Wednesday, February 12, 2014

School Project

Today is another cold nasty day out. At 9:30 am it is 29 degrees out and we are to get a mix of rain and snow today. And the same for tomorrow!
So I though this would be a day to watch the Olympics, do some cooking and just veg out.
And post the promised "School Project" that I helped Terri do!

So Terri called me a couple weeks ago and told me about a school project she had to do and wanted to know if I had any ideas. She is a full time student at ECU and her major is Graphic Design . The Project was for her Photo class and was to be a story told in pictures and be 35 pictures long. And the pictures had to be taken with a real camera, 35 mm SLR (No digital pictures allowed!).
So I told her I would think about it that night at work. So I though that a story about some "Homesteading" project might work. She had to take the pictures, develop the film and print the pictures and place them in a binder in such a way that anyone could see the story.

So my idea was to make a batch of bread and take pictures of the process......
And this is what we came up with.....
(All of the pictures were taken with my digital camera for this post)

Greek Country Bread!
We got the recipe from a cook book and was something we had never tried before. And while we were at it we decided to make a big pot of Chile to have with it!

The ingredients and the "Stand mixer we used to mix the dough.
Following the recipe, we mixed the dough and got to the point of placing the dough on the island to knead.

Dough was pretty sticky at this point.

But it came together pretty nicely. I was able to work out some stress on the dough!
The dough was then placed in a bowl with a little oil to keep it from drying out. We preheated the oven to 170 degrees and then turned it off. Placed the bowl in the oven, covered with a dish towel and allowed to rise until doubled in size (about 1 1/2 hours)

The first rise! Looks pretty good!
So then I punched it down and did a second knead.

More stress gone! 
Once this second knead was complete, the dough was shaped into a log and cut into 6 equal sections and placed on a baking stone and covered with that same towel to rise again for 30 Min's.
It was then brushed with a little milk and the top sprinkled with sesame seeds and sea salt.
As a side note (a story in it's self)....

The pot of Chile simmering on the "NU Wave" convection cooker I got Terri for Christmas! It was a BOGO  deal and we really like this thing. Manly because we can set it to any temperature we want and let it cook! So this is what we a had for dinner that night. It was great along with the bread!

And right out of the oven! This is a pull a part type of bread and I have to tell you that it was very tasty! We will be making this again!
And now for the funny part of the story!....

Terri did all the photo work and I did most of the bread making. She took the required number of pictures with her SLR camera for the school project and the pictures you see in this post with my digital camera.
And the funny part you may ask!???...
SHE FORGOT TO PUT FILM IN HER CAMERA!!!
LOL!!

So she had to do it all over again!! SILLY RABBIT!!

But I got to make a new type of bread and a pot of Chile and got to post about it!! I really like to cook and I like to bake too! And a new recipe is always fun to try. And this one was very good and will become one of the recipe's I can come back to and use again!

So that's the school project story. She got a good grade on the finished project and we got a good meal out of it to boot!

Tonight I have the night off from work and the responsibility to make dinner as Terri is in school and Mark (her husband!) can not boil water with out burning it!

So I think I will make Chicken/Broccoli Alfredo over Egg Noddles, A green Salid and of course BREAD! 

Tom

6 comments:

  1. UGH! I'm HUNGRY now! Never tried pull-apart bread, it looks fun. Bread can be fun, right :)

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    1. YUP, Fun! At least I think so! The best part is NO KNIFE, JUST PULL OFF WHAT YOU WANT! Still warm from the oven. Slather on the butter and enjoy. Makes sopping up the last of the chile easy!
      Tom

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  2. Tom,

    Making bread is amazing not just because you can work your stress out on the dough but because it's delicious in the end.
    Great project to photograph for class. How did Terri do on her grade?

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    1. It costs less then getting it at the store! And you can make what ever kind you want!
      I really like a farm house white bread recipe that came with the bread machine we got a few years ago! And yes I do use the machine quite a bit. It works great and the bread comes out the same each time.
      Tom

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  3. LOL, what a great post. Poor Terry. Her project was a really interesting assignment though and the idea for the bread story was brilliant. At least you could console her with a good meal!

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    1. Leigh,
      Yes and it was really fun working with her on it! And I got to be the supporting actor, The real star was the bread! The Chile was pretty good too!
      Tom

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