Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Texas Toast starting with Homemade English Muffin Bread and a Book Review #BreadBakers

This scrumptious English Muffin Bread was made for toasting.  I decided to slather mine with garlic butter and toast it on the grill, Texas style.  

English Muffin Bread

The #BreadBakers are having a BBQ.......

I am hosting Bread Bakers this Merry Merry Month of May.  What makes me so merry, you ask?  Spring has sprung.  That means moving my family dinners to the outdoors and firing up the grill instead of the oven. 

Texas Toast

The majority of my summertime cooking takes place outdoors on a grill.  That is what we in the Midwest call BBQ.  I know that my friends down south and out west have different definitions of what makes BBQ so I asked all of the members of our group to share a bread that would go well with the BBQ that they enjoy.  Let's take a look at what they brought to share with us today.......

 

BreadBakers


#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Man with Birthday Cake

We were celebrating Frank's Birthday with a family dinner.  We made ribs on the smoker and chicken on the rotisserie.  I cheated and bought some deli salads but I did make the baked beans and this delicious English Muffin Bread that I turned into Texas Toast.

Texas Toast pin


I decided to make Texas Toast because I was listening to a novel by Laurie Frankel while I took my daily walks.  This Texas Toast is not only perfect for BBQ's but it was a great sugue into the review of this novel.

One Two Three

This  is the story of a family living in a small town that suffered poisoning by the  chemical plant that was their only industry.  After the business contaminated their water and air, and pets and people started dying, the plant closed and hightailed it out of town.  Leaving their devastation behind.  

It is now 16 years later and Nora, whose husband died from poisoning six weeks before their daughters were born, deals with the effects of that poisoning every day as the town, Bourne, also has a huge number of birth anomalies, that Nora's triplets suffer.

The triplets were identified at birth by Nora using syllables.  Mab was born first.  She is intelligent, can move her body any way she wants and suffers from guilt that she of the three is "normal" and that she cannot wait to get out of Bourne.

Monday born second, of course, is on the spectrum.  She can only eat foods and wear clothes that are yellow except for on green days signified by rain. Monday cannot lie and takes words and life very literally.

Mirabele was last to be born and while intelligent to the genius level suffers cerebral palsy that leaves only her right hand and arm normal.  She cannot speak but is able to communicate with her family with gestures and with others using typing and symbols that are spoken through a computer app.

The girls simply think of themselves as One, Two, Three and this is how they are identified as they tell their story in the novel.  The narrator did a great job portraying the girls through her cadence and inflection and I enjoyed listening to this novel very much.

Nora is very careful about the foods she gives her daughters.  She does not trust the meat and dairy available to them in their local grocer so instead bakes from scratch feeling that those ingredients used are processed and far enough removed from the poisons that infilterated their entire town.  

Nora is obssessed with proving that the company not only didn't care that they poisoned the town but that they knew they were poisoning the town and continued operating until they were no longer allowed.  She want's more than compensatory damages for her children, she wants punitive damages against the company and has spent the past, nearly 2 decades, working on this endeavor.

English Muffin Bread

So I decided that this homemade bread would be something Nora would feel was safe to feed her family. I think using it to make Texas Toast would have also made Monday's to eat list, as it is yellow.

Texas Toast

I found the idea of using English Muffin Bread on the King Arthur's website.  This bread is perfect for any kind of toast.  Try it with a schmear of your favorite jam for breakfast!!  I think Monday would like this Lemon Shred on hers.  

I will be sharing this recipe over at Foodies Read.  Stop by and see what the other Foodies are reading this month.



Bread, English Muffin, Toast, Texas Toast, Garlic Bread
Bread
American
Yield: 8 servings
Author: Wendy Klik
English Muffin Bread/Texas Toast

English Muffin Bread/Texas Toast

This scrumptious English Muffin Bread was made for toasting. I decided to slather mine with garlic butter and toast it on the grill, Texas style.
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 25 MinInactive time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 30 M

Ingredients

  • 3 c. flour
  • 1 T. sugar
  • 1 1/2 t. salt
  • 1/4 t. baking soda
  • 1 T. instant yeast
  • 1 c. milk
  • 1/4 c. water
  • 2 T. olive oil
  • Butter for making toast
  • Granulated Garlic for making toast

Instructions

  1. Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and yeast in the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
  2. Heat the milk, water and oil to a temperature of 120-130*. Pour over the flour mixture and mix on low speed until combined.
  3. Increase speed to high and beat for 1 minute, until dough is very smooth and starting to become elastic.
  4. Scoop the dough into a loaf pan that has been treated with cooking spray. Flatten as much as possible. Cover and let rise until the dough peeks over the rim of the pan, about an hour.
  5. Bake in a preheated 400* oven for about 25 minutes, until golden brown and an interior temperature of 190* is reached.
  6. Let cool in pan for about 5 minutes before turning onto a rack to cool completely.
  7. If making Texas Toast: Cut loaf into 8 equal slices. Butter each side of the bread and sprinkle with granulated garlic. Place onto a hot grill and cook a minute or two on each side until nicely toasted. Serve immediately.

Notes

Adapted from a recipe found at King Arthur.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

236.24

Fat (grams)

5.57 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

1.46 g

Carbs (grams)

39.57 g

Fiber (grams)

1.7 g

Net carbs

37.88 g

Sugar (grams)

3.11 g

Protein (grams)

6.52 g

Sodium (milligrams)

493.35 mg

Cholesterol (grams)

5 mg

12 comments:

  1. Happy birthday to the birthday boy! I have made this bread recipe and love it. It's perfect for this with all of the nooks and crannies!

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  2. What a wonderful bread! Happy Birthday to Frank, God Bless Him!

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  3. Hope Frank had a very happy birthday! 🎂 That sounds like pretty much the perfect celebratory meal, including the garlic Texas toast. ❤️

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  4. Yummy, we love English muffin bread!

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  5. The bread sounds pretty yummy, and only one rise! The book sounds good too and I've got it reserved at the library.

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    Replies
    1. I hope you enjoy it Claudia. Anxious to see your review.

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  6. Great review. Interested in reading this one. I would not have thought about English Muffin Bread (and for Texas toast). What a great recipe Very versatile and great for breakfast.

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