Roasted Garlic Bread & Anniversary Giveaway!

Roasted Garlic Bread

Happy New Year, everyone!  I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday time.

HB5 Master Loaf, in toaster oven!

I have been baking in my toaster oven lately:    

I was just doing the finishing touches on some holiday baking when my Thermador oven wouldn't heat again!  I was told it needed another  $400 circuit board  (with installation)!  Between the buyer protection plan and my own out of pocket, I calculated $876 was spent repairing this oven in 4 years. Therefore, we began looking at new ovens.

After looking a bit, I thought I'd give Thermador a chance to help.  After some discussion with the Thermador customer service and faxing of bills, they offered a new circuit board as a "goodwill gesture."  Since everything else has been replaced (!), so I thought I'd give it a try.  I just have to pay for the +$100 installation.  But we will keep our eye out on oven sales for wall ovens our size!

Today, though, the oven worked!  I was telling the electrician that it wasn't working and turned it on.  Imagine my surprise when it began to heat up!  I had made the dough for the Roasted Garlic Bread the day before, thinking that I'd be using the toaster oven.  But now, I could really bake!  I left the oven on all day, while the loaves rose and came out of the oven.  I told my electrician to return later for a fresh bread.

I made some changes to the HBin5 recipe.  About 1/3 of the spelt was substituted for white whole wheat--there wasn't enough spelt.  There wasn't enough time to let it rise fully after dinner, so I left the dough on the counter overnight.  The dough went into the fridge for a few hours in the morning.  When shaping, I used the classic boule shape, instead of a long oval.  It was just faster to do; less cleanup.

Here's a picture of the breads, rising on the peel:

I love covering my breads with these large cotton flour sack towels!  When I am done, I just toss them into the wash.

After making "Dixie's Special Garlic Bread" with raw garlic, I was really curious about the flavor of the Roasted Garlic Bread.  We really enjoyed the mellow taste of the roasted garlic.  When my electrician couldn't show up later for his loaf due to snow, my hubby exclaimed "more for us!"  Both breads have their place in my repetoire.  This bread stands alone nicely, but the raw garlic bread makes a great base for toppings/sauces.  Here's the link for Dixie's Special Garlic Bread

Maybe a starfish design next time?

Dixie's Special Garlic Bread

I'm just about to celebrate several baking anniversaries!   I first heard about Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a day from Splendid Table on December 28, 2008.  Actually, I missed the show.  However, I was over a friend's house later in the day.  She asked me to help download a copy of the Master Dough from AB5 from the Splendid Table website.  I looked at the recipe, and just had to make it.  I don't knead bread, and had found my bread machine to be very limiting.  Immediately, I got the book from our local library.  After a few loaves, I was hooked!  I still have the Splendid Table copy I printed out, as well as the copy of the invoice for the book.  Great keepsakes.


Also, this is the first anniversary of my baking with wonderful Michelle's Healthy Breads in 5 Minutes baking group.  As I bake through the book with them, we get a glimpse into the lives of the co-bakers.  The people in the group are so nice, and we try to help each other.  It's helped me increase my baking knowledge.  It's just wonderful.  So I would like to hold a giveaway, to thank my fellow bakers.

My giveaway is three 30" x 38" all-cotton floursack towels, like the ones I just love. I bought a few of them, and would like to share three with the winner of my giveaway.  They are really quite large!

Flour sack towels= multi use!

"But wait, there's more!"  I'm also including a great Taylor digital thermometer.  This one is really great--auto shutoff, a cord to hang around your neck or you can use the clip to clip it to your clothes:

Taylor Digital Thermometer

You enter the giveaway by leaving a comment below. If you aren't part of the AB5 or HB5 group, leave some contact information so I can contact you if you win.

If you are a follower, you will get an extra vote for the drawing when you leave a comment.  So, if you aren't a follower of this blog, it's a good time to sign up.  I feel these are great baking tools!

This contest is open to people in the USA, to make mailing easier.  You can enter if you live out of the USA, as long as I can ship the prize to your relative or friend in the USA.  So I hope that international readers can enter.  I've made several wonderful international baking buddies; I don't want them to miss out..


The contest ends January 25, 2011.  That's the second anniversary of when I ordered my copy of Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, and started on this baking adventure.

Thanks so much!  

Judy