Apr 6, 2014

Making breads and more...




Whole Wheat Onion Rolls









I wish you could smell my house right now. The smell of baking bread is always a favorite of mine, but add to that the smell of toasted onions and mmmmm... it smells so good!

I have a large container of bread dough in my refrigerator that I can use for all kinds of wonderful "from scratch" goodies -- artisan bread, English muffins, pizza dough, sandwich bread and more. I make up a batch of the dough once a week - it literally takes no more than 10 minutes - and then use it all week long for whatever we need.

 The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is one book that is worth it's weight in gold. In very easy steps AND WITHOUT KNEADING, it teaches you to make a wonderful, almost fool-proof dough and the only ingredients you need are flour, yeast, salt and water. From those four simple ingredients, you can make SO many wonderful breads.

Where I live, a pack of 6 English Muffins costs $2.49 - $3.49. Read the ingredients. To keep those "fresh" on the store shelf, there have to be preservatives and chemical flavorings. No thank you. I buy my flour in 25 lb bags and my yeast in 2 lb packages, so the cost for me to make 8 English muffins (or a loaf of artisan bread, or dough for a large pizza) is about 39 cents. No preservatives, no chemicals and 1/10th of the cost? Yes please!

I also use eight English Muffin Rings to make both sandwich rolls and English muffins. I have since learned that you can simply take both top and bottom off tunafish cans and use those. Be sure and butter the ring well. The other item I use that for me is a "must have" is a Non-Stick Silicon Baking Mats. You'll thank yourself for picking up a set of these! NOTHING sticks to them. So useful for breads like these as well as cookies. They work like a dream and you don't have to use any spray or grease on your baking sheets anymore.

If you think you're not a homemade bread baker, think again.  You are one book and four ingredients away from making perfect breads and doughs for your family!!

Life is good - especially when your house is scented with fresh baked bread.

1 comment:

Barbara Arcement said...

thanks for the info about the bread and the book.. I went to Amazon and ordered it. I have been looking for a book with easy ways to make breads
hugs
beebee