We have an antique Crawford Royal but the kitchen was totally renovated and with insulation and new windows, it gets too warm to do any baking. Since my mother-in-law used hers a lot, my husband wanted one, too. There's a slot at the top of the firebox which allows him to insert a grill basket for steak, chicken breasts, fish, etc. He has the fire figured just right, a good bed of coals, and does a great job of grilling. We also heat with a wood furnace in the cellar so the stove gives some extra heat. When it's just cold in the morning we don't need to keep the wood furnace going but the stove takes the chill off the kitchen. It's great to have the extra cooking space for big family dinners. Also, I think nothing of steaming brown bread or keeping a soup simmering because the stove is already in use. I am not using extra electricity (we have an electric stove). I use the warming shelf for yeast doughs. I don't think food tastes different except the grilled meats. It's just nice to have the stove.

I loved this show. I've watched all of the the Mary, Paul, Sue, Mel seasons. More than once! Tried to give it a chance after the debacle but Mel and Sue carried the humor, which was only second to the wonderful camaraderie the contestants had for each other. I really miss them all together. Becky, I've made that bread several times...including this evening! It's wonderful for toast, which my kids are looking forward to topping with peanut butter and jelly tomorrow morning :) I think it'd make great French toast, too. I use Corningware larger than the sizes of her Pyrex, 1.5 and 1.75. Tonight it was a 2 qt. round for one loaf, instead of two. Freezes well. Here's tonight's slice with some chicken noodle soup from Smitten Kitchen Every Day. I buttered, cooked on a sheet pan at 400 until the bottom toasted, turned and topped with a mix of grated fridge cheeses, and continued to bake until the bottom toasted.

I enjoy the huge variety of items. On American shows, everything tends to be a sweet, using assigned ingredients. (Bake a pie with one of these fruits, followed by a mad dash by contestants to grab one.) But on GBBO, it's "bake an American-style pie", and the contestants chose their own ingredients and flavors. And the US/Brit differences! I loved the donut episode, with history of the donut trucks. A simple common jelly donut was exotic! And the "tea biscuits" sure looked like Mallomars to me.

Tried to post again and it still doesn't show up anywhere but in my own activity log so I copied it here. ---- I am going to post the recipe as I first started using it. For my taste, the bread was too sweet so in parentheses I will put what I use now. ---- 2 cups water - 110°-120° 3 Tablespoons sugar (1 slightly rounded Tablespoon) 1-1/2 Tablespoons Active Dry Yeast 1-1/2 teaspoons salt (slightly rounded) 1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil 6 cups flour* ---- Fit mixer with paddle. Put water and sugar in mixer bowl, stir to dissolve sugar. Sprinkle yeast over and let sit until foamy, 5- 15 minutes (I stir slightly to get the yeast into the sugar water.) I find that 5 minutes is generally sufficient. Add salt, oil and 3 cups of the flour. Mix very well. Change from paddle to dough hook, on low, add the other 3 cups of flour. Once most of the flour is incorporated, raise mixer speed to medium and mix until it becomes a cohesive whole, with no flour on sides of bowl. Turn out onto floured surface and knead 4-6 minutes, using the most minimum of flour possible, just enough to keep it from sticking to your hands. Place in a LARGE greased bowl, turn once to grease all sides of dough, then cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour. After 1 hour, punch dough down and form into 2 loaves. Place in greased loaf pans, cover and let rise until dough crowns to a little over 1" above pan tops. Preheat oven to 350° Bake loaves for 25 - 30 minutes, if browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil after 18 minutes. I let the loaves sit only for a minute or 2 in the pans then turn them onto a rack to cool. Let cool completely before cutting. ---- *OK so here's the thing about flour. The original recipe called for All Purpose flour. I only use bread flour and just because I got silly and ordered a bunch of durum flour and need to use it before it goes bad, I actually substitute 1/2 cup of it for 1/2 cup of the bread flour. I am not scientific enough to know if that actually does anything to make the bread soft but still able to hold together when cut or not. If anyone here knows please feel free to chime in. If it really does make some kind of difference I will replenish my supply once it's gone. If it really serves no particular purpose I will go back to all bread flour. I probably have enough durum for 7 or 8 more batches