Baking Fresh Bread with Pyrex, in Celebration of 100 Years! #Pyrex100

Just saying ‘Pyrex’ gets me all giddy! Pyrex®, a World Kitchen brand, is celebrating 100 years and I’m absolutely honored to take part in the celebration. To commemorate such a wonderful milestone, I’m baking fresh bread!

You can follow along participate by using the hashtag #Pyrex100

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one that has a large collection of Pyrex?! I absolutely love the pieces and always hunt for them when I’m out and about. I have several that belonged to my grandma and quite a few that I have found along the way at flea markets and yard sales. Here’s just a few that I have! Just looking at it gets my excited!

And while I LOVE the vintage Pyrex, I’m also loving their newer pieces and the colors of some traditional pieces! Pyrex was kind enough to send me some great ones to add to my collection! I just love the casserole carrying case! That will be awesome for potluck or just to take a meal to someone.

Okay, back to the bread….

We have a lovely community member in our small town of Maryneal, named Sandra. She recently turned 76 years of age and I was just tickled to spend the day with her (and my mom), learning how to make her heavenly bread. She’s as adorable as adorable can get and the most kind & funny person you’ll ever meet. I’m lucky that she treats me and my bunch like family…and we are equally blessed to have her in our lives. She also has a Pyrex collection of her own. Something funny too–when I shared that Pyrex was celebrating 100 years on my Facebook page, she had a comment that made me giggle! She said, “Goodness, I didn’t realize my Pyrex was so young when I got it 57 years ago!”

For years, Sandra has been making this delicious homemade bread. The interesting part is, she doesn’t have a recipe for the starter that she uses. She’s literally been feeding it for years and years and keeps plenty of it made up and fed, because the fact is, if any of it ever dies, she’ll never know how to make exactly that way again. Isn’t that crazy?! Can you imagine having a starter for that long? I was thankful she shared some with me and now, I’m making fresh bread every Thursday!!

She’s adamant about using bread flour and she doesn’t really measure anything. She’s got strong arms and I know because it wore mine out mixing up that bread! What I loved most though, is hearing all the stories she had. I’m pretty partial to the older generation and I have such respect for them. It was heart warming to create our own memories with her, all while snacking on lemon bars.

Here is the recipe for the bread! While I don’t have Sandra’s starter recipe (because she doesn’t even have it), I’m sharing something that, I think, is similar. If you have one, you can try yours.

SOURDOUGH STARTER

Ingredients

2/3 cup sugar
2 packages yeast
1/2 cup warm water
3 tablespoons of instant potato flakes

Directions

In a mason jar, add all the ingredients together.
Leave out for about 12 hours, then refrigerate.
Between 4-14 days, and when ready to use, take starter out and feed. We feed ours weekly.
Let sit out on counter all day before making dough.
After making dough, put back in the fridge until next feeding.

If you are not planning on making bread, you still need to take it out, feed it, and let sit out all day, then refrigerate.

MAKING THE DOUGH

Ingredients

1 cup starter
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup oil (Crisco oil)
1/3 cup sugar
1-2 teaspoons salt
6 1/2 cups of bread flour

Directions

Put all the ingredients into a very large bowl.
Stir until it forms a dough ball. Kneading in the bowl is fine.
Put about 1 tablespoon oil in bowl and turn the dough in it.
Cover and let rise for 8+ hours.
Shape dough into bread loaves or rolls of your choice.
Let rise another 6 hours depending on weather.
Bake 350′ for 25-30 minutes.

Here is an example of how to have fresh bread every week.

Thursday AM, feed starter
Thursday PM, mix flour and ingredients and let rise.
Friday AM, shape bread
Friday at NOON (depending on what time you get up to shape bread), bake your bread!

The Pyrex® 100 Days of Giveaways is sponsored by World Kitchen, LLC. There is no purchase necessary to enter. In order to participate, you must be a legal resident of the fifty United States or the District of Columbia and must be at least 18 years old at the time of entry. Entries will be accepted from March 22, 2015 at 10:00:00 a.m. ET until June 30, 2015 at 9:59:59 a.m. ET.

Disclosure: I have happily partnered with World Kitchen LLC to share the wonderful Pyrex® 100th Anniversary product line. All opinions are my own.

Pyrex® 100th Anniversary Giveaway