1/2 c. millet

2 c. water

1/2 t. salt

2T active dry yeast (2 pkgs.)

1/2 c. water

1/4 c. oil

1/2 t. salt

1 1/4 c. water

4 T sugar (or, use 1 c. water and 1/2 c. honey or rice syrup)

1 C walnuts, chopped

5 c. whole wheat flour (or 1/2 unbleached and 1/2 wwheat)

Cook millet, covered, in 2 c water with the salt for 30 minutes.  In a large mixing bowl, soften the yeast in 1/2 c water.  When cooked milled has cooled to lukewarm, add to yeast.  Stir in oil, 1/2 t salt, 1 c water, brown rice syrup or sugar, and nuts.  Mix well.  Stir in flour, kneading in the last bit a little at a time, for 10 minutes.  Let rise, covered, until double (about an hour).  Place into two lightly oiled loaf pans and let rest 10 minutes.  Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then cover tops with foil and continue to bake with oven temp reduced to 350 for 30 minutes more.

This also works nicely with cooked oatmeal, 2 cups, in place of the millet and water.  This makes a hearty bread that is crusty on the outside and very moist inside.  Makes amazing cinnamon toast!

Tags: flour

This is one of those “I’ve Never Made This Before” kinds of things. I knew I’d always wanted to give sausage gravy a shot – but I didn’t want to risk the heart attack of having an entire pan to eat. Some family coming in from out of town this weekend provided me the excuse.

Sausage gravy is one of those “the fatter the better” sauces. So don’t imagine that you can buy the reduced-fat sausage and skim milk and have this work out well. It’s gotta be fatty. Work it off later, tons-of-fun. This is good stuff, and I was surprised at how easy it was to make.

Ingredients:

12oz. breakfast sausage (I used Jimmy Dean)
2T all-purpose flour
2C milk (I used 2%, whole milk would be better)
Fresh ground black pepper
Crushed red pepper flakes

Hopefully you have a cast iron skillet. Heat that sucker up and cook your sausage until it’s no longer pink. Make sure the meat breaks down to tiny pieces about the size of a pea or smaller. After that, powder the flour sausage crumbles and stir until the flour is incorporated with the meat. Do not skim the fat from the pan.

Add your milk and simmer. Add pepper to taste – I like it nice and hot. Other hot sauce will work as well – Texas Pete’s or Cholula would be a great addition. In approximately 5 minutes, you should have the consistency of gravy about correct – you should be able to “paint” a line down the center of the pan when you pull your spatula or tool of choice through the skillet.

Serve over biscuits, or the real overachievers will love this gravy over hash browned potatoes with cheese and eggs, skillet style. Or just pour it into a bag, attach an IV and gravy your way into congestive heart failure. (Not recommended.)

Tags: biscuits, breakfast, flour, gravy, Hot Sauce, sausage, skillet