Spring Break Science Experiment

My 9-year old son and I are both on Spring Break this week. We had a wonderful day together and I topped it off tonight by having him perform a little science experiment. I put some heavy whipping cream in a bowl and had him commence to mixin' that cream with a hand held mixer.

He watched it gain volume and become whipped cream, as it moved through both soft and firm peak stages. I had him taste it as he went along and he really didn't like the whipped cream. No sugar, mind you. Not enjoyable for a young boy expecting whipped cream out of a can.

Anyhoo, he continued to mix and watched the whipped cream lose volume, turn a light shade of yellow and begin to develop a bit of milky white residue at the bottom of the bowl. The cream was turning into curds and whey. He whipped for a while longer, just like Devo and voila the cream turned to butter and the whey went wayward all over the counter.

We then took the butter curds out of the bowl and moved them to a strainer. I had him squish the butter between his fingers(after his mother made him wash his hands first, of course) and he squeezed out the last bit of buttermilk(whey) out.



We then heated up a piece of artisan bread that I'd made earlier in the day, spread on some butter and we had a snack fit for a king, or prince in my son's case.




Be well, eat well, love well & live long!

Homemade Bread

I just cannot get enough homemade bread!!! Someone stop meeeeee...

This afternoon I made my own concoction based upon the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day Cookbook recipe for basic bread. This is a sight that you must check out! Fear of baking yeast bread, you say? No more, after learning this method. It's wonderful! I keep a 6 quart plastic tub in the fridge and when I want to make bread, I scissor off a piece, form it into a boule or baguette and bake it at 500 degrees in a cast iron dutch oven for 30 minutes. I remove the cover and bake it another 10-20 minutes to get a nice crunchy crust and voila! Try it, you'll like it!

This afternoon, I made rosemary, asiago, Parmesan and cracked black pepper bread. It's sitting on the counter now cracking....begging me to cut into it and enjoy a slice. But I will be patient and let it cool, so the crumb inside forms nicely!

Okay, I waited. Here's the bread sliced and it is wonderful.



SWMBO wanted rosemary bread today and rosemary bread she got, or will get when she gets home!! Also, please kindly notice my new Shun laminated bread knife that I used to cut the bread. It was an early birthday gift from my lovely bride that I just received today. Get a new bread knife, ya gotta make bread and reward the giver of said razor sharp utensil!!! Thanks for the new knife, honey. I love you!!!


(That's Luke the WonderDog with her in the pic)

Be well, eat well, love well & live long!