SC - cooking frumenty

[Laura C Minnick]

Jocetta asked about doing homemade bread for feasts.

My usual system for that involves no freezing at all.  I take Friday to do
the baking, setting up a series of batches which then cycle through their
times of rising and baking one after the other, thus: Mix and knead batch
one (a batch is the amount which fits in your oven(s) at one time). While
it is rising, grease the baking sheets and mix and knead batch two. While
batch two is rising, shape loaves for batch one and set to rise for a
second time.  Mix and knead batch three, in the bowl just cleared by batch
one, and heat oven. While batch three rises, put batch one in the oven,
shape loaves for batch two and put to rise, mix and knead batch four in the
bowl just cleared by batch two. Continue as before. You start getting time
to catch your breath after you have kneaded the last batch. Ideally, for a
large feast, the same person is not both baking and acting as head cook for
the feast. I find a single loaf of about 3-31/2 cups flour feeds 8 people.
On this system, you don't have absolutely fresh bread to serve, but good
bread made the day before is a lot better and cheaper than buying.
>
>I'm not a bread baker;  my results when working with yeast-risen dough have
>been, well, erratic.  Not enough practice yet to predict results.

I routinely bake my family's bread, making five loaves and freezing what
we're not going to eat over the next few days.  To freeze, I let it cool
completely and seal it into a plastic bag with as little air as possible.
To thaw, I remove from the bag, brush off any ice, and microwave for three
minutes. It's not as good after freezing as if I had just taken it out of
the oven, but it is as good as if it had been baked a day or two ago--and
much better than any commercial bread.

Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook


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