I try to bake fresh bread for my family on a regular basis. I usually manage it once or twice a week.

Earlier this week I was inspired by chicago mama’s post about the bread she’s been baking for her family on a daily basis. She was kind enough to include the recipe for the bread she bakes. It looks delicious; as soon as my wandering husband returns home I’ll be baking some. With any luck it will spur me on to more frequent bread baking.

For those of you who might be interested, here is the recipe for the bread that I bake most often for my family. It’s easy, keeps for quite a while and freezes well, too.

German Three-Grain Bread
Makes 2 small loaves
Ingredients
3 tablespoons (30g) steel-cut oats
4 cups (455g) unbleached white bread flour
1 2/3 cups (170g) rye flour
3 tablespoons (30g) flax seed
1 tablespoons (8g) coarse sea salt, crushed or ground
1 ¼ cups (280ml) lukewarm water
2/3 cup (140ml) lukewarm milk
1 envelope active dry rapid rise yeast
extra flour for dusting
extra milk for glazing
extra flax seed for sprinkling

By hand:
In a large bowl, stir together the white flour, the rye flour, oats, flax seed, and salt. In a separate bowl or measuring cup, mix together the water and milk. Sprinkle the yeast directly into the flour with all the other dry ingredients and mix all the liquid into the flour to make the dough.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead thoroughly for 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.

Stand Mixer:
In the bowl of the stand mixer, stir together the white flour, the rye flour, oats, flax seed, and salt using the flat beater.
In a separate bowl or measuring cup, mix together the water and milk. Sprinkle the yeast directly into the flour with all the other dry ingredients. Mix all the liquid into the flour to make the dough using the dough hook
Knead in mixer for 3 - 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and turn the dough over so the top is oiled. Cover with a damp dish towel or plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature, away from drafts, until doubled in size, 2 to 3 hours.
Press down the risen dough. Shape into 2 small ovals. Arrange the loaves on the prepared baking sheet. Cover with a damp dish towel or plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 hour. During the last 15 minutes of rising, heat the oven to 425°F.
Using a sharp knife or razor blade, make a slash lengthwise down the center of each loaf. Brush with milk to glaze, then sprinkle with caraway seeds. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the underside. Transfer to a wire rack or two racks to cool completely.

Eat.

for Portland Public Schools to shut down?

Answer: This much snow.

It doesn’t snow much here. And, just like last year, the Cupcakes weren’t quite certain what to much of the strange, crunchy white stuff on the ground.

It look a while to get a picture of both girls looking up instead of down at the snow.

But I finally succeeded.

I even convinced them to walk over to the park.

Where S2 studied the snow a bit more, just in case this snow was different than the snow in front of our house.

Sadly, sledding was still out of the question as far as they were concerned.

Maybe next year…

My husband asked me how the Iowa Caucus worked and how it was different from a primary. I was embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know. Now, thanks to the Librarians’ Internet Index and How Stuff Works I know. And you can, too.