It begins simply: a cup of corn meal, two cups of boiling water. Concurrently, in a separate bowl, a cup of Bob’s Red Mill High Fiber Hot Cereal is soaking-up another cup of boiling water. A measuring cup holding a concoction of yeast, sugar, and warm water is beginning to bubble and froth. A cup of honey is slowly stirred into the corn meal water mixture along with four tablespoons of melted butter. A cup-and-a-half of whole wheat flour follows the butter into the amber-colored batter. Two cups of white flour thickens the mix and is followed by the now fully-proofed cup of yeast. Bob’s Red Mill slides easily into the mixture before additional cups of white flour are gradually stirred in until a dough begins to form. Dumped on the counter along with handfuls of flour, the dough is worked and kneaded until the dough is slightly sticky. Placed in a greased mixing bowl and covered with a towel, the dough takes it’s place in a warm oven where the yeast will work their magic for the next two hours.
After returning from a quick bike ride, a peek under the towel reveals the yeast have been busy and the dough has doubled in size. Bread pans are retrieved from the cupboard, misted with a canola spray lubricant, and the bread dough is apportioned to fit the irregular sizes of the pans. Back into the oven for a 45-minute rise and then forty minutes of baking at 350° produces four, light golden loaves. Sliced while still warm and slathered with butter, the fresh-baked bread provides an ideal accompaniment to a hot, steaming bowl of beef cabbage soup.
Life is good.