Make this Classic Lemon Poppy Seed Bread and then top it with a lemon drizzle. Refrigerate it until it is well chilled and you have a scrumptious, not-too-sweet treat. Keep this in mind for summertime picnics. And we'll even supply the poppy seeds.

We got a special buy on poppy seeds. These are quality poppy seeds and probably much fresher than what you buy in the store. (And poppy seeds will go stale.) We'll give you ten ounces free--that's about two cups and enough for more than ten batches of the lemon poppy seed bread presented in this bulletin.

Remember those decadent funnel cakes that you find at the state fair? Well, Debbie our webmaster has mastered the art of funnel cakes. When I was at her house the other day, she had funnel cakes going and I must say, they're pretty hard to resist. She was dipping them in strawberry jam but I preferred cranberry syrup. They are easy and quick.

After thirty years, Luanne is going to share her strawberry pie recipe with us. That's right; she's been making this pie for thirty years. Talk about tried and true. We think you will love it.

It's time to get the grill going. If you haven't tried burgers on light, airy homemade hamburger buns, you don't know what you're missing. Buns really do make the burger. We want you to try homemade buns at your next cookout. We don't think you'll ever go back to the store. Just so you'll try homemade hamburger buns, we'll give you a package of mixes for half-price!

Our friend Fred in California is a prolific baker and we appreciate his creative ideas. We think you will too. Here are his latest creative ideas--great things to do with Tuscany Tomato Basil Bread.

· Tuscany Tomato and Cheese Bread: He added one cup of grated sharp cheddar cheese to the mix. It was to-die-for, he reported with just the essence of cheddar mixed with the sun-dried tomatoes and herbs. Next time he is going to add even more cheddar. (To get the most flavor from the cheese without weighing down the bread, be sure to use sharp cheddar. The cheese will make the rise a little longer so be patient)
· Tuscany Tomato Olive Bread: Fred added sliced ripe olives to the bread rather than the cheddar and made a wonderful bread.
· Tuscany Dinner Rolls: Fred's next project was to make sun-dried tomato dinner rolls. Doesn't that sound great with a pasta dinner? Since this is one of our favorite breads for savory sandwiches-thinly sliced beef or turkey-we can't wait to make sandwich rolls. Simply mix the bread per the instructions and form rolls. Bake the rolls for about eighteen minutes or until the interior temperature is about 200 degrees.

Last week, when we gave away these premium dry fruits, it seemed that everyone wanted them. So we decided to continue this offer in today's bulletin. You can get one cup of each of these premium fruits--super cranberries, moist apples, and plump golden raisins--free with a $25 order even if you took advantage of our offer last week.

We've got to give Fred credit for this one too. He makes Sunday Dinner Rolls. But a Sunday Dinner Rolls mix makes a lot of rolls--more than he and his wife can eat. So he puts the dough in the refrigerator and slices off just enough to make the rolls that he wants. He lets the dough rise, forms the rolls, and he has just the right amount of fresh baked rolls.

Refrigerating bread dough is a wonderful trick of the trade. The flavor of the bread improves with refrigeration. (It has to do with those little yeasty critters and the acids they produce.) If you are going to refrigerate-bakers call it "retarding" because refrigerating retards the yeast growth-get it in the refrigerator right away before the yeast goes wild. And when you remove the dough from the refrigerator, give yourself plenty of time for the bread to come to room temperature and the yeast to go back to work. But it certainly makes for a wonderful bread.

If you would like to try a refrigerated bread, try this Classic Rosemary Focaccia. It's a great bread. We're making a special run for this newsletter only. When it's gone, it's gone.

Making bread for a crowd? Our friend Sharalyn can make 18 loaves in less than three hours--in her kitchen. She mixes a six loaf recipe at once. While that batch is rising, she mixes another batch. While the second batch is rising, she makes loaves from the first batch. She then starts another batch and begins baking the first batch. In less than three hours, she has eighteen loaves.

We've never asked her, but she must use both racks in her oven, three loaves on each rack. If you want to try this at home, space the loaves to allow us much circulation as possible. With poor circulation around the loaves, they will tend to be misshapen. We would also rotate the loaves on the bottom rack to the top rack two-thirds through the baking.

Sharalyn also uses two of our bread machine mixes to make three loaves. She mixes the bread two at a time in her bread machine. Since the bread machine loaves are a little larger than traditional pan loaves, she divides the dough in thirds to make three medium loaves for bread pans.

How about that? She used her bread machine once to get three loaves. We like that math.

We hope that you enjoyed this week's Recipe Bulletin. May you always bake perfect bread.

Dennis and Merri Ann Weaver and Company
The Prepared Pantry