While I am not a true bread connoisseur, it must be said that I enjoy a good piece of toast (slathered with butter) for breakfast or a peanut butter and honey sandwich for lunch. Both of these for me are comfort foods as well as meeting an caloric intake: toast happened for breakfast almost every mornings except Fridays growing up (which was cereal day) and for special "breakfast for dinner" nights when TB The Elder was gone (and one was allowed to read a book at the table, wonder of wonders), and peanut butter and honey sandwiches have graced my lunch box and plate for almost as long as I have been alive.
One of the recent consequences of the current environment is that bread is, well expensive. A loaf of Orowheat bread (the somewhat healthy one, not the "corn syrup dusted in flour" version") will easily set one back $4.00 to $5.50, if it is at all available (which in the past year is often not the case). The resolution in such a situation is to make one's own.
The bread maker above is the one we received from my parents years ago - before we moved to New Home, actually - when my father found out he was diabetic and bread was now forbidden. It has served us well - for years we would use it to make pizza dough and on Sunday nights we would have pizza and a movie as a family event.
It is stupidly simple, of course - so simple even I can use it: using the attached ingredient book, dump ingredients into the container. Lock container into place in the unit. Select program. Push button. Go away for two to three hours, come back at the bell. Remove hot pan and hot bread from unit (hopefully without burning one's fingers, but that does not always happen). Immediately cut off a piece while still piping hot and smear with butter. Eat. Then go back for another one while it still hot (it never reheats as well).
Five years ago I would have told you that making it served no purpose other than having it hot, as the cost difference was negligible. Now, I am not so sure: what is the cost of 3-4 cups of flour, 1-2 teaspoons of yeast, 1 tablespoon of butter, a tablespoon each of oil and honey, and water? I am rather certain that it is not $5.00.
Na Clann have occasionally made bread from scratch (e.g., in the old style by hand) and this is the next logical step of course: the one flaw in my practice is that the bread machine relies on electricity to work. But that is certainly something I can work into. I am really the only one who eats bread at home anymore on a regular basis and so a small loaf will easily serve my needs for a week.
Now, to start making butter...
Ha! To make butter you'll need a source of cream! Is there a dairy animal somewhere in the TBs future??? :)
ReplyDeleteMy bread maker is definitely my most used kitchen appliance; even before bread became so shockingly expensive. It's been like other foods in that, once we got used to homemade, the store-bought stuff always tasted like lesser quality. Your point about requiring electricity is well taken, however. Which points to the wisdom have having backups and alternatives for all the things that are common in our lives. Even so, my bread machine is my best kitchen indulgence.
I currently have Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day checked out from the library. While I like the concepts, it's just so easy to pull out my bread machine for quickly made fresh bread, that I doubt I'll become a convert.
Leigh, a dairy animal requires 1) the ability to have one; and 2) daily milking. The first is impossible in our current CC&Rs (I checked); the second may be a stretch at the moment (but who knows).
DeleteOutside of the big appliances and the mixer, the bread machine is indeed the most used item. It is just so darn convenient and I can start it up and just let it go while I do other things (he says, literally thinking he should do this before he starts working today).
Na Clann enjoy making such things, so we are good for a little while. It is one of those things that I feel like I should master at least one kind of non-bread machine homemade bread, just in case.
Silly TB. Cows don't like human feedlots, there's gizmos like an 'easy milker' and milking is very therapeutic (unless it is a goat, well at least one of our goats). The Ranch beckons to you & I'm sure the Cowboy would have a bull to breed such dairy cow to get her freshened up. Oh, and don't forget fresh yogurt. Just saying... ;-)
Delete~hobo
See, so much I do not know do much Hobo. "Easy Milker" - who knew?
DeleteThe Cowboy has Herefords currently. For now, I have to satisfy myself with yogurt made from store bought milk.
I love bread. So versatile. But I am also a Type II diabetic, so have to limit myself to very small indulgences.
ReplyDeleteMy father was as well (runs in his side of the family, something we are tracking) - thus our original acquisition.
DeleteAgreed that the cost of bread in these parts has also risen...........sorry about that. Available electricity is the key for so much of modern life, got yourself a generator for backup? Or solar and batteries?
ReplyDeleteThe price increase was shocking to me when I paid attention, Nylon12. The trash bread is cheaper and usually available, but why bother?
DeleteThere is a generator at The Ranch and here we have solar for minor charge ups (phones, laptops, etc.). I have not broached solar on the larger scale as I have a fundamental issue with a "renewable" technology that has to be replaced every twenty years and we have not decided how we are going to recycle all the pieces and parts. Also, I would need a system which is not connected to the grid (e.g., shuts down when the grid shuts down, which I understand is a thing). I need to learn more.
Solar energy disposal is one thing that is hard to pin down. Saw an article about Ca. and people's inability to dispose of broken or worn out panels. Living in Ky it's not a push here but I looked for a disposal site after the article. We have none and was multiple states away. Put in other states I've live in and it was almost as sparse as the hen's teeth.
DeleteGL, my bell weather is wind generation. We now bury the blades when they have passed their useful life rather than try to refurbish or recycle them. That is not promising.
DeleteThis post really brings back memories. My mom used one for many years and I always enjoyed the fresh bread slathered with butter. On a side note I have never had a peanut butter and honey sandwich but it sounds good. I may have been missing something.
ReplyDeleteAfter I left the house, I think my mom stopped using the bread maker. I don't know why other than maybe they didn't eat that much bread so didn't find it worthwhile. Currently, I still don't eat much bread even though I think warm bread fresh out of the oven is probably my favorite of comfort foods. I buy a loaf now and then for the girls to make sandwiches when they don't like the school lunch. We do make a fair amount of pizza though and the thought of a pizza dough recipe in a bread maker sounds appealing. But I'm not sure I want another countertop gadget (we have more than most already) so I'll have to think about it. I need to let the drool and warm bread and butter memories dissipate and fade before making a rational decision.
Ed, all we had growing up was peanut butter and honey - I did not have peanut butter and jelly until well into middle school (and with that, it was homemade blackberry jam).
DeleteIn terms of gadgets, they are rather bulky. In our case, I just keep it underneath the counter and pull it out when needed. The model we have works great for pizza dough, although I never quite manage to get the consistency right.
My only complaint with bread from the bread maker is that for sandwiches, it is a little bit large and if the slices are cut too thin, a little crumbly. Minor complaints only though, outweighed by the fresh-out-of-the-bread maker smell and cost.
Yes, I remember those sandwiches I had as a kid. They needed to have a lot of mayo or mustard in them to help hold them together and not be so dry on account of the extra thick slices.
DeleteEd, I think it is a combination of density of the bread and some agent used to keep the bread moist. I am sure true bakers have this mastered; to be fair, my pool of data is based on a single automated bread making unit.
DeletePeanut butter and sorghum were my favorites growing up. Usually slathered on toast that had butter dripping through it. First time I saw someone use honey instead of syrup, I about fell over. Honey was like platinum in our house growing up. But old Brer Rabbit Syrup was in a gallon jar.
ReplyDeleteI grew up on biscuits and cornbread. I made bread in the past, and I should probably start that up again. Beer bread was a hit back when the kids were little. But I've never owned a bread machine. I'd probably use one now if I had one...
STxAR - Sorghum, I have never had - is this molasses as well?
DeleteI think the reason we had honey all those years is that we got it free from my great aunt and uncle, who got honey from the folks that kept (and still keeps) bees at the property. I really do not think of the cost of it - until I look at the cost now. Wow.
My mother made biscuits based on my Granny's recipe - those were a treat (although I was never a gravy fan). We made beer bread for a while, but I can come or go with it. I would not have thought to buy a bread maker, except we got it for free - now, I would likely buy one again.
You can usually set a timer so your waking to fresh bread baking or having your dough ready that can be rolled out for cinnamon rolls for breakfast. By the time everyone is up for the day they'll be baking, smelling heavenly and what a treat that is for everyone.
ReplyDeleteOh, that sounds lovely GL. Unfortunately I think our unit is old; no timer start functionality unless one wants to get up at 0400 and put it in (and by one, I assume that is me as I am up that early).
DeleteNot tried peanut butter and honey, but baloney was what we mostly got growing up. I wasn't a fan of peanut butter because the bread stuck in my mouth, haha.
ReplyDeleteThere is definitely a trick to making bread the way Na Clann did, one that my Granny mastered, but being young and dumb, I never did.
Bread makers are a definite blessing.
Enjoy, TB.
You all b safe and God bless.
Linda, so oddly enough there is a fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth: Arachibutyrophobia.
DeleteIf we had a lunch meat, it was baloney more often than not. Now, I can hardly stand the taste.
Bread making, like many other artisanal crafts, does not command near the respect it should be, like some many things, it is now mass produced.
With the "Arach" beginning, I thought it was going to be spider something, haha.
DeleteLearned something new, TB. Thank you!
Linda, I had to look it up because Uisdean Ruadh does not like peanut butter at all and one of his complaints was that he did not like the way it felt on his mount (not a fear, just a texture thing). Which led to a search, which led to this. I had no idea this was a fear.
DeleteFresh baked bread is a joy. My wife is a master of baking.
ReplyDeleteWe don't eat it anymore, or pasta (she is also Italian 2nd gen.)
Or potato's. (northern New England here, it's a former staple.)- it's the carbs- we simply do not work hard enough any more to burn them off. I am a manual laborer and still do not work hard enough. Once in a while, now and then, maybe. Fresh baked bread with butter. Like candy, but better. When I fished for a living, or logged, no problem. No more. But I do miss it.
Raven - I understand. This is a transition that that we are going through here as well for weight issues. But it would be/is a hard thing to give up.
DeleteAre doing keto, or some other sort form of eating plan?
No formal diet- just fish, chicken and meat, and a lot of veggies. All as close to real food as possible- butter, eggs, yogurt, and trimmed way back on bread, pasta, rice, potato's, etc.
DeleteNothing out of a box. And no regard for fats, except avoidance of processed seed oils, canola, margarine, etc.
Olive oil, bacon grease or butter to cook with. Nuts for snacks.
The bread, rice, pasta events are a rare treat.
This dropped my wife's cholesterol way down.
Anything advertised as "low fat" is probably crap,with added sugars to compensate for the fat reduction. I always buy the full fat versions of cottage cheese, yogurt, etc.
Dropped my weight from the mid 150's to 145.
Thank you Raven. That is similar to the program The Ravishing Mrs. TB is on, although hers at this point is medically supervised. She has lost a great deal of weight as well.
DeleteOur diet anymore (for dinner anyway) is indeed mostly protein and vegetables. My breakfasts are almost invariably oatmeal, whey, and homemade yogurt (we, too, avoid the "low fat items"). My struggle is lunch and snacking, of which I am still not under control as I should be.
I weight train, which always throws the "correct" weight off some, but am in the mid 170's and really should be in the 150-165 lbs range.