Besides being a really awesome person who continually inspires me to push my standards a little higher, Troy also has the unique perspective of living this way with two toddlers! I've been picking his brain endlessly for tips and ideas to share with you all because I know many of you have little 'uns of your own.
So, without further ado...here's Troy. (FYI, all the photos are my bread making experiment to prove to you all that it really does work and is simple as all heck.)
Give Us This Day, Our Daily Bread
I have been following Jen and Michael’s blog for a while now. I love her writing and the topics are always timely. We are running at about the same pace of change. Now I do get to take credit for some of this as I was the one who dragged my wife to see Food Inc., and she told Michael, with whom she worked, that he had to see the movie. Next thing I hear, Jen and Michael’s lives have changed and Experiments in Change was born. Since Michael hasn’t been pulling his weight lately, I offered to make a guest appearance and write an article.
For us--that is me, my wife and two toddlers--our plan has been to simplify our consumption. It starts with food, but doesn’t end there. We (I) have been trying to eliminate store-bought, pre-made, packaged foods. Believe me when I tell you this is not easy with two toddlers and a stubborn spouse. But with a little work it’s possible. My plan was to buy only things that I could imagine myself making at some point, and then try, however slowly, to come up with recipes to replace the store bought items. So that meant no more Pop-Tarts, no more Coca-Cola, and so much more…
Bread was something I could imagine myself making. It required research, lots of needless research. Why needless? Because it is so easy. So now it’s been five months since we bought a loaf of bread from the store (admittedly, we did buy buns for bratwurst this weekend).
Here’s what I have learned.
- Bread is easy to make.
- Homemade bread is way better than store-bought.
- And there is almost nothing that makes the house smell better than fresh baked bread. It makes you want to be home.
I started all this before I read Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and found out that baking bread is sexy. Go figure.
I started with white bread, because that’s what the kids like. If this was going to be a success I would have to win them over. Then I thought I would try to sneak some whole-wheat flour in there. Then maybe local honey… then, possibly, home-made raw milk yogurt whey. That’s what you call living on the edge. Seriously, once you get the basic recipe down you can start to experiment with substitutions. Just a little a bit at a time until it doesn’t work. You’ll find that it almost always works though.
So here’s my no-fail sandwich bread recipe.
1 cup warm water
1-1/2 Tbsp softened butter
1-1/2 Tbsp sugar (or 3 Tbsp honey - hold back on a bit of the water)
1 Tbsp powdered skim milk
1-1/2 tsp salt
3 cups (15 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp instant rapid-rise yeast
This recipe should work in a bread machine, a stand mixer with dough hook, or a food processor. Or, you could even knead it by hand.
(Editor's note: I used my Kitchen Aid with a dough hook, but any of these ways work. I combined the warm water and the yeast and let it sit for about two minutes to activate the yeast. Then I added the sugar, powered skim milk--easy to find in the baking aisle--and the flour and began mixing. Once it all started to incorporate I added the softened butter and the salt.)
First rise (Ed. Note: The time you let it sit in a very warm area covered with plastic wrap) is about an hour. You can do it in the bread machine or a lightly oiled bowl.
(Ed Note: In between rises you pound the air out of the dough and knead it for about a minute or two before letting it sit again.)
Second rise about 30 minutes. Here's my hint on the second rise: microwave two cups of water to boiling then put the loaded loaf pan, covered with a tea towel, in the microwave with the water. Voila! Warm and draft-free.
(Ed. Note: Last interruption, I swear,...but you may notice I decided to chunk up some butter and throw that on top with salt and pepper before baking. I mean, you might want to try that if you like awesome things.)
Bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.
You can partially substitute whole-wheat flour, but your rise times will be longer. You may also want to add a little extra yeast, maybe another ½ teaspoon. Just remember that you’re looking for double volume on each of the rises.
I have done this using each of the above devices. For convenience, I now use the dough cycle on our bread machine and then take it out and bake it in a loaf pan in the oven to get the right shape. But it works just as well with the other methods. The stand mixer makes me feel like I am barely cheating, but is much easier than doing it by hand. When the bread machine eventually dies, or we run out of space for appliances, I'll switch to the stand mixer.
I haven't gotten so compulsive that I am milling my own flour yet, but I have considered it. I use King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour because it has a high protein content, which leads to more gluten and chewier bread. And it's all-purpose, so I don't have to have a bunch of different flours (bread, cake, etc...) in the pantry. I am using Hodgson Mill Graham Flour for my whole-wheat. I'll also add a bit of rye flour to spice things up.
For sweetness and fuel for the yeast, I started using honey--rather than cane sugar--so I could source it locally. Yeast is the Fleishman's that you refrigerate in a jar because it cuts down on the packaging with the individual paper packets. I’m sure there is a way to get this locally but I haven’t figured it out yet. Soon.
That’s it. Bread that the kids will eat. And if they will eat it, so will you. Next, is no-knead artisan bread for when you want something fancy…
P.S. Be sure to check out my blog that will be launching on Earth Day, April 22th: www.recyclingrepublican.com. And, thanks for having me visit Jen.
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