Texas Gardening, Bread Recipes, Raw Milk

Bread Makers - You certainly don't need one to bake bread. For me, I already had one and it makes it much easier for me because we go through tons of bread. If you do plan to buy one the only thing I'd look for is one with a dough cycle. Normally, folks who use a bread machine cook their bread in the bread machince. I got poor results baking it in the bread machine so I cheat and just run the dough cycle and then bake the bread in the oven.

Raw Milk - We get our milk in Georgetown, TX at Dyer Dairy. You have to call ahead of time, and I know right now the guy is really busy because he's also getting his cheese making business off the ground. His phone # is 638-0415. We also get our beef from him.

Texas Gardening - I use a raised garden because we only have rocks where we live. Since soil is the most important part of the garden I just had a truckload of dirt brought in. Now you need really good dirt. Don't buy the cheapest stuff or you won't get a good crop. I think the last time we got a mixture of Dillo Dirt, Manure, and compost. Gardening in Texas is supposedly very different than gardening in the rest of the world? I grew up here so I don't know any different. When I first started getting interested in gardening, my grandfather told me to get a subscription to Texas Gardener. It breaks our state down into sections and tells you what to plant and when. It goes over vegetables, fruits, trees, grass, flowers, really everything that grows in Texas. I love it! They also have an annual planting guide you can purchase along with your subscription. To order visit www.texasgardener.com . I have also copied the process shown in the Square Foot Gardening book by Mel Bartholomew. I think there is a new updated book out but I have the first edition. It shows you how to garden in tiny spaces and really improve your soil. You can also watch PBS on Saturday/Sunday and they have a gardening show and KLBJ AM has a great gardening guy on there sometime on the weekend. There are many resources. My suggestion is to try something relatively easy like tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers to start with and go from there. Choose varieties that will grow well in Texas. And plant based on the gardening guides for Texas not necessarily what the seed packet says. Pick up transplants from HEB, Home Depot, Lowes and Feed Stores to get a head start. Because starting your own seedlings for tomatoes and peppers really requires expertise of it's own(I'm not there yet). I've tried and failed a couple times but I'll keep trying. For squash and cucumbers you can plant directly in the ground. It's not too late for this year on some things. Really the gardening year gets kicked off in January/February/March with almost everything in the ground by March 15 or so. But for this season it's not too late to plant tomatoes(get ones that will bear fruit in a fast amount of time - it will show on the little translant insert - 55 days or whatever) maybe even some peppers? or cantaloupe?. But right now if you had your garden up and going it's time to plant sweet potatoes, okra, black-eyed peas, pumpkins and winter squash. On August 15th you could start a whole new crop of lots of things. So, get your soil ready and if nothing else be ready by August 15th. You could then have a great fall garden. If any of you would like to come to my home and see how we've done it you are more than welcome. Just let me know! I've been helped so much over the years, I figure it's my time to help others!

Bread Recipes -

Rolls/Hamburger Buns/Cinnamon Rolls/Kolaches
1 c water
2tbs butter
1 egg
3 1/4 flour(i use half white/half wheat for these)
1/4 c sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tsp yeast

Throw it all in the bread machine in this order and turn on the dough cycle. Watch it, you may need to add more flour or scrape the sides of the bread machine to help it gets mixed up? Once dough cycle is done shape it into whatever size rolls/buns you want cover and let it rise 30 minutes and bake for 12-15 minutes at 375. For cinnamon rolls you need to roll it out into rectangle(you may not need all the dough) and sprinkle generously with sugar/cinnamon/butter. Roll it up long end to long end and cut in 1 to 2 inches rolls and set them on a baking sheet. Bake the same amount of time. Then you can use a cream cheese icing or whatever you like. Cream chees icing can be made with powdered sugar, milk and cream cheese. Just play with it until it's the taste that you like.

Light Bread (meaning not dense and super filling) - good for sandwiches
1/4 c water
1 c whey or milk(whey makes this really great)
1 egg
1/8 c honey
1/8 c olive oil
3.5 c whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast

Throw it all in the bread machine like before. Once it's done pull it out and knead it a few times. Divide it in half. Oil some bread pans well and put the dough in the pan. Cover and let rise an hour ? just watch until it's the size of a loaf of bread? Bake 20 minutes at 350 then pull out and sprinkle top with milk. Then bake another 15-20 minutes. My oven bakes hot - figure out how yours bakes. Pull them out of the oven and remove them from their pans. Let them cool completely then store/eat.

Italian Bread - More dense

2 1/2 c warm water
1/2 c olive oil
5 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
2 tsp yeast

This one almost overflows my bread machine - so you might start by halfing the recipe the first time to see how far it rises. Throw it all in the bread machine like before. Once it's done pull it out and knead it a few times. Divide it in half. Oil some bread pans well and put the dough in the pan. Cover and let rise an hour ? just watch until it's the size of a loaf of bread? Bake 20 minutes at 400 then sprinkle top with ice water and bake another 15-20 minutes. Pull them out of the oven and remove them from their pans. Let them cool completely then store/eat.

I do sell my bread/rolls etc from time to time. So if you want to eat bread like this or try mine I'm willing to bake some for you and I could drop it off to you or you could pick it up from my home/office.