Diving in...starting with BREAD!

Yes, this is my first blog! Sure have seen them, but not too experienced with updating them and uploading photos and such. I love to cook for my family (as well as myself!) and I'm trying to embrace the wonderful-ness of veggies! I think I'm just going to "dive right in" (hense the title) and talk about today's recipes!

I woke up early this morning to start slaving away (haha) at no-knead whole wheat bread from The Rodale Cookbook. If your looking for a simple, healthy bread thats not sweet but not bland, go for this! Heres the recipe:

7.5 cups whole wheat flour

6 tsp dry yeast (2 packets was all I had and it worked fine for me.)

1 cup lukewarm water

1 tbsp honey (I used blue agave nectar...YUM)

4 tbsp molasses

1 cup warm water

2 tsp salt

2 cups warm water

Preheat the oven to it's lowest setting (175 for me). Put the whole wheat flour in a big bowl and set it in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, until warmed.

Meanwhile, dissolve the yeast in 1 cup lukewarm water and add the honey/agave nectar.

Mix the molasses with 1 cup warm water.

Combine the yeast mixture with the molasses mixture, and then add salt to that. Pour into the bowl of warmed flour. Then, add about 2 cups warm water to make a sticky dough.

Oil 2 large or 3 small loaf pans, and pour mixture (yes, theres no kneading!) evenly among the 2 or 3 loaf pans. Let the dough rise for one hour.

Then, in a 400'F oven, put the loaves in. (Before I put it in, I scored the bread (Put slits down the middle) Let them bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until crust is goldenish brown.

This was really good at lunch, I made pesto with basil, cilantro, garlic, olive oil, and roasted walnuts, and spread it on a thin darkly toasted peice. I added sundried tomatoes, and this was sooo yummy! It can also go good with jams or earth balance butter, peanut butter too, or anything you can think of. I'm not the most talented baker, but I'm trying here!