bread | SCISSORS & SAGE

“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.”

Friends, it has been nearly seven months since I’ve shared a post on Scissors & Sage. So much has happened since “Snow Day Sugar Cookies” back in February! Here are some life updates on my end:

I got my first ever Devacurl haircut. That, paired with Ouidad products, has made my hair curlier than ever without the frizz. I’ve never loved my hair more.

Anne and I started a little pop-up shop business called Looseleaf Books + Plants. We’ve had two pop-ups so far and had a whole lot of fun.

We moved to Chicago. Talk about a whirlwind! Philly treated us so well, and we were certainly sad to say goodbye for now. We are so excited about this new chapter in Chicago, though, and can’t wait to see where life takes us here.

WE GOT MARRIED! July 29, 2017 in Platteville, Wisconsin. The cows were mooing, the birds were chirping, and the sun was shining. It was a day I will never forget, filled with beautiful people, delicious food, and amazing music. I can’t wait to share more about it in the weeks and months to come.

What’s new in your lives? How did you enjoy the warmer months?

Today, I thought I’d share a recipe I’m trying for the first time. The week before our wedding this summer, Anne and I embarked on making our very own sourdough starter. We decided to make it as a symbol of our love: two ingredients, water and flour, coming together to make something greater than themselves, while also getting better with age. We call it our “wedding bread” and hope to make loaves and share it with loved ones for decades to come.

I celebrated my 27th birthday on Tuesday on our one-month wedding anniversary. My parents mailed me a very cool Romertopf clay bread baker to make all of our breads in! This is my first time using it and I’m pretty excited to see how these dinner rolls turn out (I’m writing this prematurely as I wait for the dough to rise). I altered this recipe from King Arthur Flour slightly, and have shared my adaptation below.

It feels good to be back on Scissors & Sage, and I can’t wait to share more of our lives as we settle into this new city, new home, and new routine.

Sourdough Dinner Rolls (adapted from King Arthur Flour)

Prep time: 20 minutes | Inactive time: 3 hours | Bake time: 50 minutes | Yields: 16 rolls

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sourdough starter
1 cup lukewarm milk
2 1/2 heaping cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast

Combine all of the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough attachment. Add more flour if needed to reach a soft, smooth texture.

Place dough in a large greased bowl. Cover and let sit for 90 minutes at warm room temperature. Slightly grease your bread baker while the dough is rising.

Once the dough is doubled in size, divide the dough into 16 pieces on a lightly greased work surface. Shape into balls, and place them in the baker so that they are not touching one another. Cover and let rise for an additional 90 minutes. The rolls should be puffy and touching.

Place the baker in the oven and then turn the heat on to 400°F. (Note: Always place a clay baker in a cool oven to avoid cracking.) Bake for 45 minutes, and then bake for an additional five minutes without the lid on, or until golden brown. Remove and let cool on a wooden board for 15 minutes before transferring the rolls to a cooling rack. Enjoy immediately or store in beeswax bread wrap.

From Scissors & Sage

Anne and I didn’t get engaged with rings. Instead, we exchanged meaningful gifts with one another so that we could choose our rings together. I gave Anne a genealogy chart of both of our families dating back to the mid-1800s, and Anne gave me a KitchenAid stand mixer–a symbol of ingredients mixing and coming together to form something greater than themselves.

(Here’s me and “Pistachio.”)

Over the weekend, I decided to give my new dough hook a try. I’ve always wanted to bake bread from scratch, and what better time than now? The KitchenAid came with a booklet of staple recipes, this being one of them. I gathered the few ingredients and set out on a bread making quest. Our apartment smelled like a bakery, and I can officially say that I am “hooked” on baking bread. The loaves are soft and moist on the inside and crispy on the outside. Brushing the pans and top of the dough with olive oil gives the baked bread a hint of an olive taste. You might as well be sitting in a restaurant in an Italian piazza.

Rapid Mix Cool Rise White Bread (via KitchenAid)

Active time: 25 minutes | Bake time: 40 minutes | Yields: 2 loaves

Ingredients:

6-7 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbs sugar
3 1/2 tsp salt
3 packages active dry yeast
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups very warm water (120°F to 130°F)

Place 5 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and butter in mixer bowl. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer. Turn to speed 2 and mix about 20 seconds. Gradually, add warm water and mix about 1 1/2 minutes longer.

Continuing on speed 2, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl, about 2 minutes. Knead on speed 2 about 2 minutes longer.

Cover dough with plastic wrap and a towel [or blanket]. Let rest 20 minutes.

Divide dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll each half into a rectangle, approximately 9 x 14 inches. Starting at a short end, roll the dough tightly. Pinch to seal the seam. Pinch the ends and turn them under. Place the dough, seam side down, in two greased loaf pans. Brush each loaf with olive oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 2 to 12 hours.

When ready to bake, uncover dough carefully. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes. Puncture any gas bubbles which may have formed. Bake at 400°F for 35 to 40 minutes until golden. Remove from pans immediately and cool on a wire rack.

from Scissors & Sage

(Fresh and steamy out of the oven)

These ingredients certainly did create something greater than their individual selves. They reacted to one another and the elements surrounding them, changing their chemical makeup to grow and expand into something delicious.