[2010-10-25] Bread. The Staple of Life

“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.” ~ Robert Browning

"A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou." ~ Omar Khayyam

Now tell me, who hates bread?  Personally, I have always loved it.  I especially love freshly made bread.  Up until three or so months ago, I was always one of those people who bought her breads at the store and rarely made it from scratch.  My, how times have changed.

After watching a momversation on bread (which I am sorry I cannot give you a link to because they took the video off their YouTube channel and I am unable to find it anywhere now) it made me think about all the ingredients in the breads I was consuming and having my family eat as well.  With all those preservatives being consumed, what were they doing to our body?

So my family and I tried an experiment.

I wanted to see if making our own sandwich bread would make a difference with our bodies.  So far, I haven't really found a significant weight loss difference or anything of that matter, but I can tell you that both my husband and daughter love eating slices of my homemade bread as a snack instead of reaching for candy and sweets, which I consider that to be a big improvement.  We also noticed that we finish a loaf of homemade bread far faster then the store bought, and even though it takes an afternoon to do the whole process, the amount we pay for materials to make it are far cheaper then it is to buy the cheapest loaf of bread at the store.

I also noticed that the one time that I didn't have time to make the week's bread and instead had to buy a loaf at the store, we barely were able to get through it before it went bad.  We also all noticed the taste of it was not as enjoyable to any of us anymore.

"Bread for myself is a material question. Bread for my neighbor is a spiritual one." ~ Nikolai Berdyaev

I also like the sharing factor from making more then we need.  So far I have shared a loaf with a close friend of mine and her family, and I have recently given a loaf to my neighbors next door.

I hope to make more varieties when possible.  I have tried to make a sage bread which was quite lovely, but we always tend to fall back to the same recipe I have been using since the start of this. 

The original version of this recipe asks to let it cook in the bread machine, but I tend to not like how to crusts tastes and feels when I do it that way.  I like it in a traditional loaf pan.  I also proof the yeast before I start putting things together in my machine.

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Simple White Wheat Bread

1 1/4 cups + 2 TBL water 86⁰F
1 tsp lemon juice
2 TBL oil
3 TBL sugar
2 tsp salt
2 TBL dry milk
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1. In a small mixing bowl, combine lemon juice, oil, and sugar (except for one 1tsp, which goes into a separate small bowl).
2. In a large bowl, combine salt, dry milk, bread flour, and whole wheat flour.
3. Add 1 1/4 cups of water to the wet concoction and mix, then add the 2TBL to the bowl that has the tsp of sugar in it) and mix until the sugar dissolves.  Add the dry yeast to the sugar water and watch it proof (within five minutes you will start to see foam, which means it is ready).
4. First put the wet bowl in, then the yeast water, then the dry ingredients on top (this is roughly the instructions that my machine asks to do, except they want me to put the dry yeast on the tip top of the dry ingredients, which has never gotten fluffy bread like mine does now.)  Set the bread machine to "dough" so it only mixes and not cooks, and walk away.
5. Once the machine beeps, give it one more additional hour to sit.  Once that is done, put the dough in a greased loaf pan (I have used shortening, or vegetable spray for the sides of the pan and then melted butter on top, but you can grease it any way you like.)  Cover the top of the loaf with a dry kitchen towel, and leave it for another hour.  Trust me.  Your patience will be rewarded.  ;-)
6. Once all the rising times are done, heat your oven to 375⁰, remove the towel and put the bread (still in the loaf pan) in the oven for 25 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the top.  Let it cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then take it out and let the loaf cool on a rack completely before slicing.

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Let me tell you, this bread is as soft and fluffy as those store bought brands, but it still has a heartiness about it that will help fill you up.  We used this bread to make french toast once, and it soaked up the custard mixture just as well as if you had let them sit overnight (aka Alton style).

Now don't get me wrong.  I still buy store bought breads on occasion.  We have been known to buy cinnamin raisin bread, naan, and a few Artisian types.  Maybe in the future that will soon change too once I get the hang of making them without my bread machine.

I'd like to challenge anyone that's reading this to try what my family did.  Make a loaf each week (if they last that long in your house LOL) and eat your own homemade bread for two or three weeks, then try the bread you usually buy at the store, then come back to me and tell me if you'd honestly go back to having your store bought bread.  ;-)