Tricotomania and more

A draft of this has been sitting here since before we left. It is about time I tidied it up and posted it. My friend Frank has started a new project. It looks really interesting and I thought some of the bread bakers who read here might be interested.

Here’s what Frank has to say:

AND, my latest project . . . . SPREAD THE BREAD!!!

Let me give you a bit of history on that . . . several weeks ago, while researching on the net for my course, I came across an incredible web site.  A grassroots, non-profit, organizing whose goal is to promote break making with a difference . . . baking bread and distributing the bread to those in need, to honour heroes, and generally bring a smile to peoples’ faces.  I contacted the founder of this organization and, well, here we are . . . I’ve been given the go-ahead to create SPREAD THE BREAD CANADA.

. . . so, break the bag of flour, get out the yeast, and start baking and distributing your bread!!  You can also make muffins, banana break, zucchini bread, any type of bread . . . and register your SPREAD THE BREAD project with the website and help us meet the goal of ONE MILLION breads spread around by Dec 31, 2007!

Since many of the folks who read here (and bake bread) are in the US, and Frank’s project is based on a US project, I asked him for the web address for those south of the border….

I have kept up with the breadmaking, though I destroyed my sourdough by not finding a babysitter for it when we went to BC in April (black mold, very interesting). Personally, I find breadmaking a bit like knitting in that it is nice to have a pattern/recipe but when you get the hang of the basics, you can basically wing it.

I thought some folks might be interested in one recipe I seem to have developed that my family are pretty keen on. I’ll give amounts for 1 loaf though I often double it and make 2 at a time. I make bread by hand, using a wooden spoon and then my hands. I have no idea how bread makers work so if you use one you’ll have to make your own adjustments.

Also, I’m not convinced that bread making is an exact science. Amounts are approximate. I kind of go with how it feels. In particular I don’t add all the flour at once. I add enough to make it difficult to stir with a wooden spoon, and then add the rest as I knead until it feels right. My rough guideline is that you need about 5 cups of flour total to make a loaf of bread. I count oats as flour.

Oatmeal Molasses Bread

2 teaspoons dried yeast

a tablespoon of molasses (what I do is a big gloop but I suspect it is about a tablespoon)

1 1/3 cups of hot tap water

1 tsp (or large pinch) salt

1 cup steel cut oats

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups (maybe, see note about kneading the last bit in) white bread flour

2 tablespoons (again with the large gloop) oil (I use olive oil but use what you have)

Put the yeast, molasses, salt and water in a large mixing bowl. Stir to dissolve molasses. Add the steel cut oats. This will be very liquid. Leave to stand until it is all foamy. (I put the oats in now so they soften up a bit. As long as it is liquid, the yeast is happy to do its thing.)

Mix in the oil, the whole wheat flour and then maybe 1 cup of the white flour. It should hold together at this point and you can tip it out of the bowl onto your clean countertop. Knead, incorporating extra flour until it doesn’t stick to the counter. (If you have forgotten the oil, as I often do, you can incorporate that at this stage, too. Make a little well, pour in some oil, fold the dough over it and knead.) I try to err on the side of not enough flour. It still feels sticky on my hands though it isn’t pulling the dough apart. Keep kneading. You will feel the texture of the dough change. In most recipes the thing you are aiming for is described as silky but I’ve never worked out what they mean. I knead until I get sick of kneading, more or less. It does get less sticky.

Put a bit of oil in the bottom of your mixing bowl (or a clean one if you prefer), plunk your dough in there, turn it over to coat in oil, put a clean tea towel over the bowl (dampen it if you like especially if you are prone to forgetting that you have bread rising; this will keep the top from drying out) and leave it for a couple of hours. It’ll double in size.

Punch down your dough. Plunk it on the countertop and knead it a bit more. (If you are making multiple loaves, split into however many you are making now.) Shape into loaves and put in loaf pans. Cover with that tea towel and leave to rise (until it rises above the edge the way a loaf is supposed to look).

Heat the oven to 375F (despite the fact that Canada went metric years ago, our ovens are still in Fahrenheit). Put the loaves in and bake for 35 minutes. They should sound hollow when you knock on them. Let cool out of the pans.

Of course you don’t have to make loaf shaped loaves. I’ve also shaped it into a ball and stuck it on a cookie sheet. Or you could make dinner rolls or something.

You could use a different sweetener than molasses though molasses gives the bread a nice brown colour and a flavour that I like with the oats (or maybe just generally). You can leave the sugar out altogether, probably, especially as the oats will give the yeast enough starch (if it needs any).

If you are new to breadmaking, you might find that the bread turns out not quite as you like it. You might need to experiment a bit to work out how to get the texture that you like. Altitude will make a difference. It is also pretty easy to find information on how to make crustier loaves (humidity and higher temperature for at least part of the time are involved) if that’s how you like ‘em. You aren’t a professional baker, so your bread doesn’t have to turn out exactly the same each time. I’m usually aiming for edible and tasty.

As I was kneading bread dough this morning, I was thinking. About flour. And baking. And blog conversations about bread. And about the magic that is my sourdough. (My partner thinks knitting is magic, but making sourdough starter was truly magic for me.) And all of this thinking led to some questions about wheat.

I think Becky made some comment about bread making that included the phrase “especially when using homeground wheat flour” or some such. Which reminded me of an acquaintance in England (who is German; that might be relevant) who grinds her own flour. I recall seeing the implement she uses for this in her kitchen and her explaining how freshly ground flour is better. But I was in a different place then (in so many ways) that details were not requested nor retained.

And then there is an article in the recent COG newsletter (or is it a magazine? we have only just joined and this is our first) about grains which makes it sound possible to grow even small amounts of wheat. I need to read that. Just the idea makes me realize that I think of wheat as something grown in very large swathes of prairie. I have no idea what kind of soil or weather or other conditions it requires. I know Ontario isn’t ideal for the commercial production of wheat (certainly compared to the larges swathes of prairie) but have no idea if it is possible to grow it here. Is it totally ridiculous to even wonder whether one could grow some in our little city garden? How much do you need to grow to get a useable amount? Does anyone supply seed in those kinds of small amounts?

And if that is a nutty question (I wouldn’t be surprised if it were), then where does one purchase wheat to grind oneself? And can it be purchased relatively locally?

Which brings me back to implements for grinding wheat. What exactly do I need to grind wheat for my own use in my own home? And where do I get such a thing? And will it fit on my counter? Because I think this is more desirable than a Kitchen Aid mixer that will do all that kneading for me. I kind of like the kneading. And I don’t even need a loaf a day so it isn’t like it is an overwhelming task. And it gives me an opportunity to think. Not to mention some upper-body strength.

I guess I’m asking all those farm-women (and anyone else who has any useful information) who drop by here to weigh in on this topic. Information on other grains is also welcome. Oh, and maybe my English friends who also know the German acquaintance could ask her what it is she uses if they get a chance.

Now with Photos…

Tigger thinks it is just like store-bought. (This is meant as a compliment.) It tastes great. I am inordinately proud of myself.

Despite the warnings that it might be really difficult to make my own starter, I am perservering with this little project. I had bubbly stuff. So I surfed a bit looking for what to do with it and found one site that said I should add some more flour and water when it was bubbly and it should get all bubbly again within about an hour. So I did that. Seemed happy.

Tonight, I decided to try baking something with it. Just to see. I went back to Melissa’s bread blog and checked a couple of her links and found a simple recipe so I’m trying that. I being patient. My house is not 70F so things might take longer to double or whatever. I’m going to see how it works.

I have been very uninterested in reading all kinds of stuff and trying to make the perfect sourdough. Or even to learning a lot of the science behind it. I think I’ve picked up a bit of Tigger’s pioneer inspiration. I’m betting Ma Ingalls didn’t read a bunch of books and check out who had the best starter before she made bread. I’m thinking she just got on with it using what she had to hand. And that she tried different things and worked out what worked better but sometimes just did it a particular way because that was what ingredients she had and how much time she had and how warm her house was…

So I’m just giving it a try and seeing what happens. I don’t need to be the best bread baker ever. I am aiming to make edible bread in a way that fits easily into our lifestyle.

So when I have been surfing around looking for recipes, I’ve tended to avoid those that add a lot of stuff. I have been using a “did Ma Ingalls have this ingredient” kind of test. Not rigourously but roughly. And if this starter doesn’t work, I’ll throw it out and try again. Maybe. It is mostly flour and water. No great loss.

I think it has been bothering me that so many people seem to be scared to try anything for fear that they will do it wrong. That is evident in the knitting community on-line. And what I’ve seen of the bread thing seems to have a bit of it, too. Must research all the ways I could do this, pick the right one, work really hard at making sure I do it exactly right, etc. I am not convinced that either bread or knitting need to be that exact. Lighten up. Try stuff. See what happens. I am.

We’ve been baking bread regularly around here. Mostly me but sometimes Tigger and sometimes one starts and another finishes. My partner has even done it a couple of times (when we need bread and no one else was stepping up).

Aside: There is one odd thing we’ve discovered. My partner can’t eat bread. He loves bread but it gives him a really bad belly ache. It is not all wheat products, just bread. And he can eat pita and other flatbreads. We’re not sure why this is and if quantity has something to do with it (flatbreads mean less bread per quantity of filling in a sandwich) or the yeast (though beer doesn’t cause a problem). Anyway, he severely limits how much bread he eats and only sometime indulges. But he’s tried the homemade stuff and has had no problems. None. Weird. I’m wondering if there is some preservative in even the bakery bread we buy that causes the problem (though wouldn’t that be in the flatbreads?).

Back to the bread. We started with Wisteria’s recipe and have basically experimented. We have a friend with a baby so we haven’t used honey (babies under a year old can’t have honey, even when cooked) so she can eat the bread (because she’s old enough for real food). Also, Wisteria uses honey because she keeps bees and has tons of it lying around. We’ve been using molasses mostly. I actually really like bread with molasses in it and so does Tigger.

We also don’t measure. We were using yeast in packets and worked out that was 2 tsp, adjusted Wisteria’s recipe accordingly and went from there. So we kind of measure the water (but not the temperature) and we definitely don’t measure the sweet stuff. And then we add flour until it feels right. We’ve only guessed at what that means but usually it works out well.

Flour has also varied depending on what we have and what we want to try. I know that I shouldn’t use all purpose flour so we’ve been buying bread flour but that is about the only limitation. We need to go back out to the mill in Manotick and get some of their flour as it is good, locally ground, and so on.

Anyway, in relation to all the Laura Ingalls Wilder inspired learning going on around here, we picked up a couple of cookbooks at the library the other week. One is about cooking in pioneer days, Skillet Bread, Sourdough, and Vinegar Pie by Loretta Frances Ichord. (The knitters can giggle over that name.) While looking through it for something else, I found a recipe for sourdough starter. It is in a chapter about the California Gold Rush and even explains different ways to make it.

When I mentioned it to Tigger she ran upstairs and got the current LIW book and leafed back a few pages to read the part where it explains how to make sourdough starter. It is in By the Shores of Silver Lake, Chapter 21, Merry Christmas.

“You start it,” said Ma, “by putting some flour and warm water in a jar and letting it stand till it sours.”

“Then when you use it, always leave a little,” said Laura. “And put in the scraps of biscuit dough, like this, and more warm water,” Laura put in the warm water, “and cover it,” she put the clean cloth and the plate on the jar, ” and just set it in a warm place,” she set it in its place on the shelf by the stove. “And it’s always ready to use, whenever you want it.”

(page 196 of the edition we have from the library)

The other recipe also involves buttermilk with an explanation that it would not be used if they didn’t have it. I decided to pick some up today even though the recipe calls for 4 tablespoons and you can only buy it in 1 litre cartons. I have a recipe for buttermilk pancakes I might need to try with the rest.

I went a rooted around to find Melissa’s bread blog for more information and ideas. (I should also look more closely at her bread carnival.)She’s got some great links to other bread blogs, several of which are specifically about sourdough. I had a quick peek at some but I’m not sure I want to do that much reading and be that scientific about it. We seem to be doing well with the “try it and see” approach. I sort of feel like I want to learn more about the process and why different things are done in a particular way, but mostly I’m enjoying the freedom of this more creative approach. I may, of course, end up with the sort of crisis she reported here, but I hope not.

Despite my inclination to just dive in without reading up on it first, there are links to sourdough bread recipes once I’ve got this starter going. And I think I might want to drop by there more often and see what they are up to on the bread front.

I think my biggest problem is going to be finding a consistently warm place for my starter to get started. I have been keeping the house kind of cool and wearing warm clothes, only turning up the thermostat when necessary. In the evening, I often go down to the family room where we have a gas fireplace that warms the room up quickly. The recipe suggests the water heater, but if mine was that poorly insulated, I’d be pretty angry. I suspect I’ll go for the counter next to the stove since that probably warms up more frequently than other places. And I really have no idea how warm it needs to be for the magic to work. I guess I’ll find out. If it doesn’t work, maybe we’ll leave it until spring or summer to try again.

There has been some discussion around the homeschooling blogs about Melissa’s Rule of 6. I have been thinking about the last one, meaningful work, because Tigger has been doing quite a bit of it. Including baking bread.

The bread idea was prompted by Wisteria (and her recipe). Not that I hadn’t thought about it before, but I think her post came at a good time. We decided to try it. We have taken her recipe and modified it for our own purposes. Our bread tin is smaller so we use about 2/3 of a recipe (which conveniently comes out to one packet of yeast). A friend said that babies under a year aren’t supposed to have honey (even if cooked) so we substituted molasses so her daughter can eat it. Molasses also gives a really nice flavour to the bread. We use oil instead of butter (saves on the melting). It is really tasty. (Thanks, Wisteria.)

And Tigger does it all herself. She is justifiably proud of her bread. And has as a goal to make bread as good as Granddad’s. She strongly associates my dad (her Granddad) with home baked bread. Granddad, of course, only took up baking (and cooking in general) in retirement so I have no childhood memories of home-baked bread. She is also a big fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder and all things pioneer, which I think motivates activities like baking bread that are seen as old-fashioned.

Tigger has also taken on responsibility for feeding the cats first thing in the morning. She is the first one up, usually, so this makes sense. She had also lobbied strongly to get the cats and offered to take this on in recognition of the fact that cats involve work and she should do some of that work.

Yesterday she proudly announced that she had unloaded the dishwasher all by herself. No one asked (this was before we got out of bed) and this has not been an expectation. It requires a stool to reach some of the cupboards. She just did it. It has been her job for a while to clear the table and load the dishwasher but this is a new development.

I’ve been thinking about this, because in general I detest “chores”. The thought of a list of tasks that have to be done and that can be allocated to various members of the household, or various time slots, makes me irritable. I think it has something to do with meaningful work. Doing “chores” is not always meaningful. It can easily turn into a standard list of things that must be done to a certain schedule and become divorced from the needs of life as you are living it.

For example, I find that if “cleaning” is a “chore”, then folks resent doing cleaning at any other time or when they think of themselves as doing something else (like “cooking”). Things actually get dirtier. Spills on the stove get ignored because “cleaning” is a separate task. When more than one person is doing the cooking, this can be frustrating for the person who finds it unpleasant to cook in that sort of environment. Similarly, one can end up doing a particular chore just because it is on the list to be done at this frequency even when the need is not as great. We get focused on the “chores” rather than the life that they are supposed to facilitate.

If this is my attitude, you can see that it would be inappropriate to make a list of chores for Tigger. I do think that as a member of the household she needs to contribute to the running of the household. And I think that she needs to learn how to do a range of tasks that need to be done more or less regularly. I also fundamentally and completely disagree with any notion that the house should just appear as a clean and lovely space to any of the people who live in it. The work involved ought to be understood and appreciated by all members of the household.

By observing how she has been participating in household work over the past little while, I have come to see that when there is no list of “chores”, the work itself can become meaningful. It produces something that the worker desires — tasty bread, a tidy environment, etc. It also produces a feeling of fully belonging to the household. That pride that she can empty the dishwasher is at least partly about recognizing an additional way that she is able to contribute, even if she doesn’t empty the dishwasher every time. And household tasks do not just produce goods (bread, dinner, clean laundry) and services (dinner served to the table, maid service), they also produce relationships. Doing these things for others as a member of a household is a way of tangibly caring for people.

As many of us know, the joy in cooking is not just the satisfaction of the biological need for food, but the joy that good food brings to those that we love. Home-baked bread is overflowing with meaning, at the same time as being a staple of our daily meals.