Friday, May 25, 2007

Bread making, again, and other stuff I'm trying to do

I gave the bread machine a long hiatus, because I was somehow not finding enough time to even throw together the ingredients and let the machine do the work. But lately I've been thinking just ow hard it is to find good bread, something that has mostly organic ingredients and doesn't come in a plastic wrapper. Ugh, I've come to hate the ubiquitous plastic wrapping that our modern food must have. If I could eliminate the plastic wrapper, and all the energy it takes to ship a loaf of bread to my grocery store...I think it would make a difference.

Last night The Hermit was saying how he missed good homemade bread. So this morning, after the kids got on the bus at the ungodly hour of 6:30 AM, but they wanted to, and they woke up on their own, I put the stuff for a caraway rye in the bread machine. It didn't take too long, and it would be even quicker if I made up a dry mix, put it in jars, and just had to add the eggs and oil and water.

The loaf is almost gone as of this evening. All of the kids had PBJ sandwiches with it, and The Hermit and I got a taste with butter.

In other things, the next homemade item I want to try is salad dressings. I have all but sworn off Kraft and other major commercial brands, due to the amount of soy oil and corn syrup, and I'm thinking: I could probably make something better than the bottled variety, with extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, and fresh organic spices. I could store dressing in pint jars in the refrigerator, without buying and having to rinse and recycle new bottles.

It's one step at a time, this life I want to live.

5 comments:

barefoot gardener said...

Good job, getting that bread machine going! Your family is so lucky.

Salad dressings are a cinch to make, though I never use a recipe so mine always come out different each time. My favorite is Mayo, vinegar, a bit of sugar, bits of bacon, and a little mustard. Like I said, no recipe. I just keep tasting and making adjustments till it seems right. I never make enough to store, though. When my family gets in the mood for salad, they eat a lot of it all at one time!

Anonymous said...

So, is it easier to make bread or beer? Which is easier to consume? Which is better for you?

Deb said...

barefoot gardener- That sounds like a good basic recipe to start from! Thanks!

pablo- I thought bread was slightly easier, then yesterday I had a batch in the machine and realized, 13 minutes from finish, I had forgotten to add the yeast. D'oh!

Which is better for you? I'll have to go gather some more empirical data...they both taste really good. :)

Anonymous said...

2 parts oil (olive oil tastes best to me), 1 part vinegar (try different kinds, like homemade herb vinegar), a little Dijon mustard to thicken it, salt, pepper, fresh minced herbs. Done! If you're eating it soon you can use fresh citrus juice in place of the vinegar. Also try adding seeds or a bit of tahini.

Anonymous said...

I sometimes use freshly squeezed grapefruit juice in a salad dressing recipe instead of the usual lemon juice or vinegar. Yum!