Thursday, June 24, 2010

Make Your Own Bread

 photo copyright RAL


My husband makes delicious sandwiches for lunch for work.  He selects artisan bread, toasts it and tops it with lunch-meat, thousand island dressing, and occasionally some vegetables.  The problem was, the cost of the ingredients were making "brown bagging it" cost more than eating out.  One of the major purchases was the $4 a loaf bread he was buying.  I've since found I can make it myself and with all wholesome ingredients for about $1.50 a loaf.  If he were to pack lunch every week, this would save over $100 a year just making it myself!

Here are my two favorite recipes:

Caraway Rye Bread

1 1/2 teaspoon Yeast
1 cup Rye flour
2 3/4 cups Bread flour
1/3 cup Brown sugar
3 Tablespoons Caraway seed
1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 tablespoons Butter
1 1/2 cup Water, warm


Place ingredients in the bread machine in recommended order.  30 minutes before the end of the cycle, preheat oven to 350 with stone (like pizza stone) inside.  When cycle is complete, place dough in an oval on the stone and bake for 30-40 minutes.


Oat/Flax/Whole Wheat Bread

1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar (or whey, kefir, buttermilk or yogurt) plus enough water to make 1 cup
2 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup honey
3 Tbsp. melted coconut oil (or olive oil or melted butter)
2 Tbsp. coarsely ground flax seed
2 Tbsp. hot water
1/4 tsp. honey
1 3/4 tsp. yeast
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. vital wheat gluten

Put water/vinegar mixture, flour, oats, honey, oil and flax seed in the pan of your bread machine in the manufacturer’s recommended order (mine says to do liquids first then solid ingredients). Turn the bread machine on the dough cycle and let run for about five minutes, until all the ingredients are well mixed. Turn off the machine and let this sit for 12-24 hours.
After the soaking period, combine the 2 Tbsp. water, honey and yeast and let sit for 5-10 minutes to activate the yeast (mixture should rise and become foamy). Add the yeast/water/honey, salt and gluten to the flour in the bread machine. Select the dough cycle and watch it for the first few minutes to make sure it doesn’t need more flour. I only needed to add about 1 tsp.
When the dough cycle is finished (mine takes 120 minutes), dump the dough onto a flour surface. Roll into a rectangle, then roll up to fit in your loaf pan. Place in greased loaf pan and allow it to rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 for half an hour, until crust is brown and it sounds hollow if you tap on the bottom of the loaf. You can brush the crust with melted butter to keep it extra soft.


This recipe was taken from The Benhase Home .


Be sure to grind the flax or it won't do any good for your body!


2 comments:

  1. I also make our bread, but so far I just make white. I really think I want to try that caraway rye, sounds YUMMY!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is my parent's favorite! They want me to make them loaves (plural) whenever I see them.

    ReplyDelete