Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Run Run Rudolph

O.K- we all know the song....but yesterday I began to run, the first time since the birth of my son and my nose turned red, because it was so cold. My husband laughed at me when I returned after 20 minutes and urged me to venture back out for a while. He even said the baby looked like he was having fun. This is my husband trying to tell me that 20 minutes just won't do. I know he's probably right. Cringe.

This may be one of hundreds of times I "began" to run. The following through is the part that I have trouble with. In the beginning I am motivated, even excited at moments, but eventually, I let myself fall prey to other endeavors and forget about all the benefits and reasons I should be runnning. So this time after a chance facebook encounter with one of my all time best friends, we began together unknowingly, running that is, and decided to become eachother's running cheerleaders! It has only been 2 days but already we have provided eachother with tips, songs, and inspiration. Hopefully it works, and we continue to make running a habit, but if not, at least we will at least have new memories of the time we became cyber~running buddies! LOL.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Buckwheat Tarragon Dinner Rolls


I have recently been tinkering with no knead bread recipes and found a great one that comes out tasting wonderful with a crusty outside and soft spongy inside. However, it was made with all purpose flour and did not appeal to my healthy side. So I tinkered around and tonight I finally came up with a delicious recipe that could be enjoyed as is or tweaked to satisfy your liking for fresh herbs, chocolate, fruits, nuts or what have you(see below). The savory, yet almost licorice like flavor of the tarragon added a wonderful flavor to this bread. I am so excited for spring to come so I can use all of my favorite garden herbs in this recipe!

Below is my final bread journal: Please feel free to try it, change it, and comment back to this site if you'd like! This is definitely a learning journey for me and I fully believe there are always room for improvements. Many Bread Blessings!


Prep time: 10 minutes Rise time: 2.75 hours total Bake Time: 35 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 3/4 c. bread flour
1/2 c. buckwheat flour
3/4 tsp. yeast
1 tsp. salt
2 tbs. chopped fresh tarragon
1 3/4 c. lukewarm water

TO BEGIN:

Mix all dry ingredients together in bowl. Add water and stir until a sticky wet dough forms. It only took about a minute for this to happen. You should see no flour lurking.

NEXT:

Cover with a towel and let rise for 2 hours

After dough has risen, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add 3 cups of water into an oven friendly dish and set on bottom rack of oven. I use a corning wear dish for this.

Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and shape dough into rolls, baguettes, loaves, or other shapes. You can also save a portion of the dough and keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

After dough is shaped, cover again, and let rise for 45 minutes.

Then slice the top of the dough a few times. I did not slice these rolls, but you can see they began to burst out the bottom-oops!
Now bake for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and enjoy!!! YUM! It should be noted that this bread does not keep well- it is best enjoyed straight from the oven.

Other fun ingredients to add in:

Rosemary, lemon, chocolate and hazelnut, cranberry and pecan, sunflower seed, basil, thyme, chive and bacon, lemon balm, marjoram, sage, or make your own combination.