Baking & Breaking Bread

Today, I made my first loaf of home-baked bread.

Last week, I tried to bake bread with a breadmaker at my aunt's insistence. I failed twice, and I failed because the machine had been sitting on a shelf for five and a half years and apparently can no longer be relied upon to do anything but make a cake-y mess and a lot of noise. The breadmaker's cookbook had also warned me that baking bread was tough, and that yeast was super fragile, and that I would never manage on my own because I am a Naive Human Being.

Well.

Today, I used More-With-Less' recipe for Honey Whole Wheat Bread. I kind of integrated information from the old standby in our house, Joy of Cooking. Here is how it happened, and why:

Reading and Mentally Preparing

I read More-With-Less and wanted several things out of baking my own bread: I wanted to feel that I could do it and know that I could be independent from store-bought bread, I wanted to avoid the packaging and production waste associated with store-bought bread, I wanted to make sure that only "good" ingredients were going into my bread, and I wanted to give my family the gift of home-baked bread again. It has been five and a half years since my uncle died, and he was the last one to use the breadmaker.

I decided on the Honey Whole Wheat recipe because it looked easy, and didn't require any processed sugar. I love wheat bread, and this seemed like a great place to start.

Shopping

Karen and I went shopping at Win-Co, and we found all of the ingredients in bulk. I can also draw a wheat kernel now on demand, because Karen had an illustrated explanation for me of what wheat germ was. At Win-Co, I can even get honey in bulk.

I did not get soy flour, but adding some into my recipe would have added nutrients to my bread. I chose not to do so because Karen freaked me out with all of her baking science talk, and I just wanted something straightfoward. Having actually succeeded once now, I may experiment with flours. Win-Co has like...a billion kinds of flour.

Recipes and Reality

This morning, I spent a good long time thinking about yeast. Joy of Cooking told me that yeast is a prima donna and that she does not like a cold dressing room. Okay, thanks, Joy of Cooking. I divvied out all of my dry ingredients, and warmed up my liquids. Then, somewhat holding my breath, I dove in.

1) I dissolved the yeast with some sugar and warm water. I created a "sponge" a la JoC. I let the sponge "rise" in front of the wood stove, because the rest of the house is about sixty degrees. Then, I kneaded in the rest of the ingredients.

2) I turned the kitchen sink into a lovely "bread sauna" because, like I said, the house is at about sixty. Then, I started running out of time.

3) I pulled the bread early from its first rise (at about 45 min, instead of letting it fully double), because I had to make sure that it rose again before I had to leave. I pressed it out by hand, and then rolled it (by hand, again). I tried my best to seal the edges. I put it into the pan and made sure that the short ends touched the short ends of the pan, because JoC assured me that this would help the bread rise. Then, I refilled my "bread sauna" and let the bread rise again.

4) I had to leave, and so did Scott, so I couldn't put the bread in the oven. With my heart in my chest, I wrapped it in an old produce bag that my aunt had washed and saved, and stuck it in the fridge.

5) When I came home six hours later, I pulled the bread out to warm up for fifteen minutes or so. Then, I baked as normal.

The Results

The resulting loaf was dense, but lovely. I think that I will definitely make this a habit, as I ended up liking my loaf much better than store-bought. All of my ingredients were very inexpensive except for honey, but I'm pretty sure the whole thing is still under the $1 we pay for a generic wheat loaf at the store.

I only made a single loaf today because I was afraid that I would mess up again, but I will definitely bake two next time in order to make better use of the oven space.

I will also give my bread more time to rise next time. :)

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I think that everyone should try to bake bread. It wasn't hard; I just followed the directions very carefully. I think that this is one small way that I can take ownership of what I eat, and I want to continually seek those opportunities.

Bulk Foods: Nature's Burger

At Win-Co last night, I found a few surprising items available in bulk. The Win-Co in Corvallis is larger than the one in Moscow, so it feels like I will always be finding something new. Last night, I shopped for various staples to make bread, whole wheat pasta, and curry powder. I knew I'd find these things in bulk. However, I also found a garden burger mix.

Nature's Burger comes as a powder, and you mix it with equal water. I was dubious about how the flavor of the burger would turn out, so here's what I did:

1/2 c mix (enough for two patties)
1/2 c water
2 spoonfuls of dry vegetable soup mix (also available in bulk)

The result was quite delicious. I made patties, but I will probably use the mix to add texture to casseroles and things. The mix was very inexpensive (I paid about $2 for enough mix to make 6-10 patties, which places the expense WAY under buying packaged, pre-made garden burgers), and it seems like it will be very versatile. I will also experiment will adding garlic or lemon pepper to the stuff.

The other thing that I found, but did not get, was a mix for hummus. I will get this next time, as hummus is wonderful for all sorts of things. I love hummus, and I like to add tomatoes or garlic to mine.

I almost had a completely plastic-free shopping trip, except...

Apparently Shop N Kart here in Lebanon has stopped selling lemon juice in bottles, and ONLY sells the little plastic lemon containers. My aunt was very upset that she could no longer buy a glass bottle, or any kind of bottle for that matter. At Win-Co, I couldn't find glass bottles either, but a large plastic bottle uses less plastic than many lemon containers, and can be downcycled at the end of its life.

MaryJanesFarm

Back in November, I was published as a guest columnist in my university's newspaper. About a week ago, a representative from MaryJanesFarm, a magazine out of Moscow, contacted me about reprinting my article. I gladly said yes, of course!

I would love to write for a magazine like this, so maybe after the first-run I will submit another article and see if they'll print it.

Marine Life and Micro-Pollutants

I went to the coast on Friday with Karen, Brett, and Jesse. We went to Newport and visited South Beach, as we have done dozens of times. This time, I was on a mission; I knew what I was looking for.

I deluded myself into thinking that it would be difficult to find plastic pellets - broken down from larger plastic pieces and worn smooth by the ocean - on my beautiful Oregon beach. I was wrong. The picture shows what I found within a matter of five minutes. I bent to look at the sand - truly look at it - and the truth was clear as day.

These plastic pellets are beautiful: shiny and smooth, like sea shells or sea glass. However, do not be fooled by their beauty. These are micro-pollutants, and they are dangerous. These are what fish and marine life are ingesting, these are also making their way up the food chain.

The truth can be as difficult or as easy to see in this world as these plastic pellets are to find on a beautiful beach. If you are looking at the whole picture, it seems untainted and perfect. But if you get down to the details, the truth is easy to see: this is the result of our poor stewardship of the earth.

What next?

Bulk Foods

One of the things that I worried about as I returned home to Oregon was the lack of Win-Co. Win-Co has provided me with bulk food bins within a ten-minute walk; here, the nearest Win-Co is about half an hour's drive. Now tell me: how "green" is it to drive half an hour to reduce the packaging I get with food? It was a dilemma that plagued me.

I saw three options:

1) Combine the Win-Co run with other Corvallis goodies, such as weekly ballroom dances. Perhaps I could carpool with others.

2) Utilize Vital Health's (a local co-op type place, with limited bulk goods) stale and often empty bins.

3) Do without bulk goods.

Then, today, I found out something amazing: the Fred Meyer in Albany has bulk foods!

Albany is still a fifteen-minute drive, but I will be going there once a week for my French class anyway. I can easily combine these trips. I am very excited to have this possibility available. Granted, Freddy's does not have as many bins as Win-Co, but I think it'll work out fine. They have a variety of grains and beans that form the foundations for healthy cooking. They don't so much have chocolate chips. Sigh.

Also, in light of this new "needing to cook" situation, I realized that I would need to buy more than a couple of things in bulk. I have been recycling three or four paper bags to get bulk goods, but the other day I bought some muslin (really cheap and utilitarian) and busted out a bunch of produce bags. I can use them for veggies or anything from the bins.

Karen and I are going to Corvallis tomorrow for other stuff (Michael's and Twilight, woot!), so I will get some of the stuff from Win-Co that Freddy's didn't have.