Oh, The Breads We Weave!

Ah....homemade bread. 

There is little accomplishment for a mother than the praise that comes from a little elbow work and a lot of flour. It's like we have created a masterpiece and the praise follows. This is the joy of Wednesdays in the wintertime at my house.

That is my bread day. During breakfast time, the kids are munching on cereal and I am mixing dough for four loaves of bread in a bowl. Then I knead it and place half into two greased bowls and cover them, clean my floured area, throw the dishes into the dishwasher, and I am ready to head downstairs for school and let the yeast and gluten do its job.

Then, when we come up for lunch, the dough has risen enough. So, I get the kiddos lunch on the table and take my brief snack in before I call them up from the depths of the house to eat....(or I skip lunch and eat the abandoned food they leave behind!) 

I divide the dough, knead it again, and roll it into some kind of loaf shape. So, there are three loaves of bread. The final will be rolled out and buttered, then sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and rolled and sliced for cinnamon rolls. They all rise again till ready to bake...about 3 pm. This night, we have "Brinner"...or Breakfast/Dinner. Cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs, coffee, milk, and sliced apples with cheese slices.....or bananas or orange slices...whatever is on hand.

So, here is the recipe for "4 In A Day Bread"

Ingredients:

12 cups bread flour (I recommend 'high bouncer' from GFS)

1/2 cup sugar

2 packets or 5 tsp. yeast (GFS sells ~a year supply in a pack for $4.50 or so)

1/4 cup veggie oil

2 TBS. salt

4 1/2 cups very warm water

Directions:

Put 4 cups flour in large mixing bowl. Put sugar, yeast, and salt into bowl and mix with flour. Measure the 4 1/2 cups very warm water and add oil to the water before adding to flour mixture. Add water all at once and stir to mix. Then add 4 more cups flour in, stirring well after each addition. The last 4 cups will be more difficult to work in, so go one cup at a time till the flour will not seem to take any more and roll onto a floured surface. Knead for 5 minutes, or until soft and combined well. Prepare 2 large bowls with 1-2 Tbs. oil rubbed around the inside of the bowl. Split dough in half and place one equal dough round in each pan, turning once to cover with oil. Let rest as long as it takes to double. Cover with oil-sprayed plastic wrap to keep humidity in. (Dough is done when fingerprint stays without bouncing back.) Then, spray 4 loaf pans with cooking spray. Punch dough in each bowl (that is my favorite!) and divide each bowl's dough in half. Then knead that dough approximately 40 times on a lightly floured surface into a loaf and place each into a loaf pan. Cover with sprayed plastic wrap (I cut the ones from the bowls earlier in half and reuse.) and allow to rise again for 2-3 hours. Till about 1 inch over the top of the pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Tap on bottom to test doneness. (Should sound hollow.)

Cool for about 1-2 hours (if you can wait..LOL!) and slice thinly. Place slices in gallon freezer bags and freeze until about 4 hours or the night before needed and take out to thaw on the counter. Good for about 3 days fresh/after thawed.  

Cinnamon rolls: That 4th loaf should be rolled out after the 2nd kneading to 12"x 8" or so. Lightly butter and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over butter. Roll from one shorter side to the other and pinch end where dough stops very well to keep from 'blooming' during second rising. Slice log in half, then each half in half until you have 8-1" slices. Placed on a greased 9x13 inch pan and allow to rise until double. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until desired brownness has been reached. Some like them a touch underdone, but 25 minutes is about perfect. Cool.

We mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar, a few drops vanilla, and milk to desired consistency (1 tsp-1 TBS). Stir and drizzle over rolls. Enjoy.

Kiddo Funny Moment...

Here's another Noah moment...

Last night, Noah lost a tooth. This is pretty traumatic to a little guy with Sensory Processing Disorder, but we made it through and always kept everything positive for him.

This morning, Noah found some money for his tooth in the pillow 'Ol Pappaw Markert bought for me at a small 5 and dime in Alpha, IL, when I lost my first tooth. Noah , of course, was thrilled to find "cash" under his pillow.

Mike asked Noah if he knew where the money had come from.

Noah, always giving a moment of thought to everything, replied..."The dentist!"

Frugal Food

I know that everyone is feeling the economic pinch this year, for a large variety of reasons. Some of us have been 'pinching' for years. I decided to list a few frugal breakfast ideas and tips on retrieving those items.

My SIL, Mary Frances, has inspired me with her bread making. We visited over the New Year and she had made all varieties of delicious breads from rustic to french. During that time, she gave me a few 'insider tips' which has formed me into a '4-loaves-in-1-day-girl'. These four loaves take a little time and save a lot of money, not to mention the complements of fresh-baked bread from Mike and the kids. I will give the tips and recipe in my next blog.

Here are some frugal breakfast ideas:

1) Cold cereal...bought from Aldi or Walmart (I buy all the ones that are less than $2, as they rotate and this gives variety)

2) Oatmeal...I use the whole oats and stir in butter and brown sugar at the end

3) Grits....good with white sugar stirred in

4) Apples and cheese slices...each kiddo gets half an apple sliced thinly(it makes a pile of apples) and 2 or three slices of a brick of cheese

5) Toast and jam...from that homemade bread..can add a few cheese slices for variety/protein

6) Cinnamon Rolls...these are a weekend special at my house (I roll out the 4th bread dough loaf for these..see next blog..)

7) Pumpkin Chip Bread...topped with cream cheese, if desired....easy to throw together 2 loaves together and bake while homeschooling (freeze well)

8) Pancakes...also saved for a weekend breakfast...homemade and special! Leftovers can be frozen and microwaved for a weekday breakfast.

9) Toast and Peanut butter plus 1/2 banana....spread PB on hot toast for a treat!

10) Scrambled eggs and 1/2 slice toast

11) Hard-boiled eggs and 1/2 slice toast and 1/2 sliced orange (make the eggs the day before. the kids love to peel them at breakfast)

12) Cinnamon Coffee Cake...quick to throw together, but takes 1 hour to cook~I usually do this on a special occasion day and serve with bacon or sausage...

13) Muffins...you can find a basic recipe and add all sorts of things to the base. They will freeze well also to pull out the night before you want them.

Tips:

1) Watch your ads. If you can be diligent, Walmart will honor any ad that is a price for the EXACT same item. So, bring in the ads and save gas driving around for brand name deals. Mike and I do a 1x per month/2hour trip there for all the basics. We usually spend ~$150 in household and ~$200 in groceries. Then, over the rest of the month, we will buy ~$150 in milk, fruit, cereal, eggs, fresh veggies at Aldi. 

2) Buy what you can at Aldi. You usually come out ahead price-wise and they really have upgraded their selection and healthier choices.

3) Make more from scratch. I have to now for medical reasons, but I have noticed we spend much less on groceries that way.

4) Think about using the 'Share' program, where you can get a lot of fresh foods for only ~$20 per month. You can even buy more than one. I have not found the 'ad-ons' to be the best for the price, but the holidays have some good deals.

5) Keep an eye out for marked-down items at the grocery that can be frozen. Our deep freezer was full last year of price-reduced items that we froze when we got home. This included meats, etc...they are always a few days shy of actual expiration.

I will post more later....