Laid Back Weekend

I started out my morning limbering up my knee, with the peddler my friend, Kriste-lee, sent me all the way from Arkansas. If I use it every day, my knee doesn't hurt. When I a in Anchorage, I try to swim every day. My doctor told me to do low impact exercise for my knees--1st swimming, 2nd bike riding, and 3rd walking. There is no swimming pool in Platinum, though Bethel will have one opening before Christmas. I only get into Bethel once a month, this semester. Next semester I will get there even less, so this has been a god send.

This was what I stepped out into Sunday morning. A beautiful sunrise and a light dusting of snow. The snow was gone, after the sun rise, and has not returned. This picture doesn't catch the beauty of the morning sky and the crisp smell to the air. I was heading to school for my Sunday morning Skype meeting with my mentor. 

I ran out of bread and ran across this recipe for peasant bread. I don't have any bread pans so I used a metal bowl and my muffin tin. This is a no-knead bread. It is very crusty on the outside and soft on the inside, like french bread. I ate three muffins with in the next three hours. One was right out of the oven with just butter; the next one was with tuna salad; and the last one was with peanut butter and honey. Today for lunch I'm cutting the loaf and having grilled tuna salad. This was so easy and so good that I've decided to not buy bread. I think I will bring my sourdough out and use it too.

No Knead Peasant Bread

4 cups all-purpose flour (not bleached flour)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 cups lukewarm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature

Dissolve sugar in the water in a small bowl. Sprinkle yeast over top (no need to stir) and let it stand for about 15 minutes or until mixture starts to bubble up. Meanwhile, whisk together flour and salt in a large bowl. After the yeast mixture becomes foamy, stir it up and add to the flour mixture. Stir until the flour is absorbed into the liquid.

Cover bowl with a tea towel and set aside in a warm spot to rise for at 1.5 hours.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease two 1 or 1.5 quart oven-safe bowls with about a tablespoon of butter each. Or, you can do like I did and divide some of the dough evenly between one 1.5 quart bowl and several greased ramekins. Punch down your dough, and then scrape it from the sides of the bowl, which takes a little finessing. Take two forks and divide the dough into two equal portions. The dough will be wet, not dry like dough that you knead. Scoop up each half and place into your prepared bowls. Again, this takes a little finessing since the dough is wet and sticky. Let the dough rise again in a warm spot for about 30 minutes.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees, then reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake for about 15 minutes more. Remove from oven and turn loaves onto cooling racks. Let cool for approximately 10 minutes before cutting. Enjoy!

(http://www.town-n-country-living.com/no-knead-peasant-bread.html)

I thought my muffin tin bread would be over cooked, but it all came out the same. Good stuff!!