Friday 16 April 2010

20 kg (44 pounds) of Flour

Our local grocery store had an amazing sale on all-purpose flour recently, and G graciously went to the store to get flour for me (since I complain if I have to carry anything heavy for more than 3 minutes).

But we had a slight miscommunication on the quantity of flour to get. And my wonderful husband came home with 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of flour.
My darlings, this is a lot of flour for a household of two people.Those two bags are stacked in front of the washing machine. Note how you can no longer see the washing machine.

Which makes me wonder... did he do it on purpose?

You know, I think he did.
clockwise from top left: wheat bran bread, peanut butter cookies, earl grey shortbread cookies, vegan chocolate layer cake, the vegan chocolate layer cake before it was sliced, cinnamon swirl wheat bran bread.


I've been on a huge bread baking kick since this flour showed up. I have baked bread before, but only recently found the perfect loaf that meets all my needs- the wheat bran recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. They have a website with some recipes, (although sadly not this one) and honestly I can't recommend the book enough. It lays out their system for making fresh bread easily with very little hands-on work. It's brilliant. I haven't had any failures, and the bread is AMAZING- full of flavour, great texture. I'm never going back to store bought bread again!!

I also recently experimented with a Creme de Cassis sugar cookie. I started off with the Martha Stewart recipe, but made the cookies thicker, for better texture. The recipe is the same, but my dough technique is below, if anyone wants to try it out:

I loved these cookies, and so did everyone else who ate them. You can't taste the crème de cassis really, but it gives these cookies a little something, a je ne sai quoi.

After all of the above (and there have been several more plain bread loaves that never got photographed), I'm still not even 2/3 through one of the bags.... which makes G so, so happy. He knows there's plenty more fresh baked goodness to come.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yum! I bet he did do it on purpose. :)

kingshearte said...

Wow, that's a lot of flour. I can relate, though. I haven't bought flour in months, because my uncle donated a restaurant-sized bag of flour leftover from his aborted attempt at running a pizza place. That bag is BIG, and I still have at least half of it, I think.

And yay for making your own bread! I haven't bought bread in years. Some breads take a while (but are still totally worth it), but once you find a few recipes that are super easy and relatively quick, you wonder how you ever ate store-bought bread. If you haven't tried beer bread yet, you should look for a recipe (or let me know, and I can give you mine). It's ridiculously easy, super fast (there's no kneading or rising), and incredibly delicious.

Knit - R - Done said...

I am in love with making anything with yeast. It looks like you're having fun.

The Sweatshop of Love said...

What an amazing problem to have! I love baking bread, too; I can't remember the last time I had to buy it. It's so fun and more delicious and better for you!

On my list to make soon is bagels! It sounds scary - I know there is boiling involved - but what a fun way to use extra flour!

Teresa said...

I've heard this bread baking book recommended so many times, I definitely need to pick it up!

Everything looks delicious :)

Sophie said...

If it was my man, it would be half on purpose and half because he won't remember at the store and buy more than less just in case... hahaha !

Everything seems delicious... yummy!

Mr Puffy's Knitting Blog: said...

My sister swears by Martha Stewart's sugar cookie recipe - I'll have to tell her about your magic ingredient!

I am a huge devote of King Arthur Flour - but that looks like a nice brand too!

weezalana said...

OMG! 44 pounds? EACH?!? That's a lotta bread! Methinks he did that on purpose. ;)

soknitpicky said...

I have to confess that I don't think I've used 44 pounds of flour in my entire life to date. However, I also don't have your culinary talents :-) BTW, I purchased madeleine pans. Maybe this weekend I'll have time to make them.

Anonymous said...

hee hee! How funny. That's something the SK would do too. I asked him to get me some yeast for baking bread, and he brought back something like ten pounds of it. I'm still working my way through...

Happy baking!

Andi said...

Everything looks so tasty! It looks like you came up with a delicious solution to having too much flour.

Kat said...

I am definately betting he did that on purpose ;) But at least you get to do a lot of baking. I want to bake bread. I have never done it before. I will have to try it on my day off.

Anonymous said...

What a cute story. But I have to be honest with you - if my love one loves to bake and I am a big fan - of course I would stock on on the ingredient! Lucky G!!!
Enjoy them and happy baking!

Anonymous said...

Yum! I've been on a bit of a baking spree myself... but I work out often and share what I make, so it's ok ;)

Kristen Rettig said...

44 pounds of flour! I'm positive your husband had an ulterior motive! Thank you for the book recommendation. I've heard about it before and now think that I must get it. Nothing beats homemade bread.

knitseashore said...

Those desserts look so delicious -- the chocolate cake especially!! Must get the recipe for this one.

SugarMaple said...

Delish! I can't wait to try the shortbread and the sugar cookies! I'm trying to do much more of my food from scratch these days - including the sweet stuff. Thanks for the inspiration. :)

Ella said...

We bake all our own bread too - and a bread baker MUST have plenty of flour! So you are set!

Those peanut butter cookies look delish!

Michele Saunders said...

Wow! That is a lot of flour! I would be in heaven too.

Funny.... I make everything from scratch except for bread. I am going to have to give it a go. The whole process has me a little intimidated, I must admit. Your cookies look delish!

Hilary said...

Holy cow that is a lot of flour!! What a fun excuse to bake, though. And yeah...he totally did it on purpose. :)

jennifer said...

Yum yum yum!!!

I love sending my husband to the store and seeing what he actually comes back with.

I too can't recommend that book enough. My friends and family probably think I get a cut of the sales or something...

Have you seen the new one, "Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day"? I must have it now! It even has some gluten-free breads!