Not just eating bread...goodness, that's always been one of my favorite things to do. No, it's baking my own bread that I am enjoying. And, oh, is this recipe delightful. I honestly don't think I'll ever buy store bought bread again. We had some as a snack, yum. I used some for a tuna fish sandwich for lunch, yum. We had some with our dinner tonight, yum. I doubled the recipe to make two loaves and it's probably a really good thing I did.
I don't have a bread machine, which is what the recipe called for, so I was thrilled to find a woman who wrote a review with the modifications to do it by hand. I really can't get enough of doing it by hand. For me, there is something about kneading the dough that is so incredibly necessary for me. I think it teaches me a couple life lessons:
Be still - When you have to stand in one place at a counter to knead dough for anywhere from 5 to 8 minutes depending on what kind you're making, you have to kind of still your body. Obviously, you can't walk around the kitchen while kneading so you're put in one place for what feels like a long time. This is good for me because I am not usually the type of person who can just stand. When I'm kneading, I can pray, I can think, I can sing - I can enjoy a few minutes of keeping my legs in one spot.
Patience - For this recipe in particular, when I was finished kneading the dough, I had to let it rise for an hour while it doubled. Then I had to punch it down and let it rise for another 45 minutes while it doubled again. Then I had to put it in the loaf pans and let it go for another 20 minutes before then baking it for 40 minutes. Within the first 10 minutes it was in the oven, my house smelled so delicious I wanted to take the bread out prematurely and devour it based on smell alone. Baking bread teaches you delayed gratification rather than instant. Sure, it takes a few hours, but it is so worth it when you slice into that warm loaf and then butter and honey it up.
So if you like to bake bread, try the recipe! It you haven't ever baked bread before - give it a try! Try different kinds until you find one you like. This one is a definite winner for our family. Some of my goals for this year include getting into the habit of baking bread on a regular basis so we don't have to buy it from the store - this way I can control what I put in it as well. I also want to try doing some canning this year and we're going to give our garden another go now that we have had a year to see what grows well in our soil and what doesn't. Sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong era. I would be totally happy stepping quite a way back from how far everything has come to just return to some simplicity.
1 comment:
Pioneer women unite! He he.
Next time for your birthday, ask for a Kitchen Aid. I bet you could get a gently used one for much cheaper. But the patient, quiet time of kneading sure is great. What I did with mine (other than adding couple tablespoons of Mayo) is that ater kneading it, I put it in an oiled bowl, covered it with a kitchen towel and put it in the oven. I preheated the oven at 170 and the minute it hit the temperature, I took out the bowl and put it in the microwave. It cut the rising time in half. Then I took it out (after it more than doubled), gently knead the loaf again and put it in a greased loaf pan. Put the kitchen towel on and stuck it in the microwave (or oven) where there is no draft at all. Again, it took half the time for the dough to rise. Once it was ready, I brushed it with some milk or cream and baked it at 350 for 35 minutes. Good grief, was it delicious or what!!!! Definitely a keeper for us as well. Sure beats going to the store with two kids and buying packaged bread!
Next on my list is trying to recreate Panera's tomato basil bread. I'm on a mission.
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