I mean, come on, seriously. Do you know anyone who doesn't love the taste, the aroma, the yeast-y goodness of a loaf of freshly baked bread coming out of the oven? In the last decade bread has gotten a bad reputation....too many bad carbs, yadda yadda yadda. Well, if you're buying the white stuff from the grocery store, the nay-sayers are probably right. But if you do a little research,
real bread made from non-GMO grains, and made without chemicals or bleached out flour is actually nutritious.
If you're really brave, pull out your bag of bread from the grocery store and read the ingredient list. Scary stuff, isn't it? You can avoid all of that by purchasing just a few basic staples at the grocery store and if you have a bread machine, you can knock out a loaf in under 5 minutes and let the machine do the rest. If you don't have a bread machine, don't let that be an excuse to miss out on one of life's simple pleasures. A basic mixer will bring together the dough and once you let it rest, shape it into a loaf and let it rise again in a bread pan it is ready to bake off in the oven. There are so many resources online that can guide you step by step to that perfect loaf of bread. Go ahead, give it a try. Your family will love you for it.
If you are interested you can check out www.kingarthurflour.com for thousands of tutorials and recipes. And they sell the best flour! I heartily recommend them. You don't have to order online because most grocery stores around the country now stock their flours in the baking aisle.
What do you do when the winds are blowing so hard that the flag is standing straight out from the pole? Head for your cozy kitchen and bake bread, of course!
Unbleached whole wheat flour, kosher salt, butter, honey(to help feed the yeast), old fashioned oats, some warm water and fresh yeast.....pretty simple ingredients.....
And a few hours later you'll have this! This particular recipe is Vermont Whole Wheat Oatmeal Honey Bread and can be found on the King Arthur Flour website. Joel loves this bread toasted which brings out the oat-y-ness (is that even a word?) of the bread. But let's not stop there.....once you begin playing with yeast breads you will discover a whole world of yummy goodness.
Like this home made pizza.....alright, now stop rolling your eyes at me. I can see some of you sighing and tsk-tsking. Just because this post is about bread and baking doesn't mean that bread should be your whole diet. The point of making your own food is to control the ingredients and make it healthier for your body. But, as always, moderation is the key.
Before the pizza even came out of the oven, Joel and I were filling up on a huge, fresh, green salad with homemade dressing. And we don't eat bread morning, noon and night. But when we do want a slice it's fresh, nutritious, and ready to eat. And it can be frozen if you are not ready to eat it all right away. Since the bread does not have any preservatives, it sometimes gets to the point where it's not so "fresh" any longer. Now what?
Ha! Nothing need go to waste. Make bread crumbs! I roughly cut up or tear the remaining stale bread and put it in a small baking pan. The pan simply sits in the oven of our Chambers stove and because there is a pilot light always lit, the nice warm oven gently toasts the bread over a couple of days.....without turning the oven on.
When the torn bread is completely dried out, it gets poured into a sturdy zip lock bag. I would love to grind it in my food processor or Vita-Mix, but I still can't find those handy appliances since they remain packed until we get the rest of the kitchen cabinets. No problem. Make do with what you have.
These are the last of the herbs I grew in our Florida garden and dehydrated. I can't hardly wait to plant our garden here on the farm so I can replenish my stash of fresh herbs. There's something very satisfying about knowing where your food comes from and that no chemicals or pesticides were used to grow them. But back to the bag of bread crumbs and herbs.....
A bag, a rolling pin and a sturdy cutting board. That's all you need to make seasoned bread crumbs. Beat the heck out of the bag.....um, gently break up the bread into crumbs. Add herbs and you've got your very own bread crumbs for making meat loaf or topping a casserole of macaroni and cheese.
Store in an airtight container and these little bits of yumminess will keep for a very long time.
Before moving I had depleted a large part of our pantry and it feels so good to begin the process of restocking the Tupperware and ball jars with home made ingredients.
Ha ha! I just noticed the boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese in the bottom drawer! Yup, Jeremy is back home again and we stocked one of his favorites. So much for home cooking.....But I am loving the fact that I once again have a pantry to restock.
Oh, yeah, there's one more use for stale bread.....toast little squares in a 350 degree oven after tossing them with fresh herbs, sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil and you have fresh croutons for salads. They store beautifully in a Ball jar. Ready for the eating.
So, now you know what rocks my world. Fresh, nutritious, home grown/home made foods. It may be more work but nothing beats the satisfying feeling of providing the best tasting food for my family. I hope you'll be encouraged to try making bread for you and yours......your taste buds will thank you. As a matter of fact, those little taste buds may very well do "the happy dance"!
Baking Fool,
Debbie
