Alphabet Soup

It's almost amusing to talk about the snow day we had a couple of weeks ago, considering that the temperature the last few days has been in the 70's!  Crazy, I know.  But anyway, we had a snow day at the beginning of the month.  Well, honestly, it was more of a snow-covered-ice with sub-zero windchill day.  The schools closed.  My husband even stayed home from work!  So, of course I wanted to bake.  And bake I did! I was able to cross making challah bread off my learn-to-do list , which was awesome!  My loaf of bread certainly wouldn't win any beauty contests, but it definitely tasted good.  I used this recipe from Red Star Yeast  (which I love by the way!), and I would use it again.  I mixed it up in the bread machine, then shaped it by hand and baked it in the oven.  I must make challah bread more often!! I also tried the Baking Illustrated chocolate chip cookies via Brown Eyed Baker .  I don't know...

First, my apologies for no TWD post yesterday. It's hard to make Cocoa Nana Bread when someone throws out your pefectly good, ripe bananas you were saving just for that recipe because "they looked nasty." Oh well, hop on over and check out what the other TWD Bakers did with this week's recipe, chosen by Steph of Obsessed with Baking ! Now, on to the bread!! I admit that while I own a bread machine, I don't make that much in it. I just prefer to be more hands-on with my breadmaking, literally. However, I do use it quite often to make cinnamon raisin bread. I found a recipe that works well, and everyone in our house loves it, especially the kids!! The recipe is from Fleischman's Bread World recipe site. I'm linking to it, because it has measurements for 1 lb, 1 1/2 lb, and 2 lb loaves on it. The only change I make is in the type of yeast I use, so I have to adjust the amount slightly. Oh, just a helpful hint. You know the little paddle thingy that goe...