Kitchen Tip Tuesday--Bread Tips

Tip #1:

I've been using yeast from a 2# bag in my freezer and my loaves weren't raising nearly as high, especially if I made them by hand without using my bread machine. I decided to try leaving the yeast on the counter for a few days. My loaves are sky-high again! I just put about 2 or 3 t. of yeast in a little glass cup at the beginning of the week, tucked back against the counter, uncovered, and when I need to use yeast for bread I have un-thawed yeast ready to go! It's sat out for over a week before and has still worked beautifully.

Tip #2:

Never put your bread machine a few inches from the counter edge! Yesterday the kids and I were greatly startled to hear my bread machine jump off the counter and land upside down on the kitchen floor! It was still plugged in and still spinning the dough even upside down! The lid popped off and the dough got on the floor so I picked it up, cleaned it out and started over. It wasn't broken in any way and made another batch just fine thankfully! I'm glad it wasn't hurt since it's one of my most-used appliances! I know I didn't put it right on the edge of the counter, but it worked itself forward! My new trick is to put a can of nuts or a plastic glass in front of it so that if I hear a cup/container of nuts fall to the floor first, I can run and check on the bread machine and see if it's close to leaping off the counter!