Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.
This is meant to help us stick with our newly tightened budget as we work even harder this year to pay down Blake's graduate student loan. It will encompass everything from mending worn clothes to ensuring that food doesn't spoil and get thrown out before we eat it. Blake is the breadwinner in our family, and I am the homemaker. I see it as my responsibility to make sure that the things we buy and bring into our home are used wisely and fully, that things are taken care of and used instead of forgotten about and abandoned. I know I can do a better job with this, hence the resolve.
The second thing I aim to do this year is to
Learn how to successfully bake bread.
Specifically yeast breads, and without the aid of fancy appliances like a Kitchen-Aid and a bread machine (because I don't have them). So my goal is to learn to bake bread by hand the "old fashioned way." Yeast is a complicated ingredient, and bread recipes, with their tendency to make assumptions about my knowledge of bread-making as they skim over the details I desperately crave, baffle me. I want to not only learn how to successfully bake bread (and rolls and maybe bagels and definitely cinnamon buns) but to also understand the science behind the instructions so that hopefully when I someday come across another recipe that confuses me, I will be be able to put two and two together well enough to make sense of it.
I've got a pretty good handle on my first resolution, but I need help with the second. I've tried, many times, to successfully bake a loaf of bread or a batch of rolls, but, with the exception of pizza dough, which for some reason I can pull off, I always come up short. And so I'm going to ask you, my faithful and talented readers, for any hints, tips, or pointers as I again try to wade through the complex world of bread baking. Also, if you have any simple bread recipes for beginners with very clear instructions, I'd love to to try them out.
11 comments:
I asked a friend who makes bread by hand. This is what she said:
- ummm knead with one hand so you have one hand free for phone calls and other "emergencies" that arise
- add the flour a little at a time
(free as in not covered with bread dough)
- the key is getting the right consistency and that's hard to explain. That's when it really helps to have someone show you.
- What she may want to try actually, is talk to her local grocery store/bakery, often they will actually sell raw dough (It's just not something they put out front). That would give her an idea of what the dough is supposed to be like before she bakes it
(even rhoades would help, but non-frozen would be better)
As for recipes, this is the best whole wheat one I've found is this one: http://frugalwifewealthylife.blogspot.com/2010/04/homemade-janssen.html
The blog is also great for frugal living tips. And they're usually pretty quick at answering comments if you have questions.
Good luck with your goals!
I'm going to have that revolution Beatles song in my head all day! Its a good thing I like that song.
I use the pioneer woman's cinnamon roll/roll dough recipe because it is eggless, but she doesn't use a mixer and has lots of pictures and says she's not a baker, so I'd go there for those two things.
I really love the Williams-Sonoma essentials of baking cookbook. It has photos, definitions, troubleshooting and by hand directions. Everything I have ever made from there has been good. I think once you are confident in the process and have had some success, you could do any recipe or modify any recipe for by hand.
Great resolutions, I could do with making your first one, one of mine too - I will be getting out the sewing machine later this week. With the bread recipe I only ever make white bread (http://notesfromemily.blogspot.com/2010/02/simple-soup-and-rustic-round-loaf.html) which is a bit naughty but very easy, I am going to have a go at wholemeal this year. Happy New Year!
If you're trying for whole wheat bread, one of MidCityGal's secrets that she shared with me is making sure to add vital wheat gluten to it. It helps the final product not be so crumbly. You can find it near the flour in the baking aisle. I've been really pleased with it.
Bread took me a while to figure out, and to be honest I still botch new recipes occasionally. I always let the yeast sit in a bit of luke-warm water for a minimum of ten minutes before I add it to the recipe. My tip for perfect dough is adding the flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough is barely sticky. You want it fairly soft, but not so wet that it sticks to your finger when you touch it. One of my absolute favorite recipes is for Honey Oatmeal Bread. Its a good one to start with because its pretty forgiving.
Honey Oatmeal Bread
makes 2 loaves
2 cups boiling water
1 cup quick cook oatmeal
1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
Put this in a bowl and let sit for 30 minutes.
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup room temp water
Mix together and let sit for 10 minutes
Add to oatmeal:
1/2 cup honey
2 teaspoons salt
yeast and water mixture.
Mix everything well together.
Add three cups of flour to mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until incorporated, then dump dough onto a floured surface and with floured hands, knead in ½ cup flour at a time (up to 2 cups) until dough is smooth. (for a total of approx. 5 cups of flour) Total kneading time should be about 10 minutes.
Transfer to a greased bowl and cover with dishtowel. Let sit until doubled, about 40 minutes. Cut in half and roll each half into a loaf and put in loaf pan and cover. Set timer for 30 minutes and when timer rings, turn oven onto 375 degrees. When oven is hot, put loaves in for 30 minutes. Turn out of pans right after they come out of the oven.
I hope I haven't confused you more. Happy Baking!
Check out the Tassajara bread book known as the bible of all bread baking: http://www.amazon.com/Tassajara-Bread-Book-Edward-Brown/dp/1590307046
When I learned how to bake bread, I started with a sourdough starter (which doesn't make a "sour" bread btw unless you ferment it for a long time). The bread always turned out light and fluffy and moist with a great crumb, had a better flavor than breads made with store bought yeast, AND had the benefit that I never had to buy yeast a great money saving option when you are baking all your bread. You can buy a starter from King Arthur flour or from a friend. If it was summer I would just tell you to catch your own but alas, it is not.
Here is my blog post about it from a while back: http://drewcarrie.blogspot.com/2008/11/sourdough-success.html
As and explanation of why I struggled so much with the starter, I started it by catching yeast. It is much easier when you do it with an older starter; some date back hundreds of years!
I think you have some great bread recipes here to get you started, so I won't add to the list, but here are my couple of tips:
I too add the flour just a 1/2 cup at a time. I like the explanation that the bread dough should be "soft" and I would describe my bread dough as "glossy" too. Don't overknead it! You'll know if you did because your bread won't have any air in it after it's baked! Dense bread is not so delicious.
When my bread is rising, I actually turn my oven on to 200 or 250 degrees. I set it on top of the warm oven with a dish towel over top and that seems to help the yeast rise better/quicker.
In a lot of my bread recipes I substitute half the white flour for wheat. They have all turned out fine.
I test my water the same way I test a baby bottle. On the inside portion of my wrist. It should be slightly warm. If the water is too hot when you add the yeast to it, the yeast will die and won't raise.
I omit salt from all my recipes except bread. The yeast needs the salt to "feed" on while it's raising.
Good luck! You'll have to share with us your favorite suggested bread recipe!!
Well, you seem to have a lot of tips. I'll forgo any, because I don't really have any. I need to back more bread as well. Aaron Sister-in-law is doing the culinary program at BYU-I and I remember her saying that they were doing a bread segment. I asked her to send me her tips. If you want me to, let me know, and I'll try asking her again and send them to you.
I have an oatmeal bread recipe like the one in teh comments and its amazing.
I'd ask the ward RS to see if they could have an activity where someone who knows how could show you. I prefer learning things that way than by trial and error on my own :) Too bad I missed our ward's bread making activity!
Thank you for all of your suggestions so far! This is very helpful!
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