I’m Baaaaacccckkkkk!!!

It took some time to get a machine that would bend to my predilection to improvise.  My sister gifted me with a WestBend machine that was so persnickety if I breathed on it the wrong way I’d get a cobblestone instead of a loaf.  So, when that one went the way of the dodo I found a NEW on on Craigslist.com.  So, now I am the proud owner of a BreadMan TR555LC.  I haven’t named it yet.

So, I did the first loaf a 1/2 and 1/2 of white wheat set on a timer (the most important part of having a breadmachine….if you can’t wake up to fresh hot bread why bother (am I right or what?).  Then I got a request for cake-bread, which was made with all the required flour less 1/2 cup for almond meal.  Double Yum!

I want to try some denser breads, more bang for the bite kind of thing.  I’ve invested in some Quinoa (keen-wah) flour, flax meal and gluten.  I’m going to see if  I can produce something that is high in protein, amino acids and other good stuff so the carbohydrate intake will be offset by the fiber and goodness in the rest. I’ll keep you informed…..now that I’m baking again.

In With The Read Out With The White (Originally Published 4 Aug 2009)

I baked with red wheat last night. It ground just fine, I was thinking it would be harder than the white but I’d say that it actually ground better than the white wheat.

The bread came out with a better texture, but I’m not entirely sure if it’s because of the red wheat or because I actually worked the instructions with the tools that the machine was provided with. It came with it’s own spoon but instead of using it I used the Large Spoon to mean Tbl. and the medium spoon to be Tsp. I was almost right. So, I now have the recipe correct, as well as the “cake” and family standard loaf. I thought it wise to be a little more methodical about my kitchen experiments by writing down the different varieties that I’ve concocted so far so I can refer back to them in time.

I was pecking around the different food sites last night and I found instructions on how to toast the wheat berries. I think the red wheat would do well with toasting, adding a nutty flavor to the bread. Another idea I had/saw was using a different kind of oil (I use vegetable oil) like walnut oil to give it a deeper taste. I’m wondering if I could use brown sugar, toasted wheat berries and walnut oil to make bread with, but I’m not sure if the yeast will be hindered by the molasses in the brown sugar of it is a non-discriminatory kind of fungus.

So, my recipes are:

“Cake” bread – 1 cup white wheat flour and 3 cups white flour
Standard Bread – 3 cup white wheat flour and 1 cup white flour
Red Wheat “Cake” Bread – 1 cup red wheat flour and 3 cups white flour with correct measurements for the bread machine.

This little experiment has ignited a desire to go further….like make jam and jelly too. We got in the Bithell Farms fruit today, with dark sweet cherries. I love cherry jam, so I’m thinking that if I can make some nice yummy jam out of the nice yummy dark cherries to go on the yummy “cake” bread……..then I read the instructions on how to make the yummy jam. I’m going to start checking to see if someone has come up with a home jam making machine….my prowess in the kitchen isn’t up to par for dealing with hot glass and sealing baths.

Warm Bread and Early Mornings (Originally Posted 27 July 2009)

I love the timer feature on my bread maker. I set it so the bread would be done by 5:30 this morning and then had fresh warm bread for breakfast at 6:00. I love the very top of the loaf, which is strange because I don’t and never liked the heels of store bought bread.

I talked with Karla after Relief Society yesterday about how much wheat I should put in. I told her of my idea of going to the farthest extreme since the one cup of white wheat didn’t seem to give the bread any body, though it was like cake, it wasn’t what I want in a daily kind of bread. Cake, as you can imagine, has a very short shelf life in my family. So, she suggested I try three cups instead of full on white wheat for this loaf.

The bread came out very light, not quite as wheaty looking as I had thought it would, but it wasn’t as dense as I thought it would either. I might have to break into a can of red wheat to see if I can get the color and texture I’m looking for. I’ve heard cooking with too much red wheat, or all red wheat, is equivalent to baking adobe bricks, so just enough to enhance color, texture and weight without sacrificing anything.

I’m going to hold off baking more bread until we finish this one. It seems to have enough wheat to make it “bread” in my house and not “ooooh, bread!” so, I guess you can say, the new bread smell has worn off. I also want to see if this is more wheat than my family can handle. My family has always eaten wheat, either as bread or cereal, so it’s not that our systems can’t handle it. But also in the back of my mind is the case of my friend, she loved pasta, bread, soy sauce, etc, only to find out she had developed Celiac’s (not an alien from Star Trek, I checked) which is an autoimmune reaction to gluten intolerance. See, I’m expecting Murphy to post a new law requiring now that I have a garage of wheat I won’t be able to eat it. Irrational I know, but my reality none the less.

I was blessed with two pails for my bread maker, so I’m going to mark on Gluten Free and try to make bread that my friend can eat. (It’s best to keep all things gluten away from all things not gluten…depending on the severity of their reactions) And it’s always good to have variety of breads to pull out of the pail….I just need learn how much Xanthum Gum to mix with the rice, bean, soy, and almond flours…if that’s the route I want to go with her bread. So, if anyone out there has any experiences on how they’ve made Gluten Free bread, please share.

Post again soon!
Pamela

First Batch (Originally Posted 20 July 2009)

I found some yeast in the refrigerator from ’08. Well, it wasn’t from ’08, ’08 was when it expired. So, I thought, what the heck.

I followed the directions on the side of the bread machine for a medium sized loaf because I couldn’t get my system to download the measurements for a full sized loaf. With my nephew coming by almost daily for PB&J’s it’s good to have bread on hand. I’m using the timer on my machine so in essence, I will have fresh hot bread for breakfast in a few hours.

This is a full white flour loaf of bread. I realized the nutritional value isn’t what I’d like it to be but the idea is to get a baseline. I will add 1/2 cup of white wheat flour into the mix on the next one, and gradually build up until it’s at a good balance between good and bad.

It was really fun to have to open the non-fat dried milk for the first time since I started storing it. I’ve never really seen a need for the stuff since it tastes like, well, powdered milk. It was such a good feeling to know that I had it in my cupboard, that I could bake bread if I wanted to, not having to have to go to the store and figure out how to store it afterwards. I will eventually get a Lock-N-Lock canister to put it in, especially if my bread recipes require NFDM from now on. (http://www.organize.com/lock-n-lock-storage-bin.html) This canister holds one whole can of whatever it is you want to store. I currently have some apples in one and they are as crisp as the day I poured them out of the can….and the ones I left in the can got soft after a few weeks, so that should give you an idea of how well they work.

So, you all know I have my wheat nee coffee grinder so I’ll start that sometime next week with the white wheat that I have open. Soon, I hope to be able to use .25 white wheat .25 red wheat and .5 flour…or even do .5 WW, .25 RR and .25 flour. I don’t know what my tastes range to yet. I like heavy bread, but not so heavy that it will weigh me down all day.

Let me know what combinations you’ve used for your bread, let me know if I’m on the right track.

I’ll let you know,
Pamela