In our efforts to make more of our food from scratch I’ve been on a bit of a homemade bread kick. Ideally, I’d like to be able to bake bread every week or so instead of buying it at the store. Nothing fancy, just a few loaves of whole wheat bread for toast and sandwiches. Bread also happens to be one of Kate’s new favorite foods as of late. My first attempt was a disaster. Inedible. Gross. I think I killed the yeast or something. Bummer. My second attempt was at homemade whole wheat pizza dough and it turned out great! Relatively easy, quick and tasty. Today I attempted baking loaves again. It started at around 3:30pm and the bread finally came out of the oven around 9:30pm. There were several moments of frustration in between and I’ve got to give Paul credit for coming to my rescue. (I think he has secret skills he’s not fully disclosing to me.) All in all, a success--the bread tastes good, but the process was a little too long. Is my goal for making our own bread too lofty? I’m on the search for a fairly straightforward recipe for a whole wheat bread, maybe even an oatmeal or honey whole wheat recipe would be nice. Recipes, Anyone?p.s. I don’t have a bread maker… and if possible I’d like to avoid adding another appliance to our kitchen.
7 comments:
I have the perfect recipe for you! My mother in law is the bread-making queen so I'll forward the recipes in an email.
Sorry, I'm not much help. Kari's bread is fabulous though, so definitely try that!
I know you don't want to hear this, but I'll tell you anyway. I didn't want a bread maker because I didn't want another appliance and thought they were too pricey and I would never use it. So, we didn't register for one. My sister and sister-in-law thought better and their families gave us one for our wedding. I am so glad they did. I use it all the time. I don't cook my bread in it, because I think the crust comes out much better if it is cooked in the oven, but I love that I can just throw a bunch of stuff in it and the dough comes out great every time (then I take the dough out and bake it). You can make bread/roll dough, pizza dough, even pasta, and a bunch of other stuff that I've never tried - and it only takes 1 1/2 hours to make the dough. So, that's my plug for bread makers. Having said that, I do want to learn to make bread without the bread maker.
Funny that you posted about bread - I was just about to do the same thing! I am trying to make my own bread, too, but am having a horrible time. I have a great recipie for white bread and today I tried to convert it to wheat bread, but the loves come out about 4 inches high and lumpy. I am going to try adn play around with it a bit. I think that the key is the kneading/rising process. No bread maker needed. I will still send you the recipie for that bread and you can try your hand at it. We can swap tips. Also, I am really curious about the cloth diapers - how do you like them?
p.s. It looks like you might need to send me " kari's bread" recipie, too!
Hi Jill! Just found your blog. I like the book "Beard on Bread" by James Beard--it has troubleshooting tips. If you're interested, I'll lend it to you!
I'll take any whole wheat bread recipes you can find. I have 1 that works alright.
Post a Comment