Bread, muffins and granola, oh my!

I mentioned the soaked bread I was attempting in the bread machine. Despite losing a lot of liquid, it was a sucess! It rose well, has a wonderful consistency and is yummy. The kids aren't so crazy about it, but they'll live ;). It is good and slices easily for sandwiches.

I made some banana chocolate chip muffins out of the Pharoh's mix I mentioned the other day. Yummers! I actually followed the coffee cake recipe but added an extra egg, 2 cups of mushed banana (there were big chunks of banana in the muffins adding to the yumminess) and a cup of chocolate chips. I put the batter in my heart shaped silicone muffin liners (it made 14) and baked for about a half an hour. So good!! They are moist, tasty and are a definate must make again :). Pretty good for a spelt and kamut muffin! Actually, I was telling DH they are more like a cup cake, but healthier :)

Granola. It is my first attempt at making soaked granola. It has been in the dehydrator for a few hours and I am just now realizing all the things I did wrong, lol! To backtrack, I loosely was following a recipe online. I soaked 3 cups of organic "New found" oats, 1 cup steel cup oats, 1 cup spelt flakes and a cup of spelt flour with 5 cups of water and 6 tablespoons of kefir. I also added a cup of raw sunflower seeds. I let it soak nearly 24 hours then I added 1/2 cup of honey, 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, 1 cup of chocolate chips (need to wean the kids into homemade goodies again with some chocolate) and some vanilla. I mixed well, loaded up the dehydrator and realized, I forgot salt, coconut oil and some other things I meant to put in. At least I will know for next time. It was very soupy. Next time I will follow a recipe properly. I won't post what I used for embarrassment of messing up so badly. It may still turn out good so I won't discount it yet. I want to make granola for the kids that don't have nuts since they can't have any nuts at all at school, except coconut.

In other news, we are going to the valley tomorrow, yay! I plan to come home with about 200lbs or more of fresh fall produce. Carrots and turnip/rutabagas to put up in sawdust, squash, pumpkins, kale to dry, another gallon of honey, a big bag of organic sugar and more. I imagine our trunk will be FULL!! I want to go to the place that has pork. I couldn't decide between a side of pork or a quarter beef first, but I think I will go with the beef since we have a ton of pork in the freezer. I will pick up some of their natural bacon and maybe some sausage. I will have to bring a cooler! It's just a day trip, but it will be productive.

As well, I plan on taking part in The Nourished Kitchen's Real Food For Real Families series. It is a low cost approach to real food on a budget. I look forward to it! Our budget is shrinking while our food needs keep growing.

Well, my Monday Market Report should be a little bigger than usual, but it will feed us a good long time!

Oh The Irony!

***Edited to add that ended up not making the cake.  I hope she didn't read this and was offended :(**

I had a list of things I wanted to do when the kids went to school. In all honesty, I haven't done much on that list. One of the things was perfecting my cake making and decorating skills. I put that on the back burner since I only make a couple of fancy cakes a year.

Yesterday, I got a call from someone my mother-in-law was talking to whom she told I made fondant cakes. I was a little speechless. Here I was giving up on the idea of cake making and someone wants to pay me to make a cake. Not only giving up on cake making, but getting rid of my refined flours, sugars and food coloring. I almost tossed it all.

So now I just have to figure out how much to charge. That is the hard part. She was going to pay someone $125. There is a reason people charge that much for cakes. Being someone who always undercharges, I almost said $15 but that wouldn't even cover the supplies/ingredients, let alone time. I will also have to get a cake board and box, so I may charge $40, $35 if she returns the cake board and box. I have been watching videos all morning to refresh my mind about how to do it.

So yes, oh the irony. Here I am trying to eat better and making pure sugary junk for pay. The even more ironic part is I plan to put the money in my grass fed meat fund! (that is where I put all my extra money and earned money from babysitting and such)

Right now, I have a bunch of things on the go. I wanted to try to make soaked flour bread machine bread. Around 4pm last night, I mixed the flour it would take for a loaf with a couple tablespoons of kefir and the water required for the recipe. I put it in the machine until the flour was completely soaked. I covered and let sit overnight. I proofed some yeast in warm water and honey then added it to the flour as well as some oil and a pinch of salt. I put it in the machine to mix and it was splashing everywhere! I tried putting a towel over it, but it wasn't working, so I stopped it and hand kneaded the flour mix with the other ingredients until it was able to mix better with the paddle. I generally don't do much kneading because of my hands (which is why I always use the bread machine), but it mixed well and seems to be a nice soft dough. It's on the first rise. I hope it turns out. I have a feeling I may have to tweak things a bit to get them just right.

Gluten-Free Crusty Boule

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day � Gluten-Free Crusty Boule

I have been perusing this site because I want more information on the 5 minute a day bread (which I will make as soon as I arrange my fridge a little better). I was pleasantly surprised to see there was gluten free bread! I don't know if I can get the ingredients here but maybe someday. Sometimes it is nice just having the option.

As a side note, I don't think I am going to be buying and grinding our wheat. I have my limits. It is too hard, time consuming and I don't get favourable results.

Another side note, from the above site, I finally found out how to make proper hamburger buns. Bake them in english muffin tins! How easy is that? I had one but it got warped so I went and bought all they had at Bulk Barn (note, they are sold as large 4" circle cutters but they are exactly the same as the ones online and much cheaper). I didn't realize you actually baked it with the dough in the round. So that will make making buns easier, especially if I keep dough in the fridge. Now, if I could only figure out hot dog buns....

Bread FAIL!

So I wanted to get back into the swing of regular bread making again. I made a few good loaves with home ground flour with the addition of some regular flour in the bread machine. I had a bad one but the next day I realized it was because I did not have warm water to activate the yeast since I had it soaking overnight. I knew for next time.

Today I wanted to make some bread. I put it on the sandwich setting, which is a 3 hour setting. It rose beautifully. I had to leave and when I got home, it looked bad. It is the loaf on the far left. After cutting into it, it totally sunk. I used half regular flour and half sprouted wheat flour. I tried to figure out what was wrong. Apparently it rose too much and didn't have enough flour to create a solid loaf, so it sunk when it started baking. Boo hiss. Tastes good though, although it didn't fully cook in the middle (which I didn't realize until later). Sprouted wheat flour acts as an enhancer for dough which makes the bread rise more so I probably added too much yeast causing the collapse.

So after the bread machine cooled down, I thought I would try another loaf, my regular way with only half a cup of the sprouted wheat flour. I did the quick setting, which is one hour, start to finish. That is the bottom right loaf. I don't think it cooked all the way through. It is pretty short and solid and not done on the top. After taking it out, it sunk a lot in the middle. It hasn't been cut into but I suspect it isn't baked through. Sigh.

My banana bread came out great! I made it in the crockpot in a silicone loaf pan. I should of packed some foil around it to keep the loaf shape as it spread out in the middle. Still, otherwise really good!

So what I may have to start doing is baking it in the oven. If I have to do that, I will bake more than one loaf at a time and also do buns and rolls. If my bread maker isn't cooking all the way through, it's pointless to keep using it. It is still good for mixing and kneading the bread. It is hard for me to do it manually so it will still serve a good purpose. I need to start having a baking day each week.

Family Bread

I used to visit http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/ a lot. She has a lot of great ideas, recipes and frugal menu plans, even if they don't exactly work cost-wise here. I have made this before and decided to make some today. I wasn't able to get to the bread store, so why not. The differences I made were I used 1.5 cups of 12 grain cereal and 1.5 cups of flax meal and a little more water and maybe some more flour. It made 3 loaves and 2 pizzas for me. It's not done cooking yet but it sure smells yummy!

BTW, the commentary is all from the website, not mine :)

Family Bread

• 4 cups warm tap water (not hot)
• 2/3 cup non-fat dry milk powder (instant powdered milk)
• 1/3 cup sugar or 1/4 cup honey
• 2 packets or 4 teaspoons dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/3 cup melted margarine or oil
• 12 cups (approximately) white or whole wheat flour or a combination

The first thing you need is a big bowl or clean dish pan to mix this up in. Mix the water, dry milk powder and sugar in the dishpan or bowl. Add the yeast, sort of sprinkled on top. Allow the mixture to sit until the yeast dissolves some, this will only take a couple of minutes. Add the salt, margarine or oil, and flour. Mix with a wooden spoon until it gets too stiff and then dig in with your hands. When the dough is in a nice cohesive ball, turn it out onto a floured kitchen table or counter. Or if you are using a dish pan, you can just leave it in there.

Now start kneading the dough with all of the love you have for your family. Press the dough and send big love vibes into it. Stretch the dough and impress all of your compassion and generosity into it. Remember why you love your kids, and your spouse and your mom or you dad, and just put it all into the dough. Knead it like this for a full ten minutes. Add more flour if you need to as you go along.

Coat the dough with oil, about 2 tablespoons of it, and put it into the bowl or dishpan. Cover it with a towel or plastic wrap and let it set in a warm place to rise for about an hour or so. It should double in bulk. It may take up to two hours on cool days, or in the air conditioning, so be patient.

Punch down the dough by literally pressing your fist into the center of it. Divide the dough into 4 equal lumps. Coax them into loaf shapes and place them into large (9 by 5-inch) well oiled loaf pans. If you don't have enough loaf pans, use casserole pans or cake pans, or whatever. Cover the dough with a cloth or more plastic wrap and let it rise again. It should take less time for the second rising. When the dough is risen up enough, bake the loaves at 350° for 40 minutes.

You can tell the dough is done if you turn it out of the pan and thump the bottom with your finger. It should make a dull hollow sound. If it doesn't sound hollow, put it back into the pan and cook it some more. Makes four loaves.

My New Favorite Bread Recipe

Here is my new favorite bread recipe.

I sustitute a cup of flour for flax meal and I think I'm going to try and add a cup of bran to the next batch I make. I also used some honey with less brown sugar because DH likes a touch of honey in his bread. I also make this totally by hand. Oh, and I only got 4 large loaves when I made it, but it lasted and was soo moist until it was gone. The kids love this bread! Making bread is an excellent arm workout ;). I will be making a batch today.

Fabulous Homemade Bread Recipe
INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 3 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup bread flour
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 2 cups quick cooking oats
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 4 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 10 cups bread flour

DIRECTIONS

1. In the mixing bowl of an electric mixer, stir together 1/2 cup warm water, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/4 cup bread flour, and yeast. Let grow for about 5 minutes. It will bubble almost immediately.
2. Measure oats, 4 1/2 cups warm water, whole wheat flour, salt, 2/3 cup sugar, and 2/3 cup oil into the mixing bowl. Mix on low speed with a dough hook for 1 to 2 minutes. Increase speed slightly, and begin adding bread flour 1/2 to 1 cup at a time until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. Humidity determines how much flour you need before the bread pulls away from the edge of the bowl. It is normal for the dough to be sticky.
3. Place dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover with a damp cloth. Let rise in a warm spot for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
4. Divide dough into 6 pieces. Shape loaves, and place in greased 8 x 4 inch pans. Let rise until dough is 1 inch above rim of pans, usually 1 hour.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F ( 175 degrees C) for 35 minutes, or until tops are browned. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.