Our Weekly Bread: 10 of 36

Posted on

The kids and I have started on a sourdough bread recipe. This week, we made the sourdough starter. This will have to ferment for at least two days before we can make sourdough bread in the bread machine.

Sourdough Starter

Making sourdough starter

People either love or hate sourdough bread. I happen to love it. However, I have had to stay away from gluten for the past four years, due to gluten intolerance. As I have progressed more in my allergy treatment, it seems that I can timidly have a serving of gluten once a week or so, without pain and bloating. Continue reading »


Our Weekly Bread: 7 of 36

Posted on

The kids cannot get enough of focaccia bread, so they decided to make another one this week. However, we had run out of all-purpose flour. What to do? We still had whole wheat flour and bread flour, both organic. I suggested they make it using the two flours, half and half.

Focaccia with marinara

Focaccia with marinara

This is a great exercise in “real life” for the kids. Many times the pantry can miss an item and, as a parent, you have to improvise to put food on the table. Plus I wanted them to see the difference in texture when using different types of flours. Last but not least, whole wheat flour gives you extra nutrition. Continue reading »


Our Weekly Bread: 5 of 36

Posted on

This week, we made pizza. Is there a better skill in the kitchen than knowing how to make pizza crust? I think not.

Kids with Pizza

They are proud of their pizza.

We used the bread machine, because it is easy. Why complicate things? The recipe came in the book that accompanied the bread machine. Remember, this is my $5 bread machine, which I purchased from a neighbor at a yard sale. He said he had used it maybe five times.

 

Pizza Crust Recipe

1 1/2 c warm water

2 Tbl. olive oil

1 1/2 tsp. salt

4 1/4 c all-purpose flour

2 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. yeast

Select Dough-Only on your bread machine and watch it work for you. Well, you might not want to watch it for the full 90 minutes it takes for it to do its thing. This will produce a double crust. We roll it out on two different pans, because we do not want it to get too thick (like deep-dish pizza crust).

Heart-shaped pizza

We shaped one as a heart because why not?

The kids learned that “floured board” means just a little flour, not a whole lot of flour. The edges of their crusts got a little too tough, because they kept adding flour to the crust as they “played” with it. But those are the edges they do not usually eat anyway, so it worked out.

Measuring flour

Measuring flour

We added marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. They did not want any veggie toppings for their very first pizzas. We made salad and decided this counted as a healthy enough meal.

The pizza was delicious, by the way. I have not tried it, because of gluten intolerance, but they said they loved it. We had some leftovers for the next day, too.


Our Weekly Bread: 3 of 36

Posted on

This week, my son became the baker in the family by himself. My daughter came to watch and inspect. To clarify, that counts, too. We decided to make another easy bread recipe, Dutch-oven bread. Some people call it no-knead bread. I have blogged about this recipe before here: Dutch-oven bread.

Boy makes bread

Mixing the wet and dry ingredients

My son loved mixing the dough and expressed regret that he was not supposed to knead the bread. I suppose we are gearing up for full-on kneading bread recipes. At least he seems to be eager and ready to do it. Continue reading »


Our Weekly Bread: 2 of 36

Posted on

On our second week of school, we found 10 minutes on a Thursday to measure some ingredients in the bread pan of our bread machine. I engaged both children this time, and it became clear that this should become a weekly goal.

Honey Banana Wheat Bread

Honey Banana Wheat Bread – fluffy and moorish

The Lord’s Prayer mentions our daily bread, so this will be our weekly bread. To clarify, we still purchase bread from the store, and I still cannot have gluten. But the children can learn to bake bread this school year. One loaf a week seems like a realistic goal. Continue reading »


Our Weekly Bread: 1 of 36

Posted on

This school year, we plan to bake one loaf of bread a week. It’s a recent goal, one that happened organically. There are 36 weeks in a school year in the US, so we will have tried 36 different recipes by the end of the school year.

White Bread

Basic white/French bread – a simple recipe with four ingredients

I find weekly goals easier than daily goals, because life happens. No matter how well you plan, there will never be enough planning to eliminate life’s events. But a weekly goal of break making gives us flexibility. Continue reading »