The Best Fresh Bread Hack Ever!

Once in awhile, amidst the meandering wanderings my many interests take me on the internet, I stumble on something really, really awesome, something so useful, easy and delightful, it's almost too good to be true. Thus it happened on a day when I was reading an article about how to make wigwams (more on that later) on the Mother Earth News web archives, I looked to the sidebar and noticed the link entitled, "Five Minutes a Day for Fresh Baked Bread."

The article shows how to mix up a big-ass recipe of dough, store it in the fridge and, voila, fresh bread items on demand.

I've made a few minor adjustments to both the basic recipe and the method. So here's my version, though I would recommend reading the article first to familiarize yourself with the process. There are some great tips to make your oven work like one at a bakery.


6 cups warm water (just above body temp is good)

6 cups all-purpose organic flour

7 cups whole wheat flour

2 T. sea salt

3 T. instant yeast for first recipe, then decrease to 2 or less for subsequent recipes.

Mix all ingredients just until flour is incorporated. Let rise till double. Store in the refrigerator, and whenever you need dough for something, sprinkle the top with flour, flour your hands, and remove enough for your project. Work in a small amount of flour as needed, but do not knead. Just shape and set on a well floured surface to rest for about 40 min. Bake in preheated 450F degree oven on preheated stone, sprinkled with flour, oats, wheat germ, corn meal, or whatever you wish to keep the dough from sticking. In the rack below, place a broiler pan or cookie sheet. When the oven is hot, slide your bread onto the stone and pour 1 cup of water in the pan below to create steam. This will make a wonderful crust.

The dough can be used for artisan bread, such as the French boule pictured, buns, bread sticks, cinnamon rolls, pizza crust, dinner rolls, stromboli, etc. When there is only enough dough left for about one loaf of bread, mix up your next batch, mixing in the remaining dough to act as a starter, including scraping the dough off the sides of your container. The more you do this, the less yeast you will need, and the more flavorful your bread will become. It will soon take on sourdough properties. One batch will keep two weeks in the refrigerator (although it gets used up long before that in our house).

Easy Skillet Pizza

During the summer months especially, I am always looking for ways to prepare meals that do not heat up the kitchen very much. I found this idea for skillet pizza in a Backpacker magazine, but adapted the recipe for a slightly healthier diet. It was delicious and everyone loved it! We made 3 to feed our family of 5, and as you can see, there wasn't much left over.

Quick Skillet Pizza
For each 10" pizza use
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 T oil
5-6 T water.
Pizza sauce
2 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
Favorite toppings

Mix dry ingredients. Add oil and water and mix. Oil a 10" skillet and heat on med. heat. Turn dough onto floured surface, knead 2 or 3 times, then roll or pat into 10" circle. Place dough in skillet, spread with sauce, sprinkle with cheese and add other toppings. Cover skillet with lid and cook 5 min. or till cheese is melted. Cool slightly, then serve.

Warm Weather Menu

The days are growing quite warm, and standing over a hot stove in a hot kitchen is not very appealing, especially when it is soooo nice outside. So I have redone the menu, making use of the organic canned beans our local grocery store put on sale last week for Earth Day, which I took the opportunity to stock up on. The price was too good to pass up, not to mention the added convenience and smaller energy use- mine and our electric stove's.

Monday- Still Mexican night. Refried bean tacos with greens, salsa, shredded organic cheddar cheese and hot sauce. (I stocked up on shells, since they were also on sale. The Taco Bell brand does not use hydrogenated oils like the other brands, so that's the kind I get.) All I have to do is whip out a can of refried beans and....struggle...with the.....ugh...@#$%*can opener!!!! Ahem... warm the beans on the stove, pop the shells in the toaster oven, put out the condiments and, presto, time to eat!

Tuesday- Pasta Fagioli, or a cold pasta salad with kidney beans and whatever veggies I have. We're getting green onions from the garden now and these make a delicious topper. For tacos, too. And salad. And just about anything else. I hope some of them get left in the ground long enough to grow into mature bulbs.

Wednesday- I guess I'll stick to the stir fry, though I might make omelets if we have enough eggs on hand (and asparagus from the garden, mmmmmm). But the stir fry is about to be transformed with the sugar snap peas that will soon be ready to pick. Added right at the end so they're still crunchy. Drool on, my friends.

Thursday- One of Luke's childhood faves, fish sticks and egg noodles, with salad to round it off. I use whole grain egg noodles, and I actually found a store brand of fish sticks that doesn't have msg- BiLo's, for all you here in the Southeast.

Friday- Still pizza, gotta have it at least once a week, but at least it doesn't bake for very long.

Saturday- Hopefully, the bread will last till then and we can have sandwiches. No one wants to cook after spending the day working and playing in the yard and garden. Tuna, cream cheese, or peanut butter and jelly/ honey are all family favorites. And the kids must have their carrots (cut in matchsticks) with Ranch.

Sunday- 3 bean salad and green salad. These are great any day, really, and the nice thing about having so many quick and easy meals on the menu is that we can mix and match according to our mood or the weather. Too hot to bake pizza on Friday? Switch with the day with the thunderstorms in the forecast. Sick of pasta? Make potato salad instead and serve with a can of baked beans, and green salad or veggies and dip on the side. Or just top the green salad with cold kidney beans, maybe a little cheese, and a vinegar and oil dressing sweetened with honey (I also love a hard boiled egg sliced on my salad, but I'm the only one in my family who likes those). There are any number of possibilities.

Pizza Fun

Friday night is pizza night at our house. We all have a lot of fun making it together. I thought I'd share the recipe. This is pretty much the same recipe we used growing up (and some are still using and growing up, right Alan?)

Wright Family Classic Pizza
Crust:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 t. salt
1 t. sugar
1 T. or one package instant dry yeast
2 T. vegetable oil
1 cup warm water

Mix all ingredients well and knead, adding more flour if necessary to make a soft dough. Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise till doubled in size. Punch down dough and spread onto oiled pizza stone or pan. Makes 1 large pizza.














Sauce:
1/2 cup tomato sauce (or 2 T. tomato
paste and enough water to make 1/2 cup)
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. dried oregano (or 1T. fresh)
1/2 t. dried basil (or 1T. fresh)
1/4 t. garlic powder (or 2-3 finely minced cloves)

Mix all ingredients and spread on pizza dough. Top with 4-6 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese and toppings of choice. Bake in 425 degree preheated oven for 15-20 min.

Great Granola!

Monday is usually our baking day, but last night Virginia needed something to do, so we made granola together. I thought I'd post the recipe we use.

Sara's Great Granola

3 cups quick oats
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup organic sugar (or brown or raw)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Mix all ingredients thoroughly, then spread onto a large, buttered baking sheet. Bake 30 minutes, stirring once half way through baking time, and once when done. Cool completely before storing. Add dried fruits and nuts if desired. We usually double the recipe because the 5 of us eat it up pretty fast.

Jon, the coconut is optional :).

Adventures in Sourdough

A few weeks ago I decided to try and revive my sourdough starter that had been sitting, sadly neglected, in the back of my refrigerator. The sides of the glass dish were moldy, so I threw most of it out, but saved a couple spoonfuls of the contents, which still smelled good. After feeding it and setting it out at room temperature for awhile to make sure it was still alive and forming bubbles, I made pizza crust with it. This is a loaf I baked today, using the famous no knead method published last year in the New York Times and Mother Earth News. It was delicious. Home grown sourdough from a true starter, unlike the vinegar soured impostors you buy at the grocery store, is only slightly sour, and sweet, like mild cheese. The sourness is caused by lactobacilli, the same type of bacteria that is used to make yogurt and cheese, and, incidentally, must be present in our digestive tracts in order to process the food we eat. But that's not all. The beneficial work of these bacteria in the bread dough also help to predigest some of the more indigestable elements of whole grain. For example, their acidic environment breaks down the nutrient binding chemical, phytic acid, thus increasing the bioavailabilty of iron and other nutrients. Of course, this beneficial activity ends once the bread has been baked, but the good work has already been done. Here is more about how it works.

My adventures with sourdough began sometime last spring, I think. I found this site to be the best instructions for starting a starter. The author warned that if you had no experience with sourdough, it was best not to begin with making your own, but to order a culture from a commercial source. Ha, that was all the encouragement I needed! I used organic rye and wheat berries, which I ground in my grain mill, and fresh tap water from our well. I think that is why I had so much success. The wild yeasts that cause the dough to rise reside on pesticide free grains. And the antibiotic property of chlorine in city tap water systems can pose a possible problem if you're trying to grow a good culture, though this will evaporate if you let it sit long enough in a wide enough container.

So here is my recipe:
3 cups whole grain flour (at least half wheat)
3 tsp. wheat gluten
About 3/4 cup sourdough starter
1 1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 1/4 cups warm water

Mix all ingredients and let rise in a draft free place at least 8 hours. Be sure to also feed your starter. To shape loaf, sprinkle a generous amount of flour and oats, if you like, onto a clean cloth. Place dough on top and sprinkle on more flour. Fold the dough onto itself a couple times, sprinkling more flour as needed. Cover with a second cloth and let rise in a warm place at least 1 hour. I like to warm a pizza stone slightly in the oven, not to hot to touch, and let the loaf rise on this inside the oven. When it is almost time to bake, take it out of the oven and place your covered baking dish of choice inside (this can be a cloche, lidded dutch oven, stone baking dish, or large pyrex dish). Preheat at 500 degrees. When the oven is hot, quickly remove the lid, dump the dough inside by placing hand under the bottom cloth and inverting, replace lid and bake 30 min. at 475 degrees. After this time, remove the lid and allow to brown for another 5-10 min. if desired. This method of baking produces a lovely, artisan crust and soft, sponge-like interior.

Frugal Meal Tips

I thought I'd respond to the post on Hannah's (Jamie's friend) blog entitled, Finding Meatless Recipes

We've been eating primarily vegetarian meals for the past two years, but lately I've been trying to really organize our menus to keep the cost down, so that I buy only what we need. Although my reasons for vegetarianism are not financial, going meatless can really save you money, without compromising your health. Your body has to break down animal proteins into separate amino acids, which it uses to create new proteins, and all these aminos are available from plants anyway. And meat itself would be pretty tasteless if it were not for all the fat it contains, and all the salt and seasonings we add to it. Ever try eating boiled, lean chicken breast by itself? Bleah! But you don't have to agree with me to enjoy trying something new!

Here is our basic menu plan. Most of the dishes are traditionally meat ones, with different beans and other legumes as the protein substitute.

Monday: Mexican day! Black beans or smashed pinto beans, seasoned with salt, chili powder and cumin and combined with either homemade, whole grain tortillas or brown rice, sauted in a little oil and salsa before the water is added. Toppings include home grown alfalfa sprouts (or lettuce when we have it in the garden) salsa, hot sauce and a little shredded organic cheddar cheese. Tip: dry beans are a whole lot cheaper than canned. I get ours in bulk, along with our grain, from a natural foods co-op I joined. Monday is also baking day. I try to make enough whole grain bread and granola to last the week days, which is quite a challenge because it seems the more I make, the more gets eaten!

Tuesday: Italian day! Either whole wheat spaghetti, topped with homemade sauce, shredded organic mozzarella and sunflower seeds or pasta fagioli (fa'zhul). Here is a lovely video recipe for this versatile dish. Rita is right. Fresh garlic cooked in olive oil smells heavenly!

Wednesday: Asian! Well, stir fried rice is about it so far. First, two cage free eggs are beaten and poured into a heated skillet with a little oil. When the egg mass is congealed, I usually flip it over, cook it a few more seconds, then remove it and slice it into narrow strips. Then a little more oil is added to the skillet along with unhulled sesame seeds, peppers, onions, and other veggies of choice and cooked till done. The egg strips are added and soy sauce is drizzled over the top. The dish is then served over cooked brown rice with more soy sauce or salt if desired.

Thursday: Either macaroni and cheese served with baked beans and salad or grilled cheese sandwiches and homemade tomato soup. Every other Thursday is our grocery shopping trip. I usually allow the kids to pick out a treat, like ice cream or ingredients for favorite cookies. We don't eat desserts that often, but I try and have lots of fresh fruit available, which the kids love. For instance, I'll buy those bags of reduced bananas and peel and freeze them when we get home. They make great popsicles and smoothies! Tip: There are some helpful lists online of which fruits and vegetables are good to buy organic, because they are high in pesticides, and which foods are okay to buy conventional. Off the top of my head: peaches, apples, strawberries, leafy greens, coffee and dairy are all loaded with chemicals or artificial hormones, but bananas, pineapple, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower are much less contaminated.

Friday: Pizza! I try to mix up the whole grain dough from my sourdough starter in the morning, then we all have fun shaping the crust and adding our favorite toppings.

Saturday: Lentils! An exciting meat substitute. I like to make either a stew with potatoes and carrots and all (a dash of Worcestershire sauce really enhances this hearty dish) or my favorite, bobotie, a South African curry dish. Curry, ginger, onions, salt and pepper are cooked in butter, then tomato paste, raisins, apricots, bread cubes, with a dash of Worcestershire sauce and vinegar are simmered in an iron skillet. Cooked lentils are added, then all is topped with a little eggs and milk beaten together. It is then baked for 45 min in a 350 degree oven, then served on top of cooked brown rice, and topped with sliced bananas and shredded coconut. It's to die for!

Sunday: Waffles! Whole grain with pecans (we get everyone cracking!) and blueberries (or blackberries when the wild ones are ripe). I like to make plenty of extra to be toasted for the next week's breakfasts. These are served with butter (if it hasn't run out yet) and maple syrup. I sometimes make a syrup by boiling a cup of organic sugar and a half cup water with a little cinnamon and grated orange peel for a few minutes (in order to get the most out the organic oranges we occassionaly buy, I freeze the peels in ziplock bags. I wouldn't recommend saving the peels from pesticide sprayed fruit, however.) Then I remove it from heat and add a bit of vanilla. The kids love it!

Any Day: It's not on your calendar, but we all have them. Either clean out the leftovers or pancakes....Or switch meals with another day if your not in the mood to follow the menu...

Let's hear your favorite frugal meal tips and recipes!

Yummy 'Nanas

Ingredients:

2 bananas
4 tsp. unsweetened shredded coconut
4 tsp. toasted wheat germ

I made this nice recipe and it's so yummy. First I sliced up the bananas and put them in a bowl. And then I put coconut and wheat germ in it. And I mixed it up with a spoon.

by Virginia Harding (age 5)