Amazing English Muffin Bread!

This is all a bit ironic.......In last week's blog, I went on and on about the county fair.....entering contests, winning ribbons and prize-winning recipes. Sorry to say, this week's recipe is one that I would NEVER enter in a competition, yet I would make it again and again! There is an old saying that as folks sit down to a dinner table, they first "eat with their eyes." And isn't that true????? (And isn't that why so few of us serve creamed spinach at our dinner tables ???) People love to see something beautiful and inviting...something just BEGGING to be devoured. This recipe is one that does not make a beautiful loaf of bread. However, it makes a GREAT loaf of bread, if you're hankering for English muffins!! When I came upon this recipe and saw that it called for the bread to be "baked" in the microwave, I could hardly believe it. Extremely skeptical,  I earmarked it for a "must try" simply because it seemed so absurd. The author of the cookbook gave the recipe credibility, though, so I held out a smidgen of hope that it might be decent. Well, I was shocked....totally shocked! If you don't care what shape your English muffin is , I think you'll love toasting this tasty, fun, easy... but ugly (tee hee)... bread! 

Amazing English Muffin Bread

Dough:

1½ tsp.Red Star Platinum yeast

1 ¼ Cup warm water

2 1/3 Cup unbleached, all-purpose flour

½ Cup white whole wheat flour

1Tbsp. cornmeal

1½ tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

5 Tbsp. buttermilk powder 

1/8 tsp. baking soda

Place warm water in EZ DOH bucket. Dissolve yeast in water and let rest 1 minute. Add remaining ingredients, EXCEPT baking soda. EZ DOH-it until dough is stiff and just slightly sticky. Remove dough from bucket, spray bucket with cooking spray and replace dough. Cover and let rise until doubled. Re-attach dough hook and stir down the dough. Dissolve the baking soda in 1 Tbsp. water and EZ DOH-it into the dough. Spray a 6-cup microwave-proof loaf pan and place dough evenly into the pan. Cover lightly and let rise in a warm place until doubled.

Place loaf in the microwave and “bake” on high for 6 ½ minutes. The loaf will look rather doughy and holey. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Adapted from Lora Brody’s “The New England Table” 
Visit: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/yeastspotting/  for more delicious breads! 

Amazing English Muffin Bread!