Have you ever made one of those "amish friendship" breads that are really yummy at the end but kind of sickening while you literally feed yeast for several weeks in a plastic bag on your counter?
Well, up until this summer, that was the extent of my experience with baking bread. But as we've attempted as a family to eat more whole grains, I've been shocked with a) how many ingredients are listed in a loaf of store-bought bread and b) how difficult it is to find whole wheat and whole grain bread that doesn't have enriched something in it somewhere!
So, this summer, I asked one of my friends to teach me how to make bread. While I still buy bread at the store, its a fun treat & activity with the girls to watch the bread rise and to knead it....
There is a great tutorial online here:
http://faithfulprovisions.com/2010/08/30/how-to-make-homemade-bread/
Here's my contribution: WHITE WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR!
Did you know that white whole wheat flour is an albino form of whole wheat? It has all the great properties of whole wheat (nutrition and digestion), but is sweeter (naturally) and a lot easier to work with as a dough. We love it!
Baking homemade bread requires you are home for several hours because you have to let it rise several times. But, it isn't hard or time consuming... especially using my Kitchen Aid mixer with my dough hook attachment!
So far, I've made
2 loaves bread
3 pizza crusts
cinnamon sugar pretzels
