This is definitely the quickest and easiest bread recipe I have ever tried. It is a recipe that came with our KitchenAid stand mixer, so I will put some of the instructions in italics for those of you trying it by hand.
Yield: 1 loaf (16 slices)
3 to 3-1/2 c. flour
1 T. sugar
1-3/4 t. salt
1-1/2 pkgs (3-3/8 T.) active dry yeast
1/8 c. (2 T.) butter
1 c. very warm water (120-130F)
1. Place 2-1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and butter in mixer bowl. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer (skip this if doing by hand). Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 20 seconds (Mix ingredients with a wooden spoon until combined). Gradually add warm water and mix about 1-1/2 minutes longer.
2. Continuing on Speed 2, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl, about 2 minutes (Add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time and stir until dough forms a ball). Knead on Speed 2 about 2 minutes longer (Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for 2 minutes). Cover dough with plastic wrap and a towel. Let rest 20 minutes.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle, approximately 9×14 inches. A rolling pin will smooth the dough and remove gas bubbles. Starting at a short end, roll the dough tightly. Pinch to seal the seam. Pinch the ends and turn them under. Place the dough, seam side down, in a greased 8-1/2×4-1/2×2-1/2 inch loaf pan. Brush loaf with oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 2 to 12 hours.
4. When ready to bake, uncover dough carefully. Let stand at room temperature 10 minutes. Puncture any gas bubbles which may have formed. Bake at 400F/200C for 35-40 minutes. Remove from pan immediately and cool on wire rack.
Things were obviously a little different for us this Christmas. We wouldn’t be driving up to my parents’ house. We wouldn’t be flying to Reno to see Andrew’s parents (or having them fly to Wisconsin). This is the first Christmas I have ever NOT been with family. Last year was probably Andrew’s first year away from family, since he was at basic training. I was really worried that I was going to be really depressed around the holidays. But I was a woman on a mission: I was not going to let distance bring me down! I was going to have a fabulous Christmas no matter what!
First thing on my list? A Christmas tree. I feel like the majority of people now have an artificial tree they put up every year. My family has always had a real tree, from what I can remember. I know there were a few early years that we just had a little fake tree, but I think that’s because we usually went to Michigan for the actual holiday.
There's our little artificial tree in the background
Yep, that’s me on the right. Cute, huh? 🙂
We left the artificial tree I had gotten in college back in Wisconsin to be put in storage. We wanted to start off our marriage (and our first Christmas as a married couple) with a real tree! When I asked around back in October, a lot of local people didn’t know where to get a real tree from. I was a little shocked! But after I looked around online, I found a nearby tree farm that sounded pretty good.
People in line with their trees
The prices were higher than I was expecting, but they were also in GBP. No matter. We still searched high and low for the perfect tree! Andrew wished they weren’t pre-cut, but he did manage to find one that he liked.
Andrew with our tree!
Did I mention that I’m a perfectionist? Well, so is Andrew. I fear for our future children… Anyway, he was very picky about the tree we got. I was a lot more easygoing about the whole thing, so I eventually just left the decision up to him. I knew I would never hear the end of it if I picked out an asymmetrical tree! And it had to have “soft” branches. Andrew knew he was in charge of putting on the lights, and he didn’t want battle wounds from poky tree branches. We really were happy with this tree — no complaints!
My favorite part of this tree farm? They had Newfoundland dogs there to pull your tree to your car in a wagon. It was free, although they were taking donations to raise money for either Dog Trust or just a Newfie rescue group, I think. We were happy to donate! Our dog was named Lucy. She was so pretty! Her handler (I assume he is also her owner) was so nice, and he insisted on taking pictures of us with her!
Me & LucyLucy & Andrew
We had such a great time at the Elveden tree farm! I’m sure we will go back there next year too. There is also a large store next to the tree farm that sells local meats, cheeses, wines, mead (and more!), and it has a restaurant too. It’s not cheap, but we couldn’t resist picking up some meat to grill and some mead!
Next step was decorating the tree. The least expensive lights we could find for the tree (since we needed ones with UK plugs) were strands of 100 with no connecting plugs! So poor Andrew ended up string 1200 lights on our tree with numerous power strips. Our tree looked nice from the front, but there were 12 cords streaming out from the back, haha! All we could really do was laugh at that point.
Andrew decorating the treeMe decorating
I loved decorating our first tree, and I’m so happy with how it looked! It’s nearly the end of January now, and we are planning to take out the tree this weekend. I’m already excited to do it all again in 10 months! 🙂
I adore Christmas. It is, by far, my favorite holiday, and it is definitely the most wonderful time of the year! I remember going through a phase when I was younger (probably 12 or 13) when I felt really depressed by Christmas. It had really lost that “magic” it had had when I was younger. I’m sure I didn’t fully enjoy Christmas for a few years there, and I’m pretty sure I thought Christmas would always be a let-down.
Not true! Why? Because my mother is amazing. You know when people say, “I have the best mom in the world.”? No, sorry, you don’t. I know you all think I’m exaggerating, but I have the best mom in the world. You would understand if you met her. 🙂 And I will argue with you on this point to my grave. And no, of course I’m not biased: I have 3 sisters to back me up.
May 2010 - One of my very favorite photos!
Anyways, I’m getting off track here. How dd my mom save Christmas for me? By changing our names. I don’t even remember when she started this. Probably when I was in middle or high school. It was her way of guaranteeing that we didn’t know what we were getting. We could shake the boxes, eye up the size and shape of those presents, but it didn’t matter much if your name wasn’t on it. So whose names were on these gifts? It changed every year. One year she used Disney princesses. One year we were animals. Another year we were gemstones. We were 4 of the Seven Dwarfs one year. She has used so many different themes, I probably don’t remember them all!
She began putting a clue in our stockings so we would know who we were Christmas morning. Don’t worry, we know the rest of the gifts were from Santa; just that clue was from Mom. 🙂 This small extra thing that my mom did made Christmas a little more exciting for me. I was up at 5:30 to go open that stocking. No, this didn’t stop at age 16 or 21 or 25. In fact, this was the first year in a long time that I wasn’t up before the sun on Christmas Day! I think that as I got older, I continued to get up super early just to keep up the excitement. You can ask my sisters and Andrew, but how can you not be excited when Nicole comes running into your room to whisper, “It’s Christmas!! Let’s open stockings!!” 🙂 The hardest thing I see in my future, pertaining to this, is continuing the tradition for my own kids and waiting for them to come excitedly wake me up. I know I will have to fake being asleep, because to this day, I cannot sleep on Christmas Eve. I knew it wouldn’t be the same this year, but I was still so excited. I made sure Andrew and I bought each other secret stocking gifts, so it was almost as exciting as usual.
Oh, I love Christmas music. I put it on immediately after Thanksgiving, and I will be singing carols all the time. How can you not hum “O Come All Ye Faithful” when you’re making dinner after hearing it 3 times earlier that day?! And I love decorating the house. I love putting up the Christmas tree. I love watching “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” But my favorite part of the holiday is definitely the tradition my mom started. She saved Christmas for me when I was a teenager, and she inspired me to keep the holiday exciting no matter how old I get.
Yield: 1 loaf (16 slices)
On An Even Kiel 