Spring has sprung, time to bake bread

It has been a long winter. A lot has happened at Eagle Rock Ranch. Suffice it to say I'm glad spring is here.

The new baby chicks are in the brood pen, growing like weeds. These are the meat chickens and will be ready to process in 6 weeks.  There are a few turkeys in with them too but they will not be ready till later this fall.  

The big chickens are out and about in the yard free-ranging as they do all year except winter.  The three roosters have done a good job this spring so far of keeping the hens safe.  

 One of my Americana hens, an Americana Rooster and a Barred Rock hen.  There are 37 in all.

Yesterday was a good day to bake bread.  My favorite bread recipe and the staple bread for our family is a honey wheat bread made with milk.  This recipe will make two large loaves of bread.  I double it and mix it in my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer fitted with the dough hook.  You can blend it by hand, but it does take significantly longer to incorporate the flour.  
When my cow is milking, I prefer to use whole fresh milk or buttermilk after making butter. Unfortunately she won't have a calf till July so store-bought milk it is.  I have been using Organic Valley Skim Milk since Violet dried up in December.  It is from pasture raised organically fed cows.  (Follow the link to read more about their cows and their milk.)  I do not remember where I got this recipe, but here it is:

Milk and Honey Bread:

In a medium bowl add:

1 cup very warm water
4 TBSP butter cut into small pieces

Set this aside.  In another medium bowl add:

1/2 cup warm water (105 - 115 degrees F)
1/4 tsp sugar (stir into water)
2 1/2 tsp (1 pkg) yeast

Set this aside.  In the bowl of your stand mixer combine:

1 cup milk or buttermilk
1/4 cup honey
1 TBSP salt
1 TBSP sugar
1/2 tsp vinegar

Stir these ingredients together and add the butter/water mixture and the yeast/water mixture.  Be sure you are using the lowest setting on your mixer.  Then add:

6 cups bread flour

If you would like to make this into wheat bread as I do, you can instead use 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 4 cups of bread flour.  Continue mixing on low until all the flour is incorporated.  Turn the mixer to the 2nd setting and knead for 10 minutes.  Turn the dough out on a floured surface and sprinkle the top of the dough with additional flour.  knead by hand for 3 or 4 minutes to finish the dough.  Grease a large bowl and turn the dough into the bowl.  Cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size.  This will take a varied amount of time based on how warm your room is.  If it is very warm, the dough may proof in 1 hour.  In a cooler room, it may take as long as 2-3 hours.  

Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a clean surface and cut in half (for a single recipe).  Form each half into a loaf and put in a large greased bread pan.  (I prefer dark heavy metal pans that are non-stick.  You can buy them here.)  Cover with the tea towel and allow to rise again until the dough fills the pan and is shaped like a loaf of bread.  This takes approx. 1-2 hours depending again on how warm the room is.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Place the loaves in the middle rack of the oven.  Bake for 25 - 35 minutes or until golden brown all over.  Remove from oven and turn out onto a tea towel and allow to cool completely.  

Trouble shooting:

1.  If your dough refuses to rise:
        a.  Check the expiration date on the yeast.  Stale yeast will not work.
        b.  Your room may be too cold.
        c.  Be sure you have used the proper amount of sugar in the recipe.  Attempting to 
             substitute sugar for other sweeteners will not properly feed the yeast and allow 
             it to bloom appropriately.

2.  If your finished bread has too many holes in it or it falls apart too easily:
        a.  You may have allowed the loaves to rise too long putting too much air into the
             bread.

3.  If your finished bread is heavy and dense:
        a.  Check the expiration date on the yeast.
        b.  You may not have kneaded the dough enough.
        c.  Your room may be too cold.
        d.  You may not have allowed the dough to rise enough.

4.  If the finished loaf is doughy or not cooked through:
        a.  Increase the bake time.

Enjoy your finished bread and the satisfaction that you have made a tasty alternative to cheap cardboard bread or expensive bakery bread.

Building a chicken brood pen

Friday was a great day.  I decided I needed a new brood pen for my chicken coupe since I have a momma with a baby.  I priced out the ones at the feed store and they were about $120.00, too rich for me.  So I built one.  I like to reuse old wood for projects like this, because I don't mind if the boards don't match. Eventually they all change color and fade, so it doesn't matter and it saves a lot of money.  In this case, the only thing I had to buy was hardware for the door and hardware cloth, which cost me about $45.00  You will need:

table saw (to rip the boards)
chop saw or small skill saw
power screw driver
power drill
small square 
Level
tin snips to cut the hardware cloth
stapler with staples
three 2x4's cut to 36" and 4 scrap pieces 6-8" in length
one 2x4 cut to 27"
four 2x2's cut at 36"
four 2x2's cut at 27"
five 2x2's cut at 24"
four 1x2's cut at 27"
four 1x2's cut at 24" 
1 1/4" screws
2 1/2" deck screws
3" deck screws
a drill bit that is the same diameter as your deck screws.
screw driver tip to match the heads of the screws (phillips, roberts, etc)
hardware cloth
one pkg of two small hinges
window sash lock (one or two)

I started with several boards that were at least 24", 27" and 36" in length.  I ripped them down on the table saw to make them into 2x2's and 1x2's. (2x2's are actually 1-1/2 x 1-1/2" and 1x2's are actually 3/4" x 1-1/2")  You can buy the lumber and start with new wood if you need to. Cut your wood to length as outlined above.  To make the top of the pen, lay two of the 36" pieces and two of the 27" pieces out like this:

building a chicken brood pen square up the corners

(Tip: If you use a flat surface and a square to match up the corners, you will have less problems later with wracking or twisting of your project.) Drill a hole at the end of the 27 inch piece completely through the board.  By pre-drilling all your holes(through just the 1st piece of wood) you will avoid splitting the ends and ruining your piece:

build a chicken brood pen -  pre-drill the corners

(Tip: If you drill the hole at a slight angle, it will prevent the pieces from rotating on each other.)  Drive a 2-1/2" screw into the hole and into the perpendicular piece of wood:

build a chicken brood pen - screw together the corners

Continue this process all the way around until the four boards are connected into a rectangle.  Repeat this process for the bottom but add a center support board 24" long in the middle like this:

build a chicken brood pen -  floor

Cut your hardware cloth with tin snips to fit the top and the bottom and staple in place.  Next add the upright pieces 24" to each corner pre-drilling through the top or bottom as before.  Be sure you have the hardware cloth on the top of the bottom piece before you place the uprights:

build a chicken brood pen

 You will now have a box with no sides.  Decide where you are going to place the brood pen.  I chose the southwest corner of my chicken coupe near the electric outlet so I can add a heater when I need to:

build a chicken brood pen -- choose the location

  I decided to put it up off the ground, so this requires some bracing.  I took two of the 36" 2x4's and cut a bevel at each end 45 degrees facing each other.  You can do this on the chop saw or with a skill saw.  (Tip: If you tack a small piece of 2x4 scrap with 2 screws to the ends of the boards it makes it easier to attach to the wall and to the pen):

build a chicken brood pen -- support boards

Then I measured how high I wanted the bottom to be, and drew a line on both walls (Tip: if you use the level as your strait edge, you can draw your line perfectly strait and level at the same time).  Next attach the remaining 36" 2x4 to one wall and the 27" 2x4 to the other.  These will act as ledger boards and your pen will sit on top of these.  Using the level again, hold your support boards against the wall and lay the level from the ledger board to the top of the support board.  Mark a line where the support board meets the wall and pre-drill and screw the supports to the wall below the 36" ledger board.  Put the brood pen on top of the ledger boards and secure with 3" screws to both the ledger boards and the wall, getting at least a couple of the screws in the wall studs.  Use a level to adjust the support boards and screw them into the bottom of the pen remembering to pre-drill your holes:

build a chicken brood pen -- screw in the supports

Cut some additional hardware cloth to go along the outer side of the pen.  To make the door, take two of the 27" 1x2's and two of the 24 1x2's and put them together in the same manner as you made the top or bottom of the pen.  Cut hardware cloth to cover this square and staple in place.  Take the remaining four 1x2 pieces and place them on top of the section you just made, taking care to reverse the order of the boards so that the ends overlap.  Using 1-1/4" screws, pre-drill the holes and screw them all together.  This makes a nice secure door that won't twist.  Using the hinges, attach the door to the pen at the top.  Because my pen was against the wall and the door fit nice and snug, I was able to use just one window sash lock.  I installed this on the side.  You are now ready to put your pen to use:

build a chicken brood pen -- finished project

I put momma hen and her baby inside, which gives her significantly more room than in the dog kennel.  Also, with the hardware cloth floor, spilled water and refuse falls through to the floor below, which keeps the pen drier and tidier. 

 Now for the evening task of picking, husking and freezing corn.