Every morning at 5:15 my alarm clock reminds me that I need to take the prescribed Levothyroxine. Part of the deal is that I’m not allowed to eat anything for another 30 minutes. It is tempting to crawl back into bed rather than find other things to do while I wait, because my growling stomach can be a distraction.
Today, while I washed the little purple pill down with a tupperware cup of water, my brain started to calculate how many hours it would be before my husband returned from his overnight shift. Ah, yes. I had just enough time to stir, knead, rise and bake yeast bread.
Oh. But you’ve got some frozen bread that you can reheat in the oven. Go snuggle beneath your blankets.
Somehow, I refused the suggestion and headed to the kitchen…still in pajamas, though.
Something rich & sweet, yet light & fluffy…and simple to prepare? Okay, Betty Crocker show me what you’ve got. Challa bread was the recipe I started with, but while waiting to see if the yeast dissolved in warm water and sugar would grow, I remembered the leftover whey that Jen had sent home with me from our cheesemaking experiment. One of the internet sites had claimed that whey made biscuits lighter and fluffier. Why not try it with bread? So. I skimmed the yeast bubbles off and replaced the water with 3/4 cup of the translucent, pale yellow whey. Kneading wasn’t difficult and the required "smooth and satiny" texture was achieved in five minutes. I placed the dough into a greased bowl and covered it with a plastic bag I had saved from some of the produce I had purchased at the grocery store on my way home Thursday.