Bakery organization

Sometimes I really miss the kitchen in my old house. It was the first  only kitchen I have had that I actually had empty cupboards even after everything was put away.

There are more cupboards and counter space on the other side.

But - alas, this beautiful kitchen belongs to some other lucky woman now.

Its not that I don't like my new kitchen- I do. I actually like it alot- but ever since we moved here 2 years ago I've been struggling with keeping it organized and finding a place for everything.

I FINALLY order and received my new wondermill grinder this winter. (which I will review on a different day) Something I've been wanting to do for a long time is to grind my own flour.

I have a lovely little pantry/laundry room right off the kitchen. So, finding a place to put my grinder where it would be convenient was the next challenge.

Sadly, this is where it ended up.

Our favorite kind of bread is Hallelujah Bread. Which has 7 different grains in it.

I also keep those on the shelves in the pantry.

Why do I suddenly feel like I've just bared it all?

On bread baking day- I need to remove from the pantry- 5 grains, flour, molasses, oil, honey and now my grinder and wheat berries, among other things.

I thrive on simplicity and saving time. I was thinking maybe a microwave or utility cart would work to put everything on and then I could wheel it in and out of the pantry. Found this one on wal-mart.com

however - it was too deep- I wouldn't be able to open the door on my dryer very far.

Then I came across this

And I found it, in all places - our basement. My mother had picked it up at a garage sale for me awhile back. Great find but I never had found a good use for it until today.

And- I have room left over! The only grains I don't have on it are the flax meal, bran and yeast which I store in the fridge.

It fits exactly right in the corner of my pantry and has wheels so I can just wheel it out into the kitchen when I bake bread and wheel it back again when I'm done at the end of the day.

Happy Baking!!

~ Kathy



Fall in love with pears!

Its been a crazy fall. Can it really be the 17th today? This weekend has gone by so fast. Everyone I know is fighting colds and allergies. The dust in the air is thick from the corn and beans being combined. It doesn't help any. Our youngest has been fighting a bad cold and wakes during the night with a coughing fit that lasts about an hour. The sun doesn't want to shine until after 7am and it makes it very difficult to pull ourselves out of bed. But winter will soon be upon us and there is so much to get done before that happens. Thank goodness the weather remains beautiful and that helps our motivation level.

This weekend I spent catching up on my canning. If you couldn't have guessed from the title of my post, I've been canning pears - all weekend. Yesterday I canned two batches of regular pears and today, I canned cinnamon pears.

We put in 2 pears trees at home here last year. These pears however were from another farm. The tree was absolutely loaded this year. I wish I had time to do more...but I think this is gonna have to do.

I start by making a syrup for the fruit. I like to make an extra light syrup so I taste more fruit then I do sugar. 1 cup sugar per 1 quart of water. For cinnamon pears I add 2 sticks of cinnamon(per quart of syrup) and a couple drops of red food coloring.

I know adding the food coloring goes against my "all natural - no preservative" philosophy BUT

it makes such a pretty presentation and I consider cinnamon pears a treat and I didn't add that much. So, we make an exception.

After peeling the pears I drop them into a solution to keep them from darkening. The solution is 2TBSPs each of salt and vinegar to a quart of water.

After they soak in the solution for no more then 20minutes, I drain it off and rinse the fruit well.

Then I fill the jars and can as usual, using the hot syrup to cover the fruit. I use the water bath method and process pints for 20minutes, quarts for 25 minutes.

The finished jars - don't they look so pretty?

The cinnamon pears are to the left with the lovely pink blush.

Nothing goes to waste either...all the peels and cores are a real treat

For the chickens!

I also managed to find the time to make some Hot Pepper Jam

This summer was my first year making this and I love eating it with cream cheese and crackers.

Sooo Good! Now, I admit, the peppers used in this batch weren't from my garden- I bought them at the store. You see, I made a batch earlier in the summer and was anxiously waiting and anticipating while the next peppers grew in size and were ripe to pick. I knew they were there-  I saw them on the plants. I went out early that Friday morning and couldn't believe my eyes. They were gone. Yup - Plant and all. I knew what had gotten them. It was my 18 year old son. He got mower happy. - Sigh - nevertheless, I have taste tested this batch and I am happy to say- it is just as good as the first! He will however be reimbursing me for the cost of the peppers.

We also managed to get my new green house brought home and off the trailer this weekend.

Friends of ours no longer needed it and offered it to me. God has truly bless me with wonderful friends, family and life.

Well, blogger continues to freeze up on me  - so I guess that's its.

~Count your blessings!
~ Kathy

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Today was a school day.. The kids did a few subjects this morning

Anna doing "preschool"

 then about 10 o'clock

we took a short break.

When I was ready to get back to work - I found them all playing nicely TOGETHER!

Well, this just doesn't happen very often.

 So, I decided to take advantage of the peace and quiet and

make some bread.

 My family LOVES cinnamon raisin bread and I've always made it with 100% white flour.

I've made up my mind to find a wheat bread recipe that is just as good.

I found a recipe that sounded really good. It had white and wheat flour in it, as well as rolled oats. It was also sweetened with honey.  I decided to give it a try.

The first thing I noticed about the recipe was it used vegetable oil - I changed it to olive oil. The next thing I noticed was  the quantity's of the ingredients were listed in ounces-with the cup equivalents off to the side. The cup equivalent came out to 1 and 3/8 or 7/8. - Goofy - I already made a few changes there. The recipe also said to soak the raisins and oatmeal, separately - why separately??- I'm asking myself- more dishes! I knead my raisins in after the first rise anyway- that way I can make a loaf or two without raisins. So, I soaked the oatmeal and left the raisins to add later.

I didn't like that the recipes instructions said to add the ingredients all at once. I like to add my flour gradually-so the dough doesn't get to heavy.

Sooo.. There are a few modifications to make. The dough turned out well

It was soft  - but would have been quite stiff if I had added the entire amount of flour the recipe called for.

The recipe said to "Bake at 450degrees for 5 minutes, lower the temp. of your oven to 375 degrees and continue to bake for 20minutes more - turn your loaves and cook for another 15-25 minutes."

I had to run my husband to another farm so this wasn't going to work for me. I put the bread in the oven at 375 and set the timer for 40minutes and headed out the door. The buzzer had just gone off when I returned and removed the loaves.

Look good, huh? Taste good too.. My 9 year old complained

"is there wheat flour in here" "why, yes there is" was my reply- when I asked a few minutes later how he liked it he chimed " I'm cutting myself another piece" Must not have been too bad.

One other change I made to the bread- instead of mixing the cinnamon into the dough as recipe states -I rolled the dough out- spread some butter on it and then sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar. It added a little more fat and calories but not much.

Overall- the bread was very good. Its texture was near prefect. It was a little on the salty side. I think I will cut back on the salt a bit next time. I plan to make this again and make a few changes to suit my family's tastes and my needs of a healthier bread.

~Kathy

Grinding Wheat

 I've come to realize that wheat is the basis for nutrition. Full of mineral salts, calcium, and many other minerals as well as  vitamins A, B, E, K, D, and so on. We all know that whole wheat is a better alternative then white bread..but what are we losing when we purchased bread from the store that has been refined, processed  and packed full of preservatives?

So, This is what I've learned lately.

Whole wheat is a nutritious food but the vitamins and minerals dissipate quickly once the wheat has been ground into flour.

Within 24 hours of being ground into flour, 45% of its nutritional value is lost.

After 72 hours -90% of its nutritional value is lost.

That is 90% of the wholesome grains nutrition that does not make it into our family's bodys.

While, looking for more information on the subject I stumbled upon Jane Brody's Good Food book.

It has a lot of information in it about wheat and different types of flours. It makes note that

"refined wheat flour may be "compared to refined sugars and fat", which force a consumer to make up their nutritional deficiencies in the rest of the foods eaten."

Now, I've also been told that freshly ground whole wheat flour tastes better- I've never had yeast bread with fresh ground whole wheat flour BUT this gentleman at the farmers market makes an absolutely to die for Zucchini Bread with 100% whole wheat flour. It is soo amazingly good. When I asked what his secret was- he said "I grind all my own flour"

For the last 2 years, without knowing any of the above, I have had an urge to start grinding my own flour.

My husband grows wheat for Pete's sake - All I have to do is step out my back door.

So, This winter - my goal is to begin grinding my own wheat flour - to switch my family over to whole wheat everything (my oldest son will have the biggest challenge to this) and make all my own bread! (if anyone has a good sandwich bread recipe please let me know!)

So, I'm doing research on grinders.

Anyone have any recommendations?

I'm looking at the nutrimill

A friend of mine has one and seems to like it okay.

Another option would be an attachment for my kitchenaid

I've read some reviews and hear it works well but tends to quickly burn out your mixer's motor.

Would love to hear about everyone's experiences with grinding their own flour and your recommendations.

~Kathy

New Bread - Golden Squash Braid

I was trying to decide what breads to make for the market last week besides Hallelujah and Glory Bread.

My sister's motivation for making breads has always been to make bread with whatever

 her garden is producing an abundance of at that time.
I agree with that thought and decided after picking 25 Butternut squash

(and still have plenty left in the garden) That it only seemed fitting to make bread with it.

I found several recipes but one was a little more time intensive then I would like and the other was just to plain.

The result was a combination of the two recipes . A very tender and light bread- rich in a golden color

and quite delicious. Not overly sweet or strong in flavor.

I made 4 braids - 2 with golden raisins and 2 without.

We ate one and the others were snatched up quite quickly at the Market.

Golden Squash Braid

1 package active dry yeast (or 1 scant TBSP)       3 TBSP brown sugar

2TBSP warm water                                              1/4 teas. salt

1 Cup mashed cooked butternut squash                3 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup warm milk                                                1/2 cup golden raisins (optional)

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 egg

Directions: in a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. In a mixing bowl, combine squash, milk, butter, egg, brown sugar and salt; mix well. Add yeast mixture and 1-1/2 cups flour;mix well. Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8m. Place in a  greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down. (gently knead in golder raisin at this time if desired) Divide into thirds; roll each third into a 18in rope. place on a greased baking sheet. Braid ropes together; pinch ends. cover and let rise until doubled.  beat -1egg and 1TBSP water and brush on top of loafs. Back at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

ENJOY!

Making Homemade Bread and it nutritional value

Fridays have become bread baking day at our house. I bake for the farmers market in Geneseo Saturday mornings. 2 recipes that have become very popular are both my sister Pat's recipes. She does the market in Minnesota. I believe that she makes wayyyyyy more bread then I do. I usually bake between 20-25loaves. I believe she does 3x that many. I honestly have no idea how she does it. I'm exhausting by the time I'm done..but then again, I do still have children constantly running under foot. I can't count how many times I have to stop what I'm doing to get someone something. And you say "well, you have a 3 year old" - but I'm talking about the teenagers!

These breads are both amazing and so good for you. I hear all the time at the market how guilty people feel about eating bread. There is nothing to feel guilty about. They are both delicious and healthy.

This is Pat's Glory Bread -

1st rise.

Finished Loaves :)

This Bread has toasted wheat germ in it, oats,  fresh apples, carrots, raisins and coconut!

Yes, it is that good.

while I love the Glory bread my favorite by far is her Hallelujah Bread-mostly for its nutritional value

 

7 Grain Hallelujah Bread

has, well, 7 whole grains

Wheat,

Wheat contains mineral salts, catalytic elements, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chlorine, sulfur, silicon, zinc, manganese, cobalt, copper, iodide, arsenic, vitamins A, B, E, K, D, PP, and ferments. Thus, wheat is the base for nourishment

Oats,

contain phytochemicals (plant chemicals), which are believed to protect the body from chronic diseases, such as cancer-contain very high levels of calcium, potassium and magnesium, coupled with Vitamin B-complex. All these vitamins and minerals are very essential for the nervous system.

Flax

(think omega 3s),

Quinoa,

 (high in protein, iron, potassium and other vitamins and minerals,  It is also a good source of dietary fiber and is easily digested.)

Amaranth

( high in protein (15-18%) and contains respectable amounts of lysine and methionine, two essential amino acids that are not frequently found in grains. It is high in fiber (3x's that found in wheat) and contains calcium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, and vitamins A and C.

has a mild, sweet, nutty like flavor)

Millet

( recognized nutritionally for being a good source of the minerals magnesium, manganese and phosphorus.)

Bran

particularly rich in dietary fiber and omegas and contains significant quantities of starch, protein, vitamins and dietary minerals.

Women Who Eat Whole Grains Weigh Less

Whole Grains Substantially Lower Type 2 Diabetes Risk

Whole Grains Reduce Risk of Metabolic Syndrome

So, Now you know - Guilt free AND actually good for you AND is actually is delicious!

Hallelujah Bread - 2nd Rise

Finished Loaves 

 Mmmmmmm....