Millet

I decided to try a new bread recipe last night. I've been anxious to try millet flour. I have to be careful to try new ingredients one at a time. It's easier to figure out what I react to.

First I had to find a recipe with no milk. Found one! Replaced the xanthan gum with gelatin. I debated with myself about adding molasses, since that was a second new ingredient. I decided to add it.

The perfectly crusted loaf came out of the oven about 10:00 last night. It smelled great! It tasted so good with butter, that I had to try a slice with peanut butter and honey. I was out of my standard peanut butter (Kroger Natural, creamy) so I tried my new jar of Smuckers Natural. Oops! That was the third new item.

The suspects. Hmmm. Who looks guilty?

By the time I took my bath about 11:00, I noticed my lips and eyes were puffy. And there were three suspects. This is why I first decided to try new ingredients one at a time. It's easier in the long run.

I'd also worked in the garden all afternoon and evening. I'd handled potting soil and bone meal. I could be reacting to one of those.

The bread was beautiful. It tasted fabulous right out of the oven. The texture is good, not as crumbly as the standard "lame porridge bread" that I usually eat. So I've decided to share the recipe.

Kay's Millet Bread

I mixed these dry ingredients in the bowl of my stand mixer:

1 C millet flour
1 C brown rice flour
1/2 C potato flour
1/2 C tapioca flour
1/4 C rice bran
1 T (1 packet) unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 t salt

In a small bowl I combined 1/2 C warm water, 1 T sugar and 1 packet of yeast (I used Red Star Rapid Rise)

In my glass 2-cup measuring cup I combined:

3 eggs
1 C warm water
2 t cider vinegar
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T molasses
2 T sugar

When the yeast was bubbly, I added all the wet ingredients to the dry and beat it on medium speed (with the paddle attachment) for about 5 minutes.

I put the dough into a greased and floured loaf pan, covered it with oiled plastic wrap, and let it rise about 30 minutes. The dough had risen to the top of the pan. I baked it at 350 for 50 minutes.

If you can use xanthan gum, add 2 1/2 t with your dry ingredients.
If you can't use eggs, use Ener-G egg replacer, and warm your wet ingredients in the microwave until warm to the touch.
You can use cornstarch instead of tapioca flour.

I'll do a more lab-like trial the next time I bake this bread. It's really good, and I'd like to eat it daily. I'll try honey in place of molasses, and I'll just have one slice with butter, for starters.

In other news, some friends took a field trip to a horse farm for "garden nutrients" over the weekend. I understand they brought home enough to share with me! I'm thrilled! I spent the weekend transplanting my tomato plants into larger pots, cleaning out some garden space, and finding a new battery for my ancient John Deere riding mower. It's running again. My lawn looked like green velvet right after mowing. By morning it was dotted with dandelions again.

I also planted seeds in pots for my zucchini (four kinds!) vining squash (hubbard, cucuzzi and tromboncino this year) cucumbers (County Fair and Calypso, both supposedly wilt-resistant) and pole beans (scarlet runner and Kentucky wonder.) I'll leave the pots outside during the warms days and nights, but I can bring them inside on cold nights. I look forward to planting everything in real dirt in a couple of weeks. I wait until after my black raspberries bloom. That will mean we've had our last frost.

The bright spot in my weekend was discovering a tiny frog has taken up residence in my pond. I've seen his nose and eyes peeking out from under a floating oak leaf. And I've heard him "ker-plunk" into the water from the rocks four times as I walked by. Hee hee! I'll post more on my frog situation soon.