Greetings from NE Ohio

Thanks for the welcome, Phyl. I live in Mentor, but my son works down your way in Copley. Here's a little seeded rye to whet your appetite...

Joe

Thanks for all the nice welcoming comments. Let me say that that was the most bread I ever baked in one day. I committed to bake bread for a men's renwal dinner (10 loaves of Italian) which I knew the date of, and the bake sale was promised 15 loaves, but the date was not finalized. As luck would have it, both fell on the same date, so I just took the day off work (I own a Handyman business) and started baking at 6 a.m., and finished around 5 p.m.I also bought a third 3/4 sheet pan, and by keeping double dough batches (4 loaves) at around 1/2 hour increments, I simply plodded mindlessly through the day and stuck with it till it was done. While I really enjoy baking, I must admit that by the end of the day I was worn out, and this exercise made me realize I don't want to do this every day...it's a hobby, and nothing more.

The wheat bread was baked in 12-3/4" commercial bread pans, and I cut the loaves in half. I do this for our church bake sales, because we have a lot of seniors who like fresh bread, but a full size loaf would be too much for them, particularly the ones who live alone. So some of my bread gets cut into half loaves jsut for these folks. Regardless, every loaf gets sold because of the great homemade flavor and no preservatives other than Kosher salt, butter or olive oil, depending on the recipe.

I bought 1,000 15" bread bags from Bauer Supply in Mentor Ohio for around $26, and have used half of them in the past year. I recently found 18" bread bags in 100 packs for $2.95 from an Amish bulk food store in Middlefield, Ohio (B&R Bulk Foods, 16099 Nauvoo Road, 440-632-5584, Mon-Wed 8-5, Fri 8-7, Sat 8-4, closed Thursday and Sunday.). They also carry bulk flours and corn meal at ridiculous prices. I can't recall exactly, but I believe they carry no less that 8-10 DIFFERENT flours, and can special order anything the big mills provide. They will bag any volume of their stock flours, so you can get 1# or up to 25# in a heavy poly bag. I get 25# bags of Montana Sapphire that I use for all of my breads from B&R for about $.49 per pound, which is $2.50 less than a 25# bag in the grocery store. It's worth the 30 mile trip just to chat with the owners. The first time I visited the store, I was overwhelmed by all the different flours on the shelves, so I asked the owner what flour the Amish community use for their bread, and he said the Montana Sapphire. From the first loaf I made, I was sold on this flour for all of my bread.

I have a website at www.flyfishohio.us where I have begun to archive my recipes so I can share them with others. I'm still uploading some recipes, so be patient and they will eventually all be there. Feel free to share the recipes with others if you like them. The Italian and honey whole wheat are there now, so enjoy them.

Joe