground beef, and cheese. Roll up from the long side. Pinch the seam shut and place on the pan seam side down so it doesn’t unroll. Let rise and bake as for bread.

Cinnamon Bread
Roll out each loaf of bread dough as for pizza roll-ups, slather with butter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top. Spread raisins or chopped nuts across the top if you like.  Roll it up. Pinch the seam closed and tuck the ends under.  Let rise on pan and bake as normal.

French Toast
One of our favorite breakfast! Slice French bread. Take 6 eggs and beat them, preferably until frothy, but you can do it in the blender too. Dip each slice in the egg, coating both sides, lay on a hot griddle (350 degrees), and cook until lightly browned. Flip and repeat on the other side. Serve with maple syrup, jam, or hot tomato juice if you’re game for new tastes.

Hamburger Buns
Make French bread as normal. Roll out dough to about an inch thick and cut individual buns with a cleaned out tuna fish or canned chicken can. Lay on cookie sheet about an inch apart, let rise, and bake as for french bread.

Hot dog or hoagie buns
Follow French bread recipe except cut them into smaller pieces and roll up as if they were miniature french bread loaves. Let rise and bake.

Fry bread
While the dough is rising, heat about 2″ of oil in a saucepan. Do not boil it. After the dough has risen, pinch off a ball of dough. Flatten it. Drop it (carefully!) into the hot oil and let cook until it floats and is toasted brown on the bottom. Turn it over with a fork or tongs. Cook until it’s the same color. Take out with tongs and place it on several layers of paper towels to soak up the excess oil. Tear apart the first one to make sure it is cooked through, then repeat with the rest of the dough. Serve with honey, butter, jam, whatever you like. For Mexican fry bread, top with chili and cheese.

Garlic toast
Slice loaf of French bread almost all the way through the bottom crust.  Butter both sides of each slice with garlic butter.  Toast in the broiler.

Pizza dough
After the French bread dough has risen and you have divided the dough to shape into loaves, flatten into circles (whatever size pizza you like). Spread olive oil and sprinkle your favorite pizza seasonings onto the dough, bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Bag it for the freezer or top with favorite toppings and bake until cheese is melted and edges are toasted.

So last night I made a deal with my daughter. I would finally read Donita K. Paul’s Dragonkeeper series if she would read the books I want her to read. One to one ratio. So…Caddie Woodlawn, Misty of Chincoteague, Mandy, and others, here she comes!

As for me? Dragonspell, I’m done for.

I also caved into a good sale and bought Volumes 1-4 of Fablehaven from Deseret Book. They’re on sale. So is Volume 5, but it is only in hardbound, and the books I’m buying are paperback. Yup, I like cheap!

P.S. I didn’t blog over the Independence Day celebrations, but I hope you enjoyed yourselves and thought about what we have and why we have it. The Declaration of Independence is a foundational document to our country, and one that is too little read anymore.

Here are our children’s class pictures. First, though, let me throw in a disclaimer. We did not shoot these pictures.

Here is the Lighthouse Christian Academy (LCA) 4th grade:

And here is the LCA 8th grade:

Saturday finally came, the day long anticipated. The boys finally faced their black belt test. They were a little concerned and a lot excited about it. They have watched others get worked to the point of exhaustion and score that coveted black belt around their waist.

Their test was no exception. Combined with the previous evening’s Youth Conference dance where they worked their leg muscles pretty hard, their legs were pretty much hamburger by the end of the test! (Oh, but it was soooo worth it, says them!)

To see some pictures, go here. http://jlsstudios.net/wordpress/?p=68 (By the way, I shot the board breaks.)

My daughter also tested for her blue belt on Saturday.  Her daddy skipped this belt, and while she was okay with it, she was a little sad they weren’t at the same rank. Now, unless I miss my bet, they will be. Purple has become a review belt (grrr) so the individual doesn’t learn anything new—just reviews past patterns so hopefully she doesn’t have to review them again when it comes time for black belt.

However, it does mean she had to demonstrate her proficiency of every single pattern up to that point. Here are a few pictures.

And because I can, here are a few of the boys’ pics.

J-dawg

S-man

Oh—their boards all broke. Required item, check!

It has been years since I’ve been able to go to the Hyde Park cemetery for Memorial Day. That was always the highlight of the springtime for me so it was delightful to attend this year. The biggest thing I noticed though was that fewer people were there. Kids have grown up and moved away and most of the older people that I knew are gone now with new markers in the lawn. Kind of sad, but it made me grateful to see some younger folks there paying homage to their predecessors. I made some new friends.

My dad.

Dad and Steven

James and Lauren

Katie and Mother

Mother (is that Katie hiding from the camera?)

Scott

Mother, Scott, Steven, and James (in glasses)

My great grandparents’ headstone

Katie, Sarah, me, Shaundra–girls night at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. I didn’t get pictures during boys’ night.

Steven, Sarah, Katie, Shaundra, James

The Smith family with Ashcroft grandparents on the last day.