Mr. Breadman, my new BFF!

So, my good friend Laura told me she made bread in 1hr start to finish! This I have to try! Time has been my nemesis in this bread making adventure, so an hour would be a huge victory against that nemesis. I gave it a try. Takes less than 10 minutes to mix up the batch in the bread machine. Set the machine for the super rapid bread baking cycle and then wallah homemade bread in an hour.

No, it's not pretty, but the texture is perfect! Soft,and just right! The two downfalls: a hole in the bottom of the loaf, and the huge mushroom top.




I really haven't found anything creative with the two bottom pieces that have a hole. However the top of the mushroom is incredibly soft. When sliced sideways, it's like a nice dinner bread. It is devoured by my little ones while warm.









I have to take a moment to apologize to my hubs! He bought this breadmachine 8 or 9 years ago. I huffed and puffed because I hate additional appliances and I can not stand a cluttered counter-top. The bread machine is big and ugly. I really didn't want it in my kitchen. It's been stored for years because Keith would not let me get rid of it. Sweet Wendy encouraged me to pull it out and let the bread machine do the kneading on the knead only cycle.Reluctantly I did it only because my Kitchenaid mixer was not doing a good job at kneading for me.
The kneading in the bread machine was perfect. I never ventured out to try and cook my bread in this machine. It was just for kneading! Now that I've baked my bread in this machine, and it's turned out wonderful 6 times in a row! I'm hooked! Honey, please forgive me! Mr. Breadman, I'm so sorry for my snobbishness toward you! I will never turn my back on you again. Jesus, thank you for hearing my prayer at the beginning of this year and helping me to find a way to bake bread that my family will eat!!!
The recipe:

2 1/2 cups wheatberries (fleshly ground)
1 cup of all purpose white flour
2 T of wheat gluten
1 1/4t salt
2 T of breadmachine yeast
2-3 T of honey
12 - 13 oz of warm water
2 T of canola oil

Grind your wheat berries. Then add enough white flour to make a total of 4 cups of flour. I add my 2 T of wheat gluten to this mixture, then make a whole in this mixture and scoop my 2T of yeast in that whole. (All of this is in my Vitamix container, you could use any bowl for this mixture). Then I go to my new BFF, Mr. Breadman. First I put the water, salt, oil, and honey in the machine and then I start the super rapid cycle. Then I add the flour mixture little at a time, until it's completely incorporated and turned into a dough ball. It's very important to add it little at a time, like a 1/2 cup or so. Then close your machine and let your BFF do all the work for you. In 1 hr you will have a GREAT loaf of bread. Take it out of the machine and let it rest on the counter top for an hour, until cool, or eat hot, YUM!

The best yet!!

I haven't made bread in the past couple of weeks, due to failure! My last 2 loaves were like a brick. No one wanted to eat them :( So, I bought bread for a couple of weeks and then heard the Lord tell me to make my Step-mom and Mother-in-law bread for Mother's Day. I pleaded with Him, but he won. So, the kids and I prayed this morning that Nana and Gramaw's bread would turn out! We prayed hard :) God listened. Chesney and I set up and got to work on cinnamon bread. I've never made cinnamon bread before, but found that it wasn't much different from my bread recipe, so we gave it a try. Boy am I glad we did. We made 4 loaves today! The bread baked beautifully and my kids devoured our loaf in a nano second. I have to admit it was some kind of yummy. There is no better taste than freshly baked bread. I praise the Lord for sending me the inspiration to step out and try it. I praise him for sending some good friends to teach me the process. I praise him for the wonderful nutrition it's giving my children.
Here's the finished process and a few tools that make the slice look like store bought bread.
An electric knife
And a wooden bread box slice set! This makes a perfect cut!

It's RISEN!

So, I have been playing around with my bread recipe to get a bigger loaf. I've also been letting my bread machine do all of the kneading for me! Today I added some wheat gluten and lecithin. I think it worked :D

Breadmaking 101

So last year I started on a homemade bread making adventure. I've been trying out different recipes all last year searching for the perfect sandwich recipe! I've had several friends give me tips, live tutorials and still I would come home and fail. So this year, we began praying the Lord would help Mommy figure out the bread! Every time I would talk about my bread failures, someone would mention an old friend Wendy Mckormick. SO, Mommy sent her an email asking her for some bread-making tips. She sent me many tips, I tried them and still... FAILED. SO, gracious Mrs. Wendy loaded up her 3 precious children and came over for a hands on demo with all my ingredients and kitchen tools. She showed me all her tips and walked me through step by step how to get the best results. Wow! My bread turned out like this:


Momma is doing the happy dance!! Daddy ate a sandwich with the sandwich loaf today!!Each child has gobbled up more bread than ever!! I have a new confidence and learned so much! Oh the possibilities now!! Thanks Jesus for hearing my cries for help and sending Wendy's hands to help me!

Mommy's Little Secret!!

My sweet children,

Last week Mommy's new Vitamix arrived in the mail. My supercool blender/grain grinder! Mommy is in love with this new appliance. It has changed our life in so many great ways! Mommy's friend, Lisa, has been trying to convince me to buy this machine for years, I just wouldn't fork out the money to do it. I have been praying for the past year about buying it, and the Lord has provided the money to do so. So, I found a used one on ebay and now its here!! I need to name her, because she has accomplished so much in just two weeks time. So far, you all are in love with the smoothies and icee's that I make you each day. None of you have a clue that you are eating cabbage, carrots and spinach everyday with your precious strawberries, apples and bananas. It feels so wonderful to know you are eating such things, and that you think Mommy's giving you the best treat ever!! So many of our GI ailments are beginning to remedy themselves :) It makes me such a proud Momma!! I haven't even began to do bread making with it. Oh the wonders of it all!!! I feel like Im walking on cloud nine, all of you eating 6-7 servings of fresh fruits and veggies a day. The best part is you are doing it joyfully. The gift of a lifetime for me!!! One day I'll share the secret ingredients, but not now........ :)