Dill Bread in a crock

[Ellen]

I tried this the other night. Really good.

If you do not have a bread crock you can make one by using a new medium clay flowerpot. Before using the pot for the first time wash it well with hot soapy water. Grease it well (vegetable shortening works best) and bake it in a 375 degree oven until the pot absorbs all of the shortening. Do this a few times before baking bread in the pot and only use the pot for baking bread.

Tip: If you are using the flowerpot method and your pot has a hole in the bottom put a small piece of aluminum foil in the bottom of the pot before putting the dough in it.

1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup small curd cottage cheese
1 egg
3 tbs butter or margarine softened
1 tbs sugar
2 tsp dried dillweed (I substituted about 4 tbs fresh dillweed)
1/2 tsp salt
2 to 2 1/4 c flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Heat cottage cheese until lukewarm. Stir together all ingredients except flour in large bowl and then add flour to form a soft dough. Knead by hand in bowl until well mixed. Cover bowl and rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Punch down and place in bread crock or flowerpot. Cover and let rise until dough almost reaches the rim of the container. Bake for 40-45 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Remove loaf to cool before slicing.

[sprout83]

Mmmm...

I don't have a bread crock, so I would have to cook it using the flower pot method. Interesting!

PS. which method did you use?

[Ellen]

I have a bread crock Sprout, so I used it, but before I had the crock I used a flowerpot. As a matter of fact, I prepped about 15 of them a couple of years ago and gave them with the dry ingredients for making the bread along with some homemade French market bean soup mix and we gave the whole thing as Christmas gifts.

My daughter and I have been planning and preparing our homemade Christmas gift baskets for about 8 years now and they are usually the hit of the day. We do a different theme every year and everyone looks forward to seeing what we've come up with. It's a lot of fun and shows her the value of putting a lot of love into a homemade gift rather than buying a bunch of stuff in the stores.

[sprout83]

That's sweet. I wish I was as creative as you to make my own gifts, but alas I am not.

[Ellen]

You give me too much credit Sprout. I actually think of things that I would like to receive in a gift basket and then just research until I find what I need. We use a lot of unique containers for stuff from the (completely economical) "Everything's a Dollar" store here (we once did peppermint bath salt in glass containers and colored half of it with red food coloring and then layered it in the jars to look like a candy cane...cute!).

We did "Coffee Break" baskets last year with homemade biscotti and "Movie Baskets" another year with movie rental gift cards and homemade Italian popcorn mix.

[gisette]

Those are really clever, fun gifts, Ellen.

[Ellen]

Thanks Gisette. They've been fun to do and provide a little needed family time while putting them together. It's like a Santa's workshop.

[sprout83]

I agree, excellent gift ideas. I was thinking Ellen, since you're getting a herb dehydrator, what do you think of making dried herbs as gifts?

[Ellen]

Sprout, you can see some of those crocks in the the background of the photo of my new lettuce garden. They're awesome! Can you get Pampered Chef products in Canada?

[sprout83]

Oh okay, yeah I saw those crocks in your picture.

Yes, surprisingly! I am just taking a look at the website right now.

[Ellen]

Sprout, I wasn't getting a dehydrater, rather an herb keeper for the refrigerator. In any case, you've given us an idea. My daughter and I will be making Italian dinner baskets this year for Christmas. We are going to dry herbs and make sundried tomatoes from our aerogardens with other ingredients and recipes for pasta sauce, bread, salad dressing. Thank you!

[sprout83]

Excellent! I'm glad I have inspired you. I love your gift idea too.