Giveaway - L. Tremain's Butter Bell Crock (plus recipe)

I love fresh bread! I love the smell, but moreover, I love the taste of warm, fresh bread spread with a little butter. Yum. The only problem of course, is fresh bread is delicate. Hard butter can tear and ruin the simple beauty of a nice slice of bread. If I am going to go to all the work of baking... I don't want my cold, hard butter to ruin the day. My solution? L. Tremain's  Butter Bell Crock.

The Butter Bell® crock is a brand name of butter crocks owned and distributed by L. Tremain. The are the brand leader and largest seller of butter crocks in the US, with many styles and colors to choose from. The product line was also recently featured on the Food Network's show "Unwrapped". 

Room temperature butter, you say? Oh, yeah. Stored in a beautiful crock with water forming a seal around the butter, you can display it proudly on your counter top or table. I chose the Antique style (pictured) in Azure. After having peeked around their website, I would also love to add their large pitcher, sugar and creamer to my collection. ... (Santa, hint, hint.)


As soon as my crock arrived, I had butter out on the counter coming to room temperature, and I dug out a Challah Bread recipe I was dying to try. 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) fit nicely into the bell and I was ready to go. Now I just need to remember to change the water in my crock every 3 days. The Challah Bread turned out beautifully! And besides the Butter Bell Crock giveaway (at the end of this post) I have the bread recipe to share with you.

We have had the crock for over a week and not only love it's look on my table, but also how convenient it is. I no longer have to plan ahead to have soft butter on my table for pancakes, bread, biscuits, etc. I highly recommend this product for bakers, people who love to entertain, and the "butter forgetful". 

Challah Bread Recipe

1 1/2 packages active dry yeast (1 1/2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil, plus more for greasing the bowl
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon salt
8 to 8 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Sesame seeds for sprinkling.

1. Proof your yeast with 1 Tbsp. sugar in 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water.
2. Whisk oil into yeast, then beat in 4 eggs, one at a time, with remaining sugar and salt. Gradually add flour. When dough holds together, it is ready for kneading. (You can also use a mixer with a dough hook for both mixing and kneading, but be careful if using a standard size KitchenAid as it will be very full!
3. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Clean out bowl and grease it, then return dough to bowl. Cover, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until doubled in size. Dough may also rise in an oven that has been warmed to 150 degrees then turned off. Punch down dough, cover and let rise again in a warm place for another half-hour.
4.  To make a 6-braid challah, take half the dough and form it into 6 balls. With your hands, roll each ball into a strand about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Roll them a little longer than desired since they might contract as you braid. Place the 6 in a row, parallel to one another. Pinch the tops of the strands together. Place this away from you, with the loose strands closest to you and the edge of the counter. Move the outside right strand over 2 strands. Then take the second strand from the left and move it to the far right. Take the outside left strand and move it over 2. Move second strand from the right over to the far left. Start over with the outside right strand. Continue this until all strands are braided. For a straight loaf, tuck ends underneath.  Place braided loaves on a greased cookie sheet with at least 2 inches in between.
5. Beat remaining egg and brush it on loaves. Let the bread rise another hour.
6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and brush loaves again. Sprinkle bread with seeds, if using. If freezing, remove from freezer 5 hours before baking.
7. Bake in middle of oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden. (If you have an instant read thermometer, you can take it out when it hits an internal temperature of 190 degrees.) Cool loaves completely on a rack before slicing.

BUY IT:  Holiday Special Offer - Through Dec. 15th :  For every two Butter Bell crocks that you purchase, you get a free crock. See further details on the butterbell.com site. This would make an excellent gift for yourself and someone you love.

Giveaway!

Would you like a Butter Bell Crock of your own? Due to holiday shipping, I can't guarantee the prize will arrive before the holidays, but this item would be a great addition to you home for the coming year.

• Mandatory Entry Subscribe by email via Feedburner (right hand side) You need to confirm your subscription in your email for this to work.
  
  For extra entries, do any or all of the following and leave a comment letting me know after you do the mandatory entry mentioned above:

• Follow my Blog via Google Friend Connect (1 entry)
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• If you already follow Butter Bell Crock on Facebook, leave them a comment (1 entry) Due to FB contest rules, I can't ask you to follow for an entry... but you can show them comment love.
• Blog about this giveaway with a link to my site and www.butterbell.com (5 entries)
• Enter any other current giveaway (1 entry each) See my right side bar for a list.
• Enter this on a Giveaway Linky & leave a link (5 entries for each Linky!)
• Follow me on Twitter (@notimeMom) & tweet about this giveaway. (3x per day at least 2 hrs apart) Feel free to use: " #Win a L.Tremain Butter Bell Crock  @notimeMom http://bit.ly/hHf6tv :: ends 12/16 #giveaway Pls RT!" Please include the URL (1 entry per tweet)
• If you win, what food will you serve with your new Butter Bell Crock?
• Comment on any of my other blog posts. Just let me know where you commented (1 entry per comment)

Open to the US. Please leave a separate comment for each entry to get full credit. Giveaway ends on December 16th at 11:59 pm PST. A winner will be chosen via Random.org. and will be emailed. They will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.

*Butter Bell provided me with a free sample of this product to review. I was under no obligation to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own and no monetary compensation was received. The prize will ship directly from the sponsor and I am not responsible for items lost in the mail.