I've now mentioned a few times that one of the lost basics I want to master is making my own bread. The thought of doing this has always seemed daunting and like so much effort, and just that alone was enough to dissuade me from taking the idea any further. Bread baking also seems pretty divorced from the reality of today. No one has much time to sit around and watch dough rise. Plus it requires lots of ingredients and it feels a little forced to dedicate yourself to the endeavor when the store offers a pretty decent loaf for under $3.50!
All that being said, I've always liked the idea of baking my own bread because I think there is an underlying artistry or craft to it that seems really fulfilling. And I never get tired of the way a gooey loaf rising in the oven smells. If I could choose a personal perfume, a smell that is Allison, I think it would be this smell with a dash of fresh basil and orange zest thrown in and maybe a hint of violet? People, and dogs, would follow me around wouldn't they? Of course another huge reason I'm interesting in learning to bake bread is to help revive the tradition of it. This used to be such a fundamental part of life, especially part of a woman's life, and I can't believe that in just one generation this knowledge has drifted out of the mainstream. For the most part it seems like only serious cooks and hippies are baking their own bread these days! Bread making just seems like a skill to have tucked away in your backpack for a rainy day. Something you can bust out if you have to or more importantly, if you want to. And like so many things I learned this past month, I think baking bread will help me to continue to slow down and learn to savor the hours long process of kneading, rising, baking and eating.
Besides all this, there is the nutrition factor. Homemade bread is good for you! It is full of fiber and it has no preservatives. Wheat (in its whole berry form) is like a little nutrition capsule containing 26 essential vitamins and minerals. And did you know that if stored properly it can last basically forever without spoiling and will retain all this essential goodness? They found wheat in the pharoah's tomb for hell sakes. I was shocked to find out that once wheat is ground into flour it loses its nutritional value very quickly. Within 24 hours 45% of its nutrition is lost and within 3 days we are talking 80-90% is gone! White flour already has all these nutrients removed from it (and then it is artificially enriched to add a few of them back in) but even if you buy whole wheat flour at the store, this means the nutritional value has already been zapped because it was ground weeks, maybe even months, before you brought it home and baked with it.
All this led to my decision that if I am going to bother to make bread for my family, I am going to bother to grind my wheat fresh. This choice took me on a journey to buy wheat in bulk and a wheat grinder. Hello new world of food storage enthusiasts and health nuts! And for those of you also in Utah, we are in the land of food storage. Thank you Mormon culture! It was very easy to track this stuff down. I was able to buy my 45 lbs of hard white wheat at COSTCO for $23!! It is locally produced by Lehi Roller Mills. Crazy. The grinders are sold online at many places but I bought mine at a very cute local spot called John and Jenni's Bosch Kitchen Center. It is a veritable baker's paradise in there and they were super knowledgeable. There are affordable hand wheat grinders on the market and I know this is what women did for eons, but I'm embracing technology on this one, and I bought the lesser expensive of the two good machine grinders. I am now the proud owner of a L'Equip Vital Mill and I'm so stoked on it! (The NutriMill is the superior product--bigger capacity and it is quieter and easier to use--but I felt saving the $100 was worth it. I'm a novice after all.) The Vital Mill set me back $169.99 but it already has felt like money well spent. I can't describe how freaking industrious and old school I felt opening up my bucket of wheat, scooping it into the mill and turning it into beautiful, fresh flour. The whole process seriously takes less than a couple minutes to get a good 10 cups of wheat flour. The machine is pretty loud, akin to an airplane taking off in your kitchen, but it doesn't last for long. And man, that flour is silky and powdery and wonderful.
Once I had the flour part down, it has just been a matter of finding recipes for bread. I've checked out a couple of books at the library and consulted my recipe guru sister so I'm just trying to find the one that will be my go to recipe. The bread making process is definitely a learning curve. I've baked 6 loaves of bread in the last week and I can't say any of them turned out perfectly. There is something missing in each...and I haven't yet learned the subtle art of trouble shooting what went awry. But I have to say that I like trying to do something that is a bit about trial and error and finding the best way on your own. Adjusting for altitude, for my sorry oven, for my nonfat milk, all these variables make the whole process seem like something to master and I think that is what will end up keeping it interesting and making me feel like I've really learned a craft. It's a like one part science project and one part edible art.
Doing all this for a silly loaf of bread may seem like a waste to some, but for me I feel like it is reclaiming a bit of turf that somebody decades ago decided wasn't worth my time. (Sara Lee? Pillsbury? Wonder?) But why not? Why not care more about what I put into my body? Why not reshape the way I value my time and accept that baking bread can be 4 or 8 or 12 hours of my week? Why not experience how to make something on your own from scratch and forgo buying it every time? So here I am on the bread learning curve, learning to embrace the imperfections in my mis-shapen and wee bit burned loaf. But I didn't have to learn to enjoy eating it...that just seemed to come naturally. yum.
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Hi Allison;
ReplyDeleteI am also on a bread roll! No bun intended.. I grind my wheat in a grinder that is at least 30 years old, and the thrill of plunging my hand into warm freshly ground wheat silk is beyond description. A book I LOVE and has tutored me and given me confidence to play with ingredients is "Recipes from the Old Mill; baking with whole grains" by Myers & Lind published by Good Books. Heaven just to read it, euphoria to take the best loaf I ever baked out of the oven, break it open HOT and just breathe. Try the 100% whole wheat one with the honey, milk, and eggs in the dough.. if you have powdered vitamin c you can add a pinch to condition it. After it cools, toast a slice and slather it with cream cheese and pumpkin butter. Holiness.
My mother in law bought me a wheat grinder a few years ago at a garage sale. Its been sitting in storage ever since. I think you have inspired me to drag it out, dust it off, and at least see if it works.
ReplyDeleteI love reading your blog Allison. You are an excellent writer - and your quest to consume and spend less has inspired me. I've been trying to get myself out of denial about the way I spend our hard earned money for a few months now - and your blog has really helped me. I hope you don't mind me reading.
See you on Friday! Can I bring dessert, or drinks, or yummy homemade breadsticks? (with white flour - sorry)
thank you for the tip on the recipe book. i am going to see if i can track it down. the pumpkin butter idea sounds deliciously up my alley too...do you have a recipe for that as well?!!
ReplyDeleteand michelle, thank you for reading! i'm honored. i'm discovering that we live in a hard culture to "abstain" in but i'm learning that the pay offs of consuming less might just be worth it. see you friday!
Allison;
ReplyDeleteMy Betty Crocker's Old Fashioned cookbook has a recipe for Honey Apple Butter. It could be easily converted.
1 quart sweet apple cider
8 cups pared, cored and quartered cooking apples (about 3 pounds)
1 lemon; peeled, sliced and seeded
1 cup honey
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Heat cider to boiling in large dutch oven. Boil uncovered until reduced to 2 cups - about 15 minutes. Add apples and lemon. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered about 1 hour until apples are soft. Mash with potato masher or ricer to remove all lumps. Stir in honey, sugar and cinnamon. Heat to boiling, reduce heat, simmer about 1 1/2 hours until no liquid separates from pulp. Pour mixture into hot sterilized jars leaving headspace. Wipe rims, seal with boiling water bath or steamer. Cool. Makes about 5 half pints.
(My grandma taught me to make it in the oven in a giant roaster pan. We would gather a pailful of apples that had dropped from the trees and remove the bruises, birdpecks, and wormholes. She let it bake all day stirring occasionally, and it made considerably more than 5 half pints.)
If I were converting, I would probably add some pumpkin pie spice instead of just cinnamon. I would also cook the pumpkin in water if I didn't have any apple cider. I might even try adding some cream at the end of the simmering process to a small portion that would be used immediately. (Make sure pumpkin isn't boiling when you add cream or it will curdle.) You can also make pear butter, but you don't have to boil the pears initially for as long as the apples if they are yellow and ripe.
Wednesday I made bread using the water drained from boiling the potatoes from Monday night's dinner. I was interrupted in the middle of the second rising with an errand that couldn't wait, so I just put the loaves in the fridge until I returned. You only need to wait 10 minutes to put it into the oven, and that's about how long it takes the oven to heat. It is a miracle to stir up a few ingredients that the earth yields up and together they live and grow and nourish. The loaves turned out divine. I am grateful for such simple and delicious pleasures in this life!
Al, we can be on a bread baking quest together as Brooks and I are also searching for our "go to" recipe. SO far, our bread recipes needs some tweeking! Let me know of your successes.
ReplyDeletethanks for taking the time to list the apple butter recipe. i'm excited to try it out and recreate the pumpkin butter. thank you for the tips!
ReplyDelete