Wednesday, September 22, 2010

My Secret Shame


Here's my latest posting on RegularGuy.com called "My Secret Shame."  Chew on this one!

12 comments:

  1. Hi Patrice,
    There is no shame in using a bread machine. "Janet" is pretty clueless really. If you had to heat up the house with an oven for bread, you'd have to somehow cool it down again , which would mean using more energy. I tell you, these "green" people really have no clue. Enjoy your homemade bread.

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  2. Your life is busy enough; stick with the bread machine. If on occasion you want to turn out a loaf without the machine (just to prove to yourself that you could if you so desired), check one of these books from the library:

    Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
    Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients

    The authors have devised a way to make one large batch of no-knead dough (that's right, you don't knead it) and keep it in the fridge. After the initial mixing you just cut off a hunk each day and bake. Personally, I prefer the wheat breads from the second book.

    Here are a couple of links to articles about the process from Mother Earth News. They have free recipes toward the middle of the articles. (You may have to copy and paste the links to your browser.)

    http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day.aspx

    http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Free-Form-Loaf.aspx

    Blessings,
    Tanya

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  3. Patrice, that was hysterical! Thanks for the early morning laugh before I make breakfast, clean the kitchen, start the laundry and get the kids cleaned up and into the classroom, handle paperwork for the homeschool co-op, get ready to head out for the kids bowling class at 1:30, OH AND....spend five minutes dropping dinner into the crockpot before I leave! You know what? When the EOTWAWKI gets here, you can knead bread til Mathilda comes home....until then, I say bring on the bread machine!

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  4. It would have been funny to take her back to the airport on a horse, so she could have the "real" experience ;)

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  5. Thanks for the laugh!! I have gone through three bread machines! The one I have now I bought at a thrift store and haven't used it yet...the season is just about here. Husband and I don't really eat much bread except when I make home made bread to eat with soups and stews.

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  6. YOU USE A BREAD MACHINE???
    GASP!

    Next you'll be telling us you don't wash clothes in the yard on a scrub board...or that y'all are making all those tankards out of wood y'all didn't fell, buck, and mill yourselves BY HAND!!

    I'm shocked. Utterly shocked.

    Poor Janet. She must be so traumatized.

    And I suppose it must now be revealed you don't home school your daughters using slates and chalk.

    Goodness gracious. Next you'll be shopping in Seattle.

    A. McSp

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  7. I have had the opposite problem with bread rising. I started out with a bread machine, and everything worked fine (except I didn't like the shape of it), then the machine broke and I got a new one. I started to use fresh ground wheat and then I couldn't make a loaf in the bread machine without a gigantic crater in the middle of it. Ugh! I couldn't figure out how to fix it, so I ended up making all my bread on the dough setting and forming it, letting it rise a second time then popping it into the oven. That works great, but I always felt like I hadn't really made homemade bread. I've done it a few times truly by hand and I had to repeat, "she girds herself with strength, an makes her arms strong" to get through it. That's a job!

    I bet Matilda really appreciated getting out of bed early! haha

    Gracie Wray

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  8. LOL

    I discovered this old post by following a tag. I love my bread machine too, only I do it like Gracie Wray does - let the machine knead the dough and do the first raising, then raise again and bake in a loaf pan in the oven. It counts, it really does. :)

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  9. Bread is one of the things I have to go to the shops for regularly. I'd like to be able to bake my own but in a grid down situation a bread making machine won't be working.

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  10. I am not a bread maker either, but I did get a bread maker for Christmas. I read the instructions and it requires all these special bread ingredients. I was wondering if you had a great bread recipe you use for your machine. Mine makes a 2 lb loaf.
    Thank you.
    andy

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    Replies
    1. All those "special" bread ingredients are a lot of hooey-nonsense. Just use a regular bread recipe, keeping in mind you can only make one loaf at a time (in other words, you may have to halve your ingredients since most regular bread recipes make two loaves).

      Here's the bread recipe I use. It's for an oatmeal- wheat bread:

      14 oz. warm water
      2 T sugar
      1 1/2 t salt
      2 T butter/margarine
      2 cups white flour
      1 1/2 cups wheat flour
      2/3 cup oatmeal
      1 1/2 t yeast

      This is the standard recipe I've used for years for everyday bread.

      Hope this helps!

      - Patrice

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    2. Thank you so much Patrice.
      Andy

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