Baking Bread

Who doesn't enjoy a thick slice of warm homemade bread with butter and maybe a bit of jelly?  I have fond memories of my grandma Ollie and her homemade bread with yellow "grandpa" butter and elderberry jelly.  They bought their butter from local Amish farmers who churned it from sour cream.  It had a distinctive color and flavor like none I have found since.  But even she didn't have to labor to produce this staple of life as her ancestors did.

Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the "Little House on the Prairie" series, said her mother had a very organized week: wash on Monday, iron on Tuesday, mend on Wednesday, churn on Thursday, clean on Friday, bake on Saturday, and rest on Sunday.  My, my, how times have changed from those "pioneer" days where just keeping yourself and your family alive was a major challenge.

I did some research on cooking and baking in Colonial times;  the preparation it took to prepare the ingredients to make simple biscuits or cornbread for dinner was staggering to me.  They had to grind the corn first to make cornmeal, for example.  To bake a cake, they had to dry their own spices and herbs in front of the fireplace, then grind them to a powder and store them.  Life truly was hard.  And if you wanted butter for your bread or biscuits, you had to churn your own butter from cow's milk.

If a community was fortunate enough to have a baker who operated a bake shop, it freed up much time for the womenfolk to do other things for their families.  After all, what housewife wouldn't want more leisure time to pursue creative hobbies that brought rest and refreshment to her?  Or devote more time to her children and husband and not be so "survival-oriented"?

Baking bread was done in a brick or stone fireplace: a far cry from the convenience of today's ovens and electric bread machines.  One had to know how to build, keep, and bank a fire just right so bread would bake properly.  If a fire happened to go out, a child was sent to the nearest neighbor with a "fire spoon" to bring back live hot coals to start a new fire.  From what I read, it seems the Dutch oven was used a lot for baking bread because you could set it right in the coals and even put coals on top of the iron lid.  I can't imagine having to learn the skill of using a fireplace for my baking. 

Here is a link to view how cooking and baking was done years ago: http://colonial-american-life.blogspot.com/2009/08/early-american-fireplaces-and-cooking.html  Of course, after the iron wood-burning stove was introduced, baking became easier; but a lot of skill was still needed to get the oven to the right temperature.

I started baking my own bread last December, and consistently bake bread about every two weeks or so, using a recipe my mom passed on to me that I've tweaked a bit and made my own.  I want to experiment by adding 1/2 cup powdered milk to the water.  I've used 1/2 cup sour cream, and it makes nice bread, but more flour is needed, making the loaves a bit too big for my 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5" pans.

The fruits of my labors on "bread day"

Elaine's Whole Wheat Bread

2 tablespoons dry yeast

2 cups lukewarm water

1 egg

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons honey

2 and1/2 teaspoons salt

2 cups whole wheat flour

3 1/2 - 4 cups white flour

In large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.  In a separate small bowl, beat egg, oil, sugar, honey and salt.  Add to dissolved yeast.  Using a mixer, beat in whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur).  With a wooden spoon, mix in 3 cups of the white flour (I use Robin Hood).  Turn onto floured surface (I use my countertop) and work in remaining 1 cup of flour using a kneading motion.  Lubricate your hands with a little vegetable oil.  Add more flour as needed until dough no longer sticks to your hands.  Spray your mixing bowl with non-stick spray and place the dough back into it to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1and 1/2 hours.  Punch down the dough, shape into 3 loaves using both hands.  Be sure to "spank" the bread to get the air bubbles out.  Place (rounded side up) in greased loaf pans, and using a fork, prick the shaped loaf across the top in about 5 places to allow air to escape.  Let rise again until dough is crested above the top of the pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  Remove from oven and brush the tops with butter; then slide loaves out onto parchment paper or paper towels.  When cool, use an electric knife to slice your loaves; then store or freeze your homebaked goodness in heavy-duty bread bags.  I buy mine online: http://www.marmeesbreadmarket.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=10&zenid=10aefd27e97839ee08c4bbb40f2b5b6f

Which reminds me: I need to order bags.  Homemade bread makes a nice gift for someone who isn't afraid to eat bread that's been made with clean, bare hands.  I always clean my nails and wash my hands twice with antibacterial soap before handling the dough.

Happy Bread Making!

Copyright © 2012 Elaine Beachy