Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Habla Espanol?
Brian was trying to say something durning dinner yesterday. William said, "Mommy, what language does Brian talk in? Is it Spanish?"
Monday, June 9, 2008
Look what we've been doing!
I'll get back to the bread baking soon, but just had to share this video of what we got on freecycle.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Shopping list for baking bread.
How do I find the time to bake all my own bread?
I make the time. It's important to our family, so I make sure it happens. It's kind of like cooking dinner. You find the time to do it. Over time you get faster, and you learn some shortcuts along the way. Here are my tricks to making it work for us:
I bake bread in large batches and either freeze the bread or the dough.
I let the boys help.
I let the machines do the hard work.
It really doesn't take much time. Here's a breakdown.
15 min grinding grain
10 min mixing ingredients and kneading dough
take a long break and come back later to turn machine on for a few seconds and turn off again.
take another long break
5 min. to shape the dough to bake.
take a 15 min break
1 min put bread in oven
take a half hour break
2 min to take bread out and cool it.
That's a total of about 32 min of work for three or four loaves of fantastic bread. We think it's worth it!
So, if you want to bake your own bread, you will need to have some items on hand. I'm going to write this in two sections. Section #1 is for those who want to bake the softest, most nutritious, 100% whole wheat bread. Section #2 is for those who just want an occassional warm loaf of bread and don't care about 100% whole wheat.
#1
Eqipment:
1. A grain mill. Electric is preferable unless you want to spend an hour cranking. I have a K-Tech Kitchen Mill. It does a good job, but sounds like an airplane. Quieter and just as good is the Wonder Mill. This is an upfront expense of about $200, but if you make most or all of your bread, the savings will pay for itself in a year or two. If you have access to freshly ground flour you do not need this.
2. A mixer with a dough hook and a large capacity bowl. I have a Bosch and it is fantastic. Kitchen Aid also works well.
3. Bread pans. Pyrex or stonewear are best. The metal pans heat too unevenly.
4. An oven!
Ingredients:
1. Wheat berries (yes, that's what the grain is called). I buy mine if 50lb bags at a bulk foods store about 20 miles from here. I buy several bags at a time and store all the grain in tightly sealed 5 gallon buckets. The price for 50 lbs is currently around $30. Double what I paid six years ago.
2. water-from the tap
3. apple cider vinegar - I use raw, but it's not necessary. I buy it at the grocery store.
4. honey - grocery store
5. baking soda - grocery store
6. yeast - If you plan on making a lot of bread, don't waste your money on store yeast. I can get 1 lb packages at any bulk food store for a fraction of the price of the little jars you can get at the grocery store. Look around and see what you can find. Store yeast in the freezer to maintain freshness.
7. salt
8. olive oil
9. butter or lard - this is for greasing your pans. Please don't use vegetable shortening. Not only does it taste terrible, but it clogs the arteries!
#2
Equipment:
1. A bread machine or a good mixer with a dough hook.
2. An oven
3. Bread pans - pyrex or stonewear.
Ingrediens:
1. Whole wheat flour
2. White flour
3. honey
4. salt
5. yeast
6. olive oil
7. butter or lard
I make the time. It's important to our family, so I make sure it happens. It's kind of like cooking dinner. You find the time to do it. Over time you get faster, and you learn some shortcuts along the way. Here are my tricks to making it work for us:
I bake bread in large batches and either freeze the bread or the dough.
I let the boys help.
I let the machines do the hard work.
It really doesn't take much time. Here's a breakdown.
15 min grinding grain
10 min mixing ingredients and kneading dough
take a long break and come back later to turn machine on for a few seconds and turn off again.
take another long break
5 min. to shape the dough to bake.
take a 15 min break
1 min put bread in oven
take a half hour break
2 min to take bread out and cool it.
That's a total of about 32 min of work for three or four loaves of fantastic bread. We think it's worth it!
So, if you want to bake your own bread, you will need to have some items on hand. I'm going to write this in two sections. Section #1 is for those who want to bake the softest, most nutritious, 100% whole wheat bread. Section #2 is for those who just want an occassional warm loaf of bread and don't care about 100% whole wheat.
#1
Eqipment:
1. A grain mill. Electric is preferable unless you want to spend an hour cranking. I have a K-Tech Kitchen Mill. It does a good job, but sounds like an airplane. Quieter and just as good is the Wonder Mill. This is an upfront expense of about $200, but if you make most or all of your bread, the savings will pay for itself in a year or two. If you have access to freshly ground flour you do not need this.
2. A mixer with a dough hook and a large capacity bowl. I have a Bosch and it is fantastic. Kitchen Aid also works well.
3. Bread pans. Pyrex or stonewear are best. The metal pans heat too unevenly.
4. An oven!
Ingredients:
1. Wheat berries (yes, that's what the grain is called). I buy mine if 50lb bags at a bulk foods store about 20 miles from here. I buy several bags at a time and store all the grain in tightly sealed 5 gallon buckets. The price for 50 lbs is currently around $30. Double what I paid six years ago.
2. water-from the tap
3. apple cider vinegar - I use raw, but it's not necessary. I buy it at the grocery store.
4. honey - grocery store
5. baking soda - grocery store
6. yeast - If you plan on making a lot of bread, don't waste your money on store yeast. I can get 1 lb packages at any bulk food store for a fraction of the price of the little jars you can get at the grocery store. Look around and see what you can find. Store yeast in the freezer to maintain freshness.
7. salt
8. olive oil
9. butter or lard - this is for greasing your pans. Please don't use vegetable shortening. Not only does it taste terrible, but it clogs the arteries!
#2
Equipment:
1. A bread machine or a good mixer with a dough hook.
2. An oven
3. Bread pans - pyrex or stonewear.
Ingrediens:
1. Whole wheat flour
2. White flour
3. honey
4. salt
5. yeast
6. olive oil
7. butter or lard
Sunday, June 1, 2008
My Bread Story (as requested by Angie)
For those of you who don't know, I LOVE homemade whole wheat bread and rarely (as in 2-3 times per year) buy any storebought bread. I even buy wheat in 50lb bags and grind my own flour.
"Why bother?" I used to like store bread just fine, until I lived in Prague for two years. There, the only good bread available was baked fresh daily and delivered to the local stores. One could cut it, bag it, and buy half or quarter of a loaf for pennies. It was a dense, hearty, flavorful, rye bread. At first I didn't care for it much, but it quickly grew on me. It was wonderful toasted with cream cheese and jam for breakfast. It made great ham and cheese sandwiches. It was such a shock to come back to the US and find NOTHING that could compare with that bread. So, when Curt and I married and I had my own kitchen, I started baking and searching for the perfect bread recipe. We bought a bread machine, but I could not get a good 100% whole wheat loaf to be moist enough. It always ended up crumbly and dry and only good for french toast and stuffing. What I didn't know was that the whole wheat flour we buy at the store has already gone rancid!!!! When I first tasted bread (thanks to Kathy O'Donnell) made from freshly ground grain, I knew I had found my solution. Thanks to a husband who loves tools, we soon bought a grain mill and I was in business! I found a good, reliable recipe and started baking bread.
Over the past 6 years I have learned more about nutrition and baking and have further improved the recipe to make a bread that has better keeping quality, tastes better, and is easier to digest. Since I've had numerous friends learn to bake bread and many of them call with questions from time to time, I've decided to write down the complete process (pictures included) for their (and your) reference.
"Why bother?" I used to like store bread just fine, until I lived in Prague for two years. There, the only good bread available was baked fresh daily and delivered to the local stores. One could cut it, bag it, and buy half or quarter of a loaf for pennies. It was a dense, hearty, flavorful, rye bread. At first I didn't care for it much, but it quickly grew on me. It was wonderful toasted with cream cheese and jam for breakfast. It made great ham and cheese sandwiches. It was such a shock to come back to the US and find NOTHING that could compare with that bread. So, when Curt and I married and I had my own kitchen, I started baking and searching for the perfect bread recipe. We bought a bread machine, but I could not get a good 100% whole wheat loaf to be moist enough. It always ended up crumbly and dry and only good for french toast and stuffing. What I didn't know was that the whole wheat flour we buy at the store has already gone rancid!!!! When I first tasted bread (thanks to Kathy O'Donnell) made from freshly ground grain, I knew I had found my solution. Thanks to a husband who loves tools, we soon bought a grain mill and I was in business! I found a good, reliable recipe and started baking bread.
Over the past 6 years I have learned more about nutrition and baking and have further improved the recipe to make a bread that has better keeping quality, tastes better, and is easier to digest. Since I've had numerous friends learn to bake bread and many of them call with questions from time to time, I've decided to write down the complete process (pictures included) for their (and your) reference.
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