Everybody loves breakfast at the farm. The kitchen is full of sunshine and birdsong with the french doors leading directly onto the veranda where I serve coffee as I put breakfast on the table. It’s become tradition to serve a big country breakfast to welcome the first day of our guest’s visit.
Summertime at the farm means time to entertain our family and friends and we LOVE it! There’s something about country living that lends itself to sharing space and time in a meaningful way. I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that my greatest joy is cooking for those I love.
To ensure that I have maximum time with our guests, I do as much preliminary work as possible. I baked this bread yesterday to serve Saturday morning. It’s a huge amount of bread dough to work with but not impossible. I, as always, used my stand mixer but with a bit of muscle it could be done by hand. You might want to grab an extra body for back-up relief! The bread is full of ground cinnamon so be prepared while it’s baking to wipe drool from your mouth.
Sitting on our veranda when a gentle breeze is blowing with morning doves, barn swallows and humming birds performing, watching sail boats make their way up the St. John River is a magical spot to solve world peace or just day dream… I love the summer!
Country Health Bread
makes 2 large loaves
1 cup water
1 ¼ cup milk
½ cup butter
1/3 cup maple syrup
Heat until butter melts then set aside to cool to luke warm.
In the bowl of your stand mixer add:
2 cups wheat bran
1 cup oatmeal
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon salt
2 ½ tablespoons active dry yeast
Add cooled milk mixture and beat for 2 minutes with beater bar
Change beater bar for dough hook and slowly knead in 5 cups of all purpose flour – half cup at a time.
Hand knead dough a couple of turns then place in a buttered large bowl to raise until doubled in bulk.
Punch down, turn over and double again.
Punch down then shape into 2 loaves.
Allow to raise until doubled
Preheat oven 375*F
Bake loaves 45 minutes
Remove from oven, turn out of bread pans and cool on a rack.
THE LOVE: Give this heavy dough the time to raise.
one year ago: fresh raspberry pie
two years ago: wild strawberry jam
Thanks for reading.
