We 3 gmas really baked!
For our first official bake in 2013, we really heated up our kitchens! With the outside scenery in Barb's yard, you can see why that is a GOOD thing. That is just one of the differences between our baking climates... This baking day brings Washington state and Texas closer together for a bit.
Nothing like a little snow to make you want to bake! 
Barb started her baking day with this wonderful King's bread... sweet, kind of like a braided cinnamon roll... as you see a king dropped by for a taste. 
The crumb on this bread looks exceptionally good! 
From Ken Forkish's book we all baked "Overnight Country Blonde" there is a joke in there somewhere since it takes 3 days to make thse loaves. These are Barb's lovely brotform proofed loaves.
She always makes beautiful bread..... And, we all also baked a beautiful "Lemon Anise Seed Tea Loaf" from the book Bread Alone.
This is Barb's tea loaf crumb. Looks very tasty.
Helen went in for free formed loaves (for her pair of blondes) in order to fit them into her roaster for steaming, Included in this picture is Helen's Lemon Tea Loaf.... She titled this photo... "All in a Baking Day."
Her Blonde loaves baked side by side in her big roaster... and have a great looking crumb... She said the bread is very light, springy, and delicious.... looks that way to me! 
Helen's Lemon tea loaf looks great with all that sweet lemon glaze shining on there. Very nice. This is probably the best lemon bread out there. We had never thought of putting anise seeds in lemon sponge cake, but it definitely works.
Great crumb and great flavor, that's what we are talking about!!!
My blondes remind me of Lucy... with flour tossed in her face... and that is where THIS story begins....
We all remember our dear baking friend "Lucille Ball" when challenges abound, we like to say "Lucy was in the kitchen" with me... the blondes did well, right up until I had to PEEL, the floured dishclothes off of their little bellies! But the bread still had good oven springs and tastes awesome... I love the crunchy, chewy crust and the soft, springy crumb.
I thought Lucy had left! BUT, while I was mixing the Lemon Anise Seed Tea Loaf, she came back... first I chose a loaf pan that I was worried was too small... but popped it in the oven anyway... and then remembered that I forgot the lemon zest... pulled it right out... stirred in the zest being careful not to disturb the prepared sides and bottom of the pan... then popped it back in the oven... set the timer... and then remembered I had forgotten to put in the melted butter!!! Pulled it out again... dumped it into a clean mixing bowl... mixed in the butter... and then put it in an adequate sized loaf pan... and sat down with a cut of coffee to let Lucy sneak out... as you can see, she left and the lemon loaf is delightfully wonderful... it is sweet, like my sisters, and will be baked again and again... without Lucy!
I love the crumb! 
We had a great time together baking, chatting, texting and being together on Monday... making the physical distance disappear! I have no idea what we are doing next week, but I am sure it will be another gramma baking adventure. If it is post worthy, we will tell you all about it.
Happy Baking,
the 3 gmas... Barb, Diane, and Helen
What a great idea to bake together and text across the miles - I love it! Wish my sis was able to join me in baking sessions but she's a busy lady and doesn't have much energy leftover for baking adventures. Thanks for sharing the great pics and the lemon anise seed tea cake looks yummy!
you GM's baking being published on TFL every Tuesday! This time you out did yourselves if that is even possible. The King bread I know was adorned in Mardi Gras colors but I want to know more about what this Rose is all about since King Bread will be King soon enough for us party hearty kind of Pre-Lent revelers and bread bakers :-) There is always something coming up for bread bakers to celebrate with dough - no not that kind of dough!
Was the Lemon Tea bread from Forkish too? Hanseata got me hooked on more than hemp and anise is now one of my favorite bread spices. Now that we know it goes with lemon, which my apprentice uses often in just about anything, the sky is the limit for anise.
Toad.de.b has got nothing on that beautiful Blonde of Barbra's. Such great baking! I think I like the Lemon Tea bread the best though.
My apprentice is named Lucy - after..... you guessed it - the Countess of Comedy herself - Lucille Ball! The funniest women there ever was - and the one men want as their drinking buddy if they could choose and the liquor was free :-)
Such nice baking all the way around GMA's! Glad we never get snow here too.
after all these years, who could forget her loaf of bread that came out of the oven forever? Has to be one of the greatest shows of all time. As you know, I have been fascinated with the Rose bread for weeks. Making a King's Cake has been on my bucket list for a long time. Those two things came together when I was following the Rose breadcrumb trail from blog to blog. One of the writers said it looked like an intricate turban. The three kings in my nativity set all wear turbans, probably save those crowns for castle time. Mardi Gras is a wild time so why not break with the tradition of a frosted, filled with cream cheese brioche King's Cake? True to form I ended up without enough time for the overnight fermentation in the TFL recipe so I used the Sweet and Rich Challah recipe from ITJB. My thought was that the dough is tender but can hold up to being braided. Lucy was lurking though and didn't advise my apprentice that half of the recipe would have made a nice Rose bread. Never even considered that. Just happily coiled and coiled. It was the size of a large pizza once baked! I didn't want to use the traditional white frosting and cover up the coils so I sprinkled sugar crystals over the warm glaze. Green on the outer rim, gold in the center and purple between them. The colors didn't show up as much as the pictures that I've seen of King's Cake but still enough to notice. Very non-traditional and I sure hope I haven't offended anyone with my wandering from the recipe. Next time I will make one loaf of Challah and a pesto Rose bread with sun dried tomato bits that sister Diane sent me from her garden.
Thank you for the nice comments, we are learning lots and enjoying ourselves immensely.
da the lemon anise tea loaf is from Bread Alone... I can't wait to try the rose braiding for Valentine's Day... I am going to do a tomato basil similar to yours.
You are my inspiration on that one, as Greedybread was yours.
Diane
That shapely Country Blonde looks like it's ready to bounce off the cooling rack. Love to see (taste!) the crumb. Looks better than Forkish's picture imho.
I think I'd snack myself into a coma around your place, gmas, such a bounty of goodies. But you can keep the snow.
Cheers,
Tom
Especially from inside the house. Not having to drive to work in the dark lets me appreciate the early morning sight of snow with coffee in hand.
Am enjoying this new book and am ready to start changing flours around. Forkish has a section called, "Making a Bread (or Pizza) Dough You Can Call Your Own. It has ideas and suggestions on blending flours and playing around with hydration. Scary thought that!
Thank you for your kind words Tom. I enjoy reading your posts about your adventurous combinations. Between you and Dabrownman I have collected lots of ideas about combinations and fun things to add.
Happy New Year
Barbra
Something new to try with anise....Another spice I like using since introduced to it in Phil's (PiPs) Anise Fig loaf....Off to the library for a copy of Bread ALone.
Looks like you all had a fun and productive day. Makes me wonder who was left to shovel all the snow????
Thanks for the post and peek into your day.
Take Care,
Janet
Just as the Country Blondes were cooling, our faithful snowplow guy showed up. He is the type of dependable person that does that without being called. If its snowing at his house he knows its snowing here he says. So while half of the King's cake had left an hour earlier with the volunteer firemen who came to pull our grandson's friend out of the ditch, a warm loaf of Country Blonde was a gift for the snowplow guy. Sisters, and friends, fellow bakers of good will and lots of flour, water, salt and yeast....what more could one need?Happy New Year!
Always good to have an extra loaf on hand. Maybe your snowplow guy will do my place? We are supposed to get a fresh batch of snow by the end of the week..... :-)
make sure you get the COOKBOOK... there is a novel by the same name... (actually has a few good recipes in it), but in looking at the computer listing at the library... you want the one with the big letters, not cursive. Just a heads up... hate for you to get home without the recipe~!
THe one I ordered looks like the one in your photo so hopefully that is the one they send. If not, I will try again :-) My local librarians usually are able to find me anything I want. They are super sleuths :-)
Janet
If it looks like the one in the photo it will be the right one Janet... lots of good recipes... the pitas are great from that book too.
Diane
but the king cake takes the cake! I love the Turban look, and I will bet it tasted great no matter what recipe or technique used.
Seeing rose as a turban, then using a Challah for the dough was a stretch for me but it worked and tasted pretty good too.
Hi 3gmas,
I have a question re: lemon anise seed tea bread - did you find you needed to bake the loaf for much longer than the 30-40 min in the recipe? I have had the bread in the oven for an hour and it's only now looking like it's done.
Thanks
Linda
Sorry I didn't see your post in time to be at all helpful. I think mine took longer too. Hope yours came out okay and that you like the flavor as much as we did'
Barbra
Yes, the tea cake came out just right - It is moist and very tasty- the lemon comes thru very well - the anise not so much but still a great bread with a cup of tea. Thank you 3gmas for giving me the inspiration to try it.
Linda