Snow, bread and deer

We have had a TON of snow and subzero temps this winter. This is our basement walk out. The wood at the top is taller than I am. This is mostly from drifting.

Yes, that is a -12 f. It's been as low as -19 f. 

The chickens have handled it well. When it's below 0, I don't open their door except to put their water in the coop. The coop stays nice and toasty.

We lost a tree in a summer storm last year. It finished coming down recently and took almost all of the branches off of this tree and left a gaping hole.

I made challah! My first challah and my first braided bread. It's part wheat.

I made french toast and bread pudding with it. Yum.

I finally spotted our three-legged deer and was able to get my camera before she left. We nicknamed her "Daisy". We first spotted her in 2011, and almost three years to the date, I got the bottom pics. We saw her a few times this summer with a fawn. She gets along really well. No clue why she's missing a leg, but it doesn't bother her.

Artisan Bread

I recently hosted a Pampered Chef party and received the Deep Covered Baker from the Stoneware line for 60% off. I just got it a few days ago and did some research and found out that I can bake artisan bread in it. I found this link a week ago for "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day". You mix up the ingredients, let it rise, and then put in the fridge for up to two weeks. It is a no-knead bread and will make 4 one pound loaves.

My first loaf was done on a cast iron skillet and turned out ok. Kind of dry, wasn't impressed. I did it in the Deep Covered Baker today. The result is the picture above. It turned out so much better than on the cast iron! I followed the directions on the ABin5 site, but baked it for 30 minutes with the lid on, 10 with it off. It was sizzling when I took the lid off.

Over time, the nice creamy inside of the stone baker will get seasoned and turn a dark color. Since this was the first time using it, I just brushed a bit of olive oil on the inside. I also got the stoneware pizza stone. I made Grands biscuits on it and the bottoms didn't get hard and nearly burned like they do on a sheet pan.

Back to the ABin5, I need to get the book soon. There are variations for this master recipe, including a brioche dough and pizza dough.

Oh, yes, the link... Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day Master Recipe !