Dutch Oven Bread

I grew up making soft bread from scratch. the crust was barely golden brown... we didn't want it crunchy and hard! perfectly soft and fluffy and delicious! And its still my favorite kind of bread.

But.

I found this intriguing bread recipe a few days ago, and decided to try it. It is the epitome of simplicity. It is hole-y inside, with a very chewy crust. Very chewy. I recently discovered that My Cowboy like bread with a chewy crust. It was a real eye-opener to me, since I never was crazy about getting sore jaws from chewing. But hey, if he likes it, more power to him. :) So I decided to try this recipe. Plus - it sounded so simple, I couldn't resist! Now, I took lots of pictures of the process, but it really isn't hard at all. Simplest bread ever, and I thought I had already perfected the simplest bread in the world!  

Basically, you dump all the ingredients into the mixer (or bowl, and stir)and mix till well mixed.

2. Cover with plastic wrap overnight.

3. Turn onto a floured counter in the morning, fold a few times.

4. Plop into covered casserole dish or dutch oven.

5. Bake 30 minutes covered, 15 min. uncovered.

6. Cool one hour before eating.

But, here is the photos;

Put 1 1/2 cups water into a bowl. Add 1/4 teaspoon yeast. (yes, that's right! 1/4 teaspoon! Its essentially a type of sourdough bread)

 Throw in 3 cups flour. White, wheat, or a combination.
Add 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Use a spoon if you don't like to eyeball it. I hate measuring.

 Stir with a spoon if you don't have a stand mixer.

 It is very sticky when its mixed. Do not try to make it like regular dough. Just put in the 3 cups and don't mess with it.

 Once its mixed well, cover with plastic wrap.

 Let it set on the counter overnight, or 12-18 hours. In the morning it should look like this:

 See the bubbles on the top?

 Turn it onto a floured surface, and make sure you use a fair amount of flour, since it is so sticky. Use a spatula to take it out of the pan. Sprinkle flour on top, and...

 ...fold it over 3-4 times. You're not kneading it here - be gentle.

 Then sprinkle flour on a clean cloth. Place the dough on the towel, cover, and let it set 1-2 hours. (use a bit more flour than I did here...

 Or you will get this when you try to put it in the pan! When you put it in the pan, scoot your hand under the towel, and gently slide it in the pan upside down.

 Shake it a bit if needed, to get it centered in the pan.

 Bake, covered, at 450* for 30 minutes.Use a dutch oven, or any large covered casserole dish.

 After 30 minutes, take the lid off, and let it bake 15 minutes more, or until browned to your desired brown-ness. Even if the crust is really dark, the middle will be soft and chewy. here it is, starting the last 15 min.  uncovered.

 Done! Mmmm! I was surprised how much I liked this bread. It would make great garlic/cheese bread.

 Mmmm!

Dutch Oven Bread

1 1/2 cups warm water
1/4 teaspoon yeast
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Preheat oven to 450* with  the dutch oven/casserole dish inside the oven.
Mix the ingredients together. Dough will be sticky.
Cover with plastic wrap and let set in a warm room (70*) for 12-18 hours.
Turn onto a floured surface and fold over several times.
Place on a floured towel, seam side down,  and cover with towel for 1-2 hours.
Gently slide your hand under the dough, and lay in in the dutch oven, seam side up.
Bake for 30 min. covered. Bake an additional 15 min. uncovered.
Remove from pan and cool one hour before cutting.

Fried Chicken

I love fried chicken. It's probably my second favorite food.  (my favorite food of all time is Ice Cream!!)

Anyways, I have tried making fried chicken several times before, and it turned out pathetic. Never done inside, or if it was, it was so tough and overdone on the outside that I hated it. So I decided that I would give up. It was just not my thing.

But.

I found the Pioneer Woman.

She gave me pictures.

She made me feel like I could make fried chicken.

So I did.

And it was wonderful.

I thought maybe you would like to try it as well, so I took pictures last night. Now, if you have the PW Cooks, just use her directions. It will be easier for you. But if you don't; try this. It just might make your kids love you more. My kids said it was 'better than Albertsons.' Which was the highest compliment they could give - because Albertsons has the best fried chicken I have eaten, hands down. (sorry, KFC) I don't think it beat Albertsons, but it was nice of them to say so. And My Cowboy liked it. He does like fried chicken, IF the crust is crispy enough, and IF it has no skin, and IF it is white meat only. We left the breast pieces for him. We don't like those so well, anyways. 

So, without further ado, here is the directions:

Soak 1 cut-up fryer chicken in 2 cups buttermilk.

The PW says to soak the chicken in buttermilk for 12-24 hours. Well, I didn't have that kind of time, so I just soaked it about 3-4 hours. It was fine. Although I will try to plan ahead next time.

I used skinned chicken, but you can leave the skin on if you like.

Preheat the oven to 350*.

Heat 1 1/2 inches oil to 365*.

 

Put the flour and spices in a big bowl. (I was missing the thyme, so I just made it without) Mix the spices well.

                               

 Mix 1/4 cup milk or cream into the flour mixture. Mix it with a fork till it gets little crumbs.
Roll the chicken pieces in the crumb mixture.

 Pat some crumbs onto the chicken pieces if necessary, to coat them thickly.

 Put them slowly into hot oil. Fry about 5 min on each side. You want the crust golden, but not too brown. It will brown some in the oven. If you don't have a thermometer, you can set the burner to medium, and test it by dropping a small piece of the coating mix into the oil. If it sizzles good, its probably ready.


                                       
 Flip and fry the other side 5 minutes. I love my dutch oven, by the way. On the bottom of my dutch oven, it says: "Chicken Fryer". Ever since I read that, I have wanted to make fried chicken.

 Put the pieces on a baking sheet, or 9x13, and bake for 15-20 minutes. Cut into the fattest piece to make sure its done through.

 Enjoy! It is worth it, trust me. If you like fried chicken!

Fried Chicken

1 cut-up fryer chicken
2 cups buttermilk
Soak chicken in buttermilk.
Mix flour and seasonings together. Mix in milk with a fork.
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoons seasoned salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (I used 1/4 tsp, cause I am a wuss about heat. It was about right.)
1/4 cup buttermilk or reg. milk
Roll chicken in flour mix, and deep fry for 5 min per side. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Notes::
I halved the PW recipe, to make it suitable for one chicken.
You can make a substitute for buttermilk by adding 2 tablespoons vinegar to 1 cup regular milk.
This chicken ends up being "crispy on the outside, and juicy on the inside", in the words of my 9 year old. :)

Country Breakfast Casserole

...Otherwise known as; ..."that good casserole Aunt Lavina made". Once upon a summer I had a family reunion in my backyard. 50+ people. It was crazy. And fun. But mostly crazy. Anyways, one of the good things that came out of that time, was this casserole recipe. My dear aunt made it in a huge roasting pan, and it was delicious. I have scaled it down to a size a bit easier to deal with. This recipe make enough for 2 cowboys or 4 ladies. Or 1 cowboy, 1 lady, and 3 kids.
First, butter a baking dish. I used a 2-qt here, which was 'way too big, but I have also used a bread pan, or any small casserole dish. Then spread your taters on the bottom of the pan. You can use any kind of cooked potatoes...I used 1 and 1/2 baked potatoes this morning, left overs, if you must know. But you can use frozen hash browns, frozen tater tots, or whatever. Just put 'em in frozen.

Then fry 4 eggs. If you use a cast iron pan, you get some extra iron in your food. Its good for you.

Spread the eggs over the potatoes.

Then plop some sausage gravy over top of the eggs. This is the main reason I make this casserole the morning after I make biscuits and gravy. I make sure to make extra gravy, then I have leftovers for this scrumptious casserole. You can even use canned sausage gravy. But I just use leftovers.

Spread it out a bit. Its ok if its stiff, it will warm and soak together.

Slice or shred some cheddar cheese, and lay it on top of the gravy. I like cheddar, but I have used American, Velveeta, mozzarella, whatever you have.

Cover and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and its hot clear through.

Enjoy! My Cowboy likes this casserole so much. He doesn't care much for breakfast casseroles with bread in, so this one passes his taste test. Plus, it has sausage gravy in it! How could it get any better?! :)

Country Breakfast Casserole

2 cups frozen hash browns

4 eggs, scrambled

1 cup sausage gravy

1/2 cup shredded cheese

Butter a small baking dish. Layer the potatoes, eggs, gravy, and cheese. Bake, covered at 350 for 20-30 minutes.

Remember: use leftovers if you have them, and just throw in what YOU like. Measurements are optional.

Dutch Oven Cooking.

I have been wanting a bigger cast iron skillet for awhile now. I finally remembered that I had a dutch oven in my camping gear, so I dug it out yesterday afternoon, and scrubbed all the campfire soot off of it. Here is what I made...

Pork roast. Around 2 lbs. You could use beef, too, if pork isn't your thing. We love pork. :) Mine was only 1/2 thawed, but I just used it anyway.
Put a blob of bacon fat in the skillet. Heat to med-high. Put your roast into the pan. It will sizzle and pop - that's good. You want to get it nice and brown on both sides. I just left the fat on the roast - it made it more juicy, and then we just trimmed it off our pieces.

Maybe 5 minutes per side.

Halve 4 potatoes, and chop an onion into 8 pieces.

When the roast is browned nicely on both sides, throw the veggies in the pan, and add 1 cup water. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Oh, and stick a few cute baby carrots inbetween the potatoes, it makes it more colorful!

Then cover and roast for 1 hour. I don't know why the lid for my Dutch oven is so spotted. It really was clean.

Yum! I drained the broth and made gravy, but that's optional, and I forgot to take photos of that part! :) It really was so easy and good.


Dutch Oven Roast

2 Tablespoons bacon fat or oil

2 lb roast

4 potatoes

1 onion

1 carrot

salt

pepper

garlic powder

1 cup water
Heat the oil on med-hi heat in the dutch oven. Sear the roast on both sides till golden brown. Put the chopped veggies in beside the roast. Pour water in the pan. Sprinkle veggies and roast with salt, garlic powder, and black pepper. Roast 1 hour at 350*.