Bread Machine: Potato Caraway Bread

March 5, 2024 Sarah

Caraway is a seed that is either loved or hated and is often found in pumpernickel rye bread. On its own, it is milder, and I think the negative to Caraway is because the pumpernickel rye bread was heavily rye and or used a lot of molasses. It has a pleasant flavor in potato bread and adds a deep flavor that differs from rosemary, often used in potato bread. I find it overwhelming, so I don’t make rye bread often. So, I was slightly apprehensive to try it in potato bread, but it worked great, and I am a fan now.

This is a 2-pound loaf of bread made in our Zojirushi bread machine, which produces a normal-looking loaf.

Today was a bread machine kind of day. I use the machine if I have a lot to do or need to run errands or it is very chilly. It works well for us to have options.

I used rapid/quick-rise yeast in this recipe, but you can use regular active dry yeast if that is all you have. I find that both work well in the bread machine. In theory, bread machine yeast (which is just a rapid/quick-rising) works well in bread machines because the yeast is mixed in with the dry ingredients, whereas regular active yeast is dissolved in water first.

Potato Caraway Bread

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cups water*
2 Tbsp avocado oil
4 cups all-purpose flour (480 grams weighed)
2/3 cup dry instant mashed potatoes (used lower sodium)
1 Tbsp caraway seed
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1½ tsp fine sea salt
1½ tsp bread machine yeast or rapid/quick-rise yeast

Directions:

Add ingredients as listed. Select basic/white cycle. I used a medium-crust setting.

Once baked, remove it and let it cool on a rack. Store cooled bread in a bread bag.

Note:

*Our Zojirushi bread machine heats the water in the first cycle. If you are using a bread machine that doesn’t, use the temperature of water called for by the machine.

~Sarah

Recipes

Breadmaking: Country Loaf

March 3, 2024 Sarah

Every week the boys and I try out new ways/methods of bread baking, so we can continue to learn. I wasn’t 100% impressed with this past week’s loaf, but it had a great taste and a good crunch. It needed to be baked in a cast iron pan rather than a baking sheet, as it spread too far. It needed confinement so that it would go up rather than out. But as an experiment, I wanted to see how it would perform. That is to me half of what bread making is: a science experiment. It’s great homeschooling fodder for sure.

This loaf of bread has more hands-on time than we usually make, with three separate times you must pay attention. So not a busy day bread. Make sure you will be at home for a good 5 hours time.

Country Loaf

Ingredients:

5½ cups all-purpose or bread flour
1 tsp granulated sugar
2¼ tsp quick active yeast (1 packet)
2 cups water (120-130°)
2 Tbsp olive or avocado oil + for bowl
2 tsp sea salt

Directions:

We live in a cooler home, so I use a heating pad set to middle heat for even rising. I plug it in and get it preheated while I start the dough.

Mix 2 cups flour, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl.

Stir in the water with a whisk, then beat for a minute until well mixed.

Cover with plastic wrap, set aside for an hour in a warm spot.

Stir in the oil and salt, then the remaining flour, ½ cup, until a soft and smooth dough forms.

Flour a work surface, knock the dough out. Knead for 10 minutes by hand, adding flour until the dough is smooth and springy.

Lightly oil a large bowl, place dough in and flip it over to coat it in oil. Cover with plastic wrap.

Let sit in a warm area to rise again, about an hour.

Take a rimmed baking sheet, lightly oil it. (See the above recipe about using a cast iron pan instead. Lightly oil it.)

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Gently shape the dough into a ball, folding the dough under to make a smooth top. Place the smooth side up on the baking sheet (or cast iron pan). Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for an hour.

In the last 15 minutes, fill an 8″x 8″ glass baking pan with hot water, place it in the oven’s bottom rack, and preheat the oven to 425°.

Make 2 or 3 slashes on the dough with a sharp serrated knife. It desired, sprinkle with a bit of flour across the top first.

Place the bread in the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until the loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when rapped with knuckles.

Removc from sheet or pan, let cool on a rack.

Makes 1 loaf.

~Sarah

Recipes

Bread Baking: Milk Bread

February 12, 2024 Sarah

If there were a loaf of bread that was almost dessert, it would be milk bread. Milk bread is soft, lightly sweet, and heavenly in the mouth. Spread some soft butter on a slice, sit back, and enjoy that slice!

Don’t let bread-making scare you; you can do it! It’s not magic, it’s science. The more you do it, the more you will master bread making.

Milk Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water
¼ cup granulated sugar
2¼ tsp active dry yeast (1 packet)
½ cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp fine sea salt
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 large egg (for egg wash)

Directions:

If cooking in a cool house, plug in a heating pad and set it to medium.

Add the water, sugar, and yeast to a stand mixer bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add in the milk and salt and 3 cups of the flour. Using a bread hook, mix the dough well.

Sprinkle flour on a work surface, dump the wet dough onto it, and sprinkle more flour from the remaining cup.

Using a bench scraper, knead the dough by using it to fold the dough over and over, adding more flour as needed. Once the dough is relatively smooth, work in the remaining flour by hand, kneading until the dough is smooth, elastic, and not overly sticky (about 10 minutes total kneading time).

Lightly oil a large mixing bowl, add the dough, and flip over to cover. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean towel. If needed, place on a heating pad and let rise for an hour.

Lightly oil a 9″x 5″ bread pan,

Punch the dough down, fold the dough in thirds, and place in the pan. Cover the pan and let rise for 20 to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°.

Whisk the egg, and using a pastry brush, coat the top.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until golden on top and sound hollow when rapped on with knuckles.

Pop-out gently onto a cooling rack. Let cool before slicing. Store in a bread bag, tightly wrapped.

Makes one loaf.

~Sarah

Bioengineered Foods · Recipes

Homemade Baked Bread versus Commercial Bread: Which Is More Affordable

February 2, 2024 Sarah

The other day on Facebook, a person told me that you shouldn’t bake your bread at home because bakery bread was so much superior and cost less. Now then, the person didn’t clarify whether this “bakery” was a stand-alone bakery or a grocery store bakery, where the bread is often made from frozen dough and finished on site. But as I mulled over it, the cost has never been why I made homemade bread. For us, it is about taste and the ingredient list. And for actual real bakery bread, it isn’t cheap. It is $7 to 12 a loaf!

And I’d go as far as to include the Soviet Union in my mindset. The boys and I were studying why it was in the Soviet Union that people didn’t bake bread at home for decades. While the lack of personal kitchens was a factor as the agrarian population moved into the cities, it was more that the cost of grain was very high (because they were not producing enough in the fields). The government took much of it to produce bread in factories, which kept the people dependent on them for basic survival. The bread was cheaply priced, at a loss to the government, but it was worth it for the control. The simple skill of baking bread at home was lost there, and rather quickly. So for the citizens, it was cheaper to buy bread. They couldn’t even afford to buy wheat if they could source it.

We buy flour in 25 to 50-pound bags as we bake a lot. This gets the price down even lower than the prices below. We pay $15.89 for 25 pounds of standard white all-purpose flour, about 64 cents a pound. And buy our yeast in 1-pound bricks at $8.49. We buy both in a restaurant supply store to save more (no membership needed).

It takes us less than 2 pounds of flour and 2¼ tsp of active dry yeast to make 2 loaves of sandwich bread. I am making 2 loaves of white bread for less than $1.50, including sugar, salt, and oil.

And I am not reliant on anyone for a loaf of bread as long as I keep the supplies on hand.

Feeling fevered, I headed to the store and took photos of the current white all-purpose flour, bread flour, and commercial bread costs. To see what both 10-pound and 5-pound bags cost at a regular grocery store.

Organic white all-purpose flour. 10 pounds for $16.19. It is $1.62 per pound.

Gold Medal Flour Bread. 10 pounds for $12.59. It is $1.26 per pound,

Gold Medal white all-purpose flour. 10 pounds for $9.99. It is $0.99 per pound.

King Arthur white bread flour. 5 pounds for $$10.09. It is $2.02 per pound.

Gold Medal white bread flour. 5 pounds for $7.19. It is $1.44 per pound.

Bob’s Red Mill white bread four. 5 pounds for $7.29. It is $1.46 per pound.

Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose flour. 5 pounds for $5.49. It is $1.10 per pound.

The Takeaway:

Even the most expensive flour at $2.02 per pound (King Arthur bread flour, 5-pound bag) will make 2 loaves of bread for $5. I’d say I proved my point. It IS more affordable. Yes, you have to build your time in, and the cost of baking; what you get back is well worth it.

Commercial Bread:

The most “affordable” loaf of bread that wasn’t the lowest grade possible was on sale for $3.49 a loaf. It usually sells for $5.29. This is a soft bread that stays fresh far too long.

Texas Toast, the staple of grilled cheese in the PNW, is not cheap at $5.19 a loaf, though it was on sale at $4.49.

Franz is a PNW corporation that produces much of the bread sold in grocery stores. It’s large loaves that stay oddly soft a long time. While on sale this week, it’s average price is nearly $6 a loaf.

Dave’s Killer Bread was once a PNW brand, run by Dave. It’s not anymore and is now run coast to coast by a large corporation. At $7.59 it isn’t cheap. Years ago I actually was given a sample of his bread by Dave himself. And it was a lot more affordable then.

This is a normal price for organic commercial bread. $6.29, and the loaf is quite small. Who knows what “sustainably baked” means? It’s from a large factory so one has to wonder. Nothing but buzzwords. (Oh wait, I looked it….”We match 100% of the electricity we use in our bakeries with renewable wind energy credits.” So yes, buzzwords.)

This Is How Simple Bread Is:

You only need a few ingredients to make white sandwich bread: Yeast, water, salt, sugar, oil, and flour. What we eat doesn’t have to be complicated.

To compare to commercial bread:

Naked Bread, white:

ENRICHED UNBLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN AND FOLIC ACID), WATER, SUGAR, YEAST, VITAL WHEAT GLUTEN, SALTED BUTTER. CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING:, SALT, DOUGH CONDITIONER (ASCORBIC ACID), DISTILLED VINEGAR, ENZYMES.
CONTAINS: WHEAT, MILK

Orowheat Organic Rustic White:

ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR [WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID], WATER, CANE SUGAR, YEAST, WHEAT GLUTEN, SEA SALT, VEGETABLE OIL [SOYBEAN OIL, SUNFLOWER OIL, CANOLA OIL], CULTURED WHEAT FLOUR, GRAIN VINEGAR, NATURAL FLAVOR, CITRIC ACID, SESAME SEEDS

Franz Buttermilk:
Enriched Unbleached Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin And Folic Acid), Water, Sugar, Potato Flour, Buttermilk Solids, Yeast, Soybean Oil, Contains 2% Or Less Of Each Of The Following: Vital Wheat Gluten, Salt, Xanthan Gum, Ascorbic Acid, Cultured Wheat Flour, Calcium Sulfate, Enzymes. Contains: Wheat, Milk

Franz Texas Toast:

ENRICHED UNBLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN AND FOLIC ACID), WATER, SUGAR, YEAST, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING: SALT, SOYBEAN OIL, DISTILLED VINEGAR, YEAST NUTRIENT (AMMONIUM SULFATE), DOUGH CONDITIONERS (SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, ASCORBIC ACID, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE), EXTRACT OF MALTED BARLEY, DEXTROSE, YELLOW CORN FLOUR, TURMERIC (COLOR), ANNATTO (COLOR), CALCIUM PROPIONATE (MOLD INHIBITOR), ENZYMES.

Now onto the good stuff: Simple homemade bread. And a recipe that is so easy to follow.

White Sandwich Loaves

Ingredients:

2¼ tsp dry active yeast (1 packet)
2¼ cups warm water (110-115°)
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp avocado oil
6¼ to 6¾ cups all-purpose flour (plus more for kneading potentially)
Oil for bowl

Directions:

Add the yeast and warm water in a stand mixer, and let sit for 5 minutes for the yeast to bloom.

Add in the sugar, salt, oil, and 3 cups flour. With a bread hook, combine.

Add more flour, ½ cup at a time, until a soft dough forms. You may or may not use all your flour (depending on humidity).

Sprinkle flour on a work surface and knock the dough out.

Knead for 8 to 10 minutes, adding flour, as needed, until the dough is smooth and elastic (not sticking to your hands).

In a large mixing bowl, add a swirl of oil to it. Place dough in and flip over to get oil on both sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean towel.

Set aside to rise in a warm area (in cooler homes, place on a heating pad, set on low) for 1½ hours or until doubled.

Punch down the dough and cut it in half. Gently roll each piece into a rectangle, then fold over like an envelope.

Place each loaf into a lightly oiled 9×5″ bread pan.

Cover and let rise for 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375° and bake loaves for 35 minutes, or until golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when tapped on top.

Remove and knock out onto a cooling rack.

Once cooled, bread can be sliced and frozen for later use. Remove frozen slices as needed and thaw on the counter.

Makes 2 loaves.

~Sarah

Recipes

Focaccia Bread – In Less Than an Hour – A Family Favorite

January 23, 2024January 28, 2024 Sarah

Craving fluffy focaccia bread, ready to eat in under an hour? So many recipes for focaccia take 8 hours in the refrigerator, then 4 hours to rise. Far too much time. When all you want is a piece of light, airy bread quickly! No mental prep, and thinking ahead is needed.

This recipe came to fruition due to a grocery store experience. The boys and I were shopping at the store. They saw a display of focaccia bread that while smelling great, was baked off-site and was who knows how many days old. I picked it up and it was so dry under all the packaging that the bread weighed almost nothing. Add in that it was packed on a styrofoam tray and plastic wrap, which was very wasteful, especially for a “green” grocery store. I told them, “We can make it home so much better.” So, we did.

This recipe is why I keep both kinds of yeast on hand. Regular active dry yeast is for bread-making, and rapid-rise yeast is for quick breads. Keep them in the refrigerator for freshness, tightly sealed.

Bread recipes like this focaccia drive home why cast iron pans are such winners in the kitchen. It was so off-putting to me the other week when we went to Florida on vacation. Where we stayed had a well-equipped kitchen but like most American kitchens, it was nothing but slick Chinese-made non-stick pots and pans. I am so not used to them now (we only cook on US-made cast iron and stainless steel now) that I felt like the food was not getting cooked properly. And I was freaked out about the potential of fumes (and more so that while it was a high-end brand, the stove was electric…ack).

After a quick rise, I spread the very heavenly-scented oil over the dough.

Then dimpled the dough and popped it in to bake.

The aroma alone could snag a woman a husband. Just saying. Or have obedient children for a hot minute who really want it.

The Recipe for Effortless One-Hour Focaccia Bread

Ingredients:

¾ cup warm water (90 to 120°)
½ tsp granulated sugar
2 tsp rapid-rise yeast (about 1 packet)
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp fine sea salt
4 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 Tbsp parmesan cheese (any kind will work)
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp dried rosemary, finely crumbled (1 Tbsp fresh, finely chopped)

Directions:

In a small bowl add 2 Tablespoons olive oil, parmesan cheese, garlic, and rosemary. Stir well and set aside.

Preheat oven to 200°. Add 1 Tablespoon of olive oil to a cast iron skillet, 8″ size.

In a stand mixer bowl add the water, sugar, and yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes to start foaming.

Add in the flour, salt, and 1 Tablespoon of olive oil.

Beat with a dough hook in, till the dough pulls away from the bowl. If needed, add a small amount of extra flour if too wet to ball up.

Dust your fingers with flour and remove the dough. Add to the cast iron skillet and gently pat out to fill the pan.

Turn off the oven. Place the pan in the oven for 20 minutes for the bread to rise.

Take it out of the oven. Turn oven back on to 400°.

Meanwhile, spread the oil on the dough gently, covering it all. Then press your fingers in to make dimples.

Bake bread for 20 minutes. Take out and let sit for 5 minutes, run a thin metal spatula under it, and transfer it to a cooling rack.

Makes one loaf, or 8 wedges.

~Sarah