Our General Store…Headaches and Bodyaches…What’s all this talk about Bread?

Posted by Carolyn on Apr 26th, 2010 in Food Storage, Frugal Living, Money Savers, Our General Store, Recipes | 1 comment

Wow, just one question on the yahoo group about bread and everyone has jumped into the fray. I am seeing that this really is a priority for many of you. I have started baking all my own bread. It has been quite an adventure as I have been trying to create recipes that are simple to make for the bread baking impaired and for those who will have no idea how to get started when the need arises and they have no other options.

With bread making skills do think I will be able to trade for anything I want since I am sure none of my neighbors know how to bake bread. I just need to make sure I have enough yeast, flour and wheat on hand. I will be including lots…of recipes in the May issue of the newsletter. There was an article in last month’s issue: Bread Making. I will include more in the May issue but wanted to give you a sneak peek today.

I know we will all be thrilled that we can supply bread for our family when the needs arises but I am saving a ton of money right now by baking bread at home. I can bake a loaf for as little as $0.30. The last time I bought bread, about a month ago, the sale stuff was $2.50! Yikes! Just think if you make just 2 loaves a week that is a savings of $114.00 a year. Last week I made two artisan breads to take to a quilting retreat. One was a olive, garlic and herb and one was a cheddar cheese. They were wonderful and would have cost me at least $10.00 at a bakery or even the grocery store. The olive bread cost about $0.80 and the cheese about $0.75. I got all kinds of great ideas for how I could use these for holiday parties with meats, cheeses and dips. I could make a spread that people would ooh and ahh over and it would cost almost nothing! Those recipes are in the May newsletter also.

Speaking of that, are you still putting aside money in your holiday fund? Remember just $5.00 a week could pay for your Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner or give you a great start on holiday gift buying.

Ok, now for a few tips:

Adding garlic or ginger to your bread will help to preserve your bread and will also stimulate yeast growth. You should always use both of these only in the powdered form. You are using such a small amount that it will not alter the flavor of the bread. Add: 1/4 Teaspoon per loaf

Add cake flour to your bread flour to make a lighter textured pizza dough. It really does help. Substitute 1/4 C cake flour for 1/4 C flour in your recipe.

A good rise in your bread is all dependent on your leavening agent. White flour does not contain as much gluten as bread flour and wheat flour contains none. Gluten is formed in wheat flour as it is kneaded and the warmth causes glutenin ( a protein) and gliandin to form gluten. For this reason added kneading will improve the quality of the rise you get in your bread when you are using wheat or regular white flour.

Focaccia or Pizza

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees

Combine:

1 1/4 C water and 1 T fresh rosemary in small pot. Bring to a boil. Turn off heat and let sit 5 minutes. Strain

Combine:

1 1/4 C warm rosemary water

1 T honey

1 T yeast

add:

1 tsp. salt

2 ½ to 3 C flour (for softer crust pizza substitute 1/2 C cake flour for all purpose flour)

1.. Mix until well blended, knead and let rise ½ to 1 hour or until double in size

2. Roll out dough to desired thickness, place on greased cookie sheet or pizza pan, add toppings.

Bake till golden brown.

For Focaccia:

Roll out to ½ inch thick. Brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with any combination of fresh rosemary, basil, grated Parmesan, Romano, Asiago, olives, sun dried or fresh tomatoes….

For Pizza:

Roll to 1/4 inch thickness. Spread with pizza sauce or seasoned tomato sauce. Add favorite pizza toppings. Bake until golden.

Back to our General Store….This week add aspirin, acetaminophen and ibuprofen to your store shelves. We are adding a three month supply so if you have special needs ad more but for those who don’t add one bottle of each. Remember these will remain good and will not expire for at least two years past the expiration date on the package.

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