Holiday Bread

 

For the past three years, my big holiday celebration has been a dinner for Boxing Day.  An English holiday, it falls on the 26^th of December, the day after all of the American festivities have come to an end, leaving people generally available, and only too happy to sit down, put their feet up, and enjoy a good meal.  Children bring the toys that they received from Santa, and play happily while the adults visit in a convivial atmosphere.  

It’s a general rule in our family that any party held three times becomes a tradition, so I suspect I’ll be having this dinner for as long as I remain in an upright position, and that’s fine with me.  It’s also fine (and a bit flattering), that a young member of the family chose Boxing Day as a holiday to discuss in his first grade classroom, illustrating his talk (literally) with a picture that he had drawn himself.  Don’t ever think children aren’t watching and emulating what we do!

It’s expected that the meal will be roast beef, mashed potatoes, and green beans, so I always fix these dishes so as not to disappoint.  Sautéed corn with bacon and scallions made a repeat appearance this year, but I mixed things up a bit by making my own bread and rolls.  Both recipes were new, and both a huge success. 

The first recipe I’m going to tell you about is this one for Holiday Bread that was featured on the Taste of Home website.  I imagine that it’s called Holiday Bread because it makes the entire house smell like Thanksgiving.  I don’t care for the rather oddly shaped loaves that bread machines tend to yield, so I used the dough setting, and then formed a loaf when the dough process had completed, put it into a standard loaf pan, brushed it with an egg wash and sprinkled the top with Kosher salt.  It rose beautifully and made one tasty bread.  I didn’t have quite enough poultry seasoning, but it was still delicious. I have already decided that this is going to be the bread I use the next time I make dressing to accompany a roast chicken or turkey. I can only imagine how wonderful it will be when used to make turkey or chicken sandwiches.

Holiday Bread

Adapted from a recipe by Tasteofhome.com

1-1/4 cups warm water
1 egg
3 tablespoons dried minced onion
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1-1/2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
3-1/2 cups bread flour
2-1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

In the pan of your bread machine, place all ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer. Select the dough setting, and allow the process to complete.  

When it has finished, remove the dough to a lightly floured cutting board.  Deflate, and knead 5 times.  Preheat with oven to 350°F.  Meanwhile, form dough into a loaf and place in a greased, standard-sized loaf pan.  Bake for 40 minutes until the top is golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

This post is linked to:

On the Menu Monday

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Try a New Recipe Tuesday

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