Recently I decided to #getmyfamilyhealthy and I have been scouring books and websites looking for a way to cut processed foods out of our everyday life. And most importantly I am trying to do this realistically. What I did not expect is how much refined flour is in EVERYTHING!! I finally realized that all the time I spent reading labels and searching for good whole wheat bread was better spent just making it! It’s really easy and not as time consuming as you might think. You just have to start it early in the day so it has enough time to rise.
And now? Y’all, I am seriously addicted to baking bread. I’m not just addicted to eating it, and Lord knows it tastes amazing straight out of the oven, but I’m actually obsessed with making it too!
There is something soothing and meditative about kneading dough. I am a lover of all things old fashioned. I love reading historical fiction, collecting antiques, genealogy; I really should have been born a couple hundred years ago.
When I am mixing the ingredients and watching the yeast react and that smell fills the air, it’s just heaven.
And then the good part comes! I try to time it so that I pull the bread out of the oven just as we are sitting down to the table. So it’s nice and hot and just melts when you eat it.
And while this is all well and good, my waistline is definitely suffering.
I am using 100% whole wheat, no refined starchy flour for me thank you very much. And I even replace the sugar most recipes require with honey and most of the time I half the amount. It still tastes amazing, but all those carbs just stick to my waist and hips. Not cool. But I can’t help it, I just love making it!!!
This week in an effort to curb my bread intake I am making whole wheat tortillas. Fun! And I’m going to make a loaf of bread for my next door neighbor. She is a sweet lady who has made some yummy treats for us, so I thought I would return the favor and make her some bread. It’s kind of a selfish act of kindness though since I get to bake bread but won’t be tempted to eat it. But, shhhhhh, don’t tell. 😉
I think I might also try my hand at making some whole wheat pretzels for the kids and freeze a bunch of them. They will be perfect for lunch boxes once school starts up again.
Here are some of the recipes I have been using. Most of these call for a mix of flours. I am generally just replacing the all purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour and I always use White Whole Wheat Bread when a recipe calls for whole wheat. It’s much milder in taste.
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Bon Appetit!