Friday 23 January 2015

Baking Bread

Greetings all. If you are like me you probably follow a number of different blogs pertaining to all sorts of different subjects. One of the blogs that I follow is that of Cam and Michelle Mather. They live a very self-sufficient lifestyle, off the grid on 150 acres of land. Recently they posted a bread recipe of Michelle's. In recent years there has been a lot of books and recipes around for NO-KNEAD bread. Even my dear sister-in-law has tried this with great success and she sent me her recipe. I have not yet tried it but plan to do so.

After reading Michelle's recipe I decided to make the leap and try it. In the past I have only made bread the "hard" way. That means lots of kneading. Now, don't get me wrong. I actually do enjoy kneading bread dough. I find it very zen like to just clear your mind and let your hands work the dough. However, never one to let a good thing pass me by, I decided to have a go. 

So, yesterday afternoon I mixed up the dough, let it rise (which it did admirably), did a bit of kneading as Michelle suggested we could, shaped it into a loaf and let it rise again. Then, when the wood stove was cookin' good and hot, in it went.

As you can see from the photo, I got a very nice loaf. I sliced it this morning. The crust is quite firm, but I like that. The crumb (that is the inside part) is soft with a good texture. I tasted it by itself first and it has a very nice flavour. The addition of a little bit of butter did not hurt in the least. 


After this experiment I do believe that I will have to try this more often. I will try my sister-in-law's recipe next and then take it from there. 

When you consider just how painfully simple this is to do, there is absolutely no reason not to have fresh homemade bread all the time. The very best part, apart from the ease of making and the great taste is the fact that I know exactly what is in that bread. Flour, salt, yeast and water. And that is all that there should be in a loaf of plain white bread. The fact that I can make this loaf for well under a $1.00 is an added bonus. 

I strongly recommend that you all give this a go. The actual hands on time is mere minutes and who does not love the smell of freshly baked bread. Thanks Michelle and Mary.

Thanks for stopping by. Cheers.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Melanie! Just noticed this and wanted to say Great Blog! and so glad the bread worked out. I continue to tweak my recipe and technique, just as I am sure you will too! I've really enjoyed looking at your photos and reading your posts and feel right at home here. I am sure you understand why! :)

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