If I could only live on two things for the rest of my life, I think it would be bread and cheese.  I tend to not bake that much bread in the summer time, but it was a bit cooler yesterday and I just had a jones for fresh bread.

But first, I have to show you Tony’s breakfast masterpiece he made for me yesterday – my guess is that is about 15 points, but it was a breakfast/lunch combo!  Toasted waffles with cheesy ham eggs in the middle and some of the best canteloupe we’ve had all summer.  Thanks Tony!

I brought out my Complete Book of Breads book and found a recipe for “Pain Ordinaire” or A Daily Loaf.  It was interesting because it had three rise times totalling almost 5 hours – but it was definitely worth the wait.  I actually made the dough on Saturday, punched it down three times, left it on the counter and baked the bread yesterday morning.

A Daily Loaf (makes 4 baguettes)

  • 6 cups bread flour
  • 2 cups packages dry yeast
  • 2 1/2 cups hot water (120-130 degrees)
  • 2 teaspoons salt

Using my stand mixer, I mixed the yeast and 4 cups of the flour together.  Then added the salt and hot water and let my mixer knead it for 10 minutes.  Add up to 2 more cups of flour (I used all of the 2 cups) so that when it mixes around it doesn’t stick to the side of your mixing bowl.

The first rise takes 2 hours, then two more rises for 1 1/2 hours.  Heat your oven to 450 and place a broiler pan in the bottom of the oven.  When you bake your bread, add 1 cup of water to the empty broiler pan – you’ll get a super crunchy crust with the steam.  Bake for 35-40 minutes (mine took 35 minutes).

This is how the dough looked after about 30 minutes.  After the second rise, it almost bubbled over!

Super crusty on the outside, and tender on the inside.  Love.

I think I had at least 6 points in bread with a tiny bit of asiago cheese – so.fricken.good!

I also had some bananas that desperately needed to be used up – they were almost rotten, but my MIL says that is the best time to use them because they are extra sweet.  I used Cooking Light’s recipe, except I subbed in 1/3 cup buttermilk in place of the Greek yogurt – the substitution worked just fine.

I tried a new rub for our ribs last night.  At about 1:30 in the afternoon I realized I never defrosted a slab of ribs – so threw caution to the wind and threw them in the oven frozen and baked at 250 degrees.  At 5:30 I poked the ribs with a knife and they were perfectly tender.

I then mixed this rub together and cooked it for 30 more minutes with the rub, then finished off on the grill with K.C. Masterpiece bbq sauce.

  • 1/4 teasppon cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • pinch of black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

Mix well and coat the ribs generously.  Sadly, I went back into the house to get a plate for the ribs and I came back to a major flare up!

And while letting Ed out last night I saw our first balloon of the summer.  They used to fly over our house all the time when we first moved here.  We are on the channel of the Fox River so they would float up and down the river.

Alright – off to make a breakfast calzone – in my head it turns out good, but we’ll see – have a wonderful Monday!