Chai yogurt and bread making update

I'm not sure why I've been on this cooking from scratch binge lately (perhaps in anticipation of the sure to be highly memorable, Pioneer Week), but I've been going to town making stuff and I wanted to share a few updates.

Last Friday, I posted about making yogurt at home. Well, I surely outdid myself over the weekend when I coupled two of my favorite things of late: yogurt and masala chai tea. That's right I made Chai Tea yogurt and let me tell you, it is fantastical!

Basically, what I did was make the chai tea as per my original recipe, although I made a quart of it. I then used this as a base for the yogurt, heating it to the proper temperature, cooling it down, adding the starter and then "cooking" it. This delightful flavor will definitely be a regular around these here parts.

I also tried the Speedy No Knead Bread recipe on Sunday since I had such magnanimous failures with the other ones before. This time I did things a little differently.

I heated the water to 110 degrees and added the yeast and a pinch of sugar and let it sit for about 5 minutes before I added it to the flour and salt. I then let it proof in a warm area for 5 hours. It rose like crazy. It took the full hour to bake, but it turned out beautifully browned with a crisp crust and a nice, poofy, interior.

Since y'all were talking up that 5 Minute Bread Recipe, I got that started last night since the other bread I made is mostly gone already. I tinkered with the quantities a bit since they are huge. I cut the recipe down to 2/3 the original and substituted 1 cup of all-purpose flour with whole-wheat and 1/3 cup of all-purpose with medium rye flour.

It was rising like crazy before it went in the fridge (I actually had to move it to a larger container as it was crawling out of the original one). I'll report back how well that goes. I'm hoping to use this as an all-purpose bread for loaves as well as pizza dough.

That's pretty much it! I also submitted another recipe to Mother Earth News Blogs so when that gets posted, I'll let you know. I'm super excited to share this jam recipe with you as it's my favorite one yet.

My husband said it tastes like a raspberry jelly donut and, by gum, he is right. There are several (soon-to-be not so secret) ingredients that make it great and I can barely stop congratulating myself for my jambrilliance!