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Farm Country Multi Grain Loaves

Here is a yummy bread recipe.  I got it from Prudence Pennywise.  I love bread and are always willing to give new bread recipes a try.  I loved the taste of this bread, but it was a good amout of work for me.  I was doing fine until it got to the point where you are suppose to knead the bread in your mixer for 6 minutes.  The dough wasn't a really soft dough at this point.  I was afraid my Kitchen Aid was going to break while kneading the dough.  I split the dough in half and tried the mixer again.  Still did not work.  So I ended up kneading the dough by hand.  I also did half a loaf at a time.

So I had to knead the dough for a total of 12 minutes by hand.  The problem was that the dough is a tougher dough.  I didn't quite make it the whole 12 minutes, but I am not the strongest person either.  My arms are pretty wimpy.  I also check the loaves at 40 minutes and they looked like they were over done.  I took them out and sliced one to make sure it was completely cook and it was.  So I'm not sure what is up the the amount of time on the recipe, but mine were probably done at 30 minutes.

Now, I  would think you could use your mixer if you had a really good heavy duty one like a Bosch.  Loved the bread, just not sure I want to knead it by hand again.  It is also a bread recipe that does take sometime.  However, I did speed things up a little my placing it in a warm oven to help with the rising process.  So this bread is yummy, but comes with the warning that you may have to give your arms a good workout and you watch the cooking time.

Farm Country Multi Grain Loaves

2 cups milk

1 cup old fashioned oats

2/3 cup brown sugar

5 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons active dry yeast

2 eggs

1/2 cup wheat germ (or substitute whole wheat flour, that's what I did)

3 cups whole wheat flour

3 cups all purpose flour, plus more if needed

extra butter

1.  Heat milk in microwave until just boiling. Pour into free standing mixer bowl (or into large bowl to mix and knead by hand). Add oatmeal, sugar, butter, and salt. Mix well and cool to luke warm, about 15 minutes. 
2. Add yeast, eggs, wheat germ and whole wheat flour. With mixer on low, add in remaining all purpose flour. Knead on medium for 6 minutes. If dough is still sticky, add 1 tablespoon of flour at a time until dough pulls away from edges of bowl. 
3. Shape dough into large ball and using your hands, rub the outside of the dough with butter. Put the dough back into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled, about 1 and 1/2 hours. 
4. Shape dough into two loaves and place in two nine inch loaf pans. Let rise again, covered with plastic wrap, until doubled, about 1 hour. 
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake about 1 hour.(Check at 30 minutes, because my loaves were over done at 40 minutes)

Farmhouse Ham Chowder

I found this yummy chowder recipe in a 2008 issue I had from Simple and Delicious.  There were several things that interested me about this recipe.  I loved the idea of using dry ranch dressing to season the soup.  I also loved the idea of cutting down on the prep time by using frozen cubed hash browns instead of diced potatoes.  Lastly,  I loved that it was 267 calories for a cup of this soup, not bad for a creamy soup.  I did remove one ingredient from the original recipe.  I tasted the soup first as I have listed the recipe down below, then I added the additional ingredient of thyme.  I didn't like the thyme in it all, so I removed it from the recipe.  The recipe also calls for a little smoked Gouda to sprinkle on top.  It is wonderful with the soup, but the soup also works great without it.  You could also substitute cheddar in it's place.

Farmhouse Ham Chowder

1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix
4-1/4 cups milk (I used skim)
2 cups frozen cubed hash brown potatoes, thawed
2 cups frozen corn, thawed
2 cups cubed fully cooked ham
2 ounces smoked Gouda cheese, shredded

1. In a large saucepan, saute the onion, celery and red pepper in butter until vegetables are crisp-tender. 
2. Stir in flour and dressing mix until smooth; gradually stir in milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
3. Add the potatoes, corn, ham and thyme. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 8-10 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with cheese before serving. Yield: 8 servings (2 quarts).