Danielle Bean very kindly mentioned that you could come here to find the St. Lucia bread recipe that we know and love. And, I just want to reiterate what Danielle said in her encouragement about making this bread:
Do not be intimidated by this yeast dough recipe.
Listen to me: Step away from the fear!
I used to think I was incapable of anything involving yeast. But, honestly, you really can't mess this up. You'd have to light the yeast on fire to ruin this bread. It's easy. This is me ... not-very-domestic-Karen speaking.
You can do this.
What made me laugh today was that Danielle accused herself of being too lazy to post the recipe, but she sweetly overlooked the fact that I didn't really post it again ... I just linked to last year's post.
Enjoy it! And, if you don't get around to enjoying it until next week, just call it something else. "December 18th Bread" has a distinctive ring, I think.
13 comments:
Oh Karen...how did you know? Ahem, my name is Matilda and I'm afraid of yeast. I took one look at that recipe and promptly clicked away. So, I promise to keep the matches away from my yeast jar and I will let you know how it turns out.
I knew you were out there! :-)
Today, I took shortcuts and the bread still turned out great.
I warmed the milk in the microwave, melted the butter the same way, and I did not let the yeast sit for a full five minutes. We left out the orange zest and my kids did all the kneading.
The bread was scrumptious!
I am super afraid of trying this. The last time I tried to make bread it came out horrible. And I mean horrible. I'm going to print out the recipe and give it a try anyway. :-)
Jen -- you won't be sorry. :-)
What a lovely, consoling post about baking with yeast. I DO love bread-making - yesterday we made Swedish saffron buns and we're eating them for St. Lucia today!
I laughed about the distinctive ring of "December 18th"!
This year my daughter, who has just reread the Christmas story of Kirsten in the American Girl series, seems quite taken with the idea of a Swedish Christmas; so besides reading our usual Christmas books, full of tomtems (and getting Lissa's Hanna book from the library), we baked Swedish Christmas bread from the Fannie Farmer cookbook -- the recipe sounds much like yours.
But because today is a regular very-early starting work and farm day, we decided to put off the actual breakfast serving and wreath wearing 'til Sunday, when we can lie about a bit and make crumbs in bed!
Which also gives me a few days to convince Laura's brothers that they really DO want to be Star Boys (I'm not holding my breath, though...)
Add me to the 'If Karen can do it, so can I!' fan club. I have a double batch set to rise! Thanks so much for posting the recipe!
I just had to stop in and say that I am currently trying your bread! (It's rising right now...I hope...) I kept telling Aslynn, "I'm nervous!" and she couldn't figure it out. She said, "Mom, we're just baking. Why would you be nervous?"
I'll let you know how it turns out this afternoon!!
We actually don't do St. Lucia's Breakfast until the start of our Christmas Week celebrations. (Your original point says it all: It's not about the date, it's about the memories!)(We did plant St. Lucy's wheat today, though, for Baby Jesus' bed, based on a Hungarian custom. So we're not *total* liturgical year deadbeats.) :)
So, by gosh and golly, I'm gonna try this recipe! This'll really be fun. Thanks, Karen!
I stopped being afraid of yeast when I got a kitchen thermometer. Keep the water or milk temperature between 110 and 120 it'll come out a-okay.
I posted a picture of the leftovers today! (Not much, let me tell ya!) It was great!!!! And SOOOOO easy! This was very good for my yeastaphobia. Thank you for the encouragement.
Oh, success stories! How fun.
Actually, I think we all have Danielle to thank, as she reminded me that some moms are afraid of yeast. :-) I tend to think that anything I accomplish falls into the "anyone can do this" category ... and ... it does!
OK, OK. Maybe I'll get talked into it long about mid-January when I'm feeling domestic (though my timing's not the best for keeping the whole feast day thing...)
Post a Comment