March 8, 2008
Today is Women's day in Poland. It's probably like Valentine's Day in
America, though in Poland they are starting to celebrate American
holidays now, so they have a Valentine's Day too. If i remember
correctly on Women's day in Poland, women got flowers from loved ones;
it wasn't quite as extravagant as Valentine's Day here.
Well, today on Women's Day I decided to write about making bread, a
womanly chore in the old days. Though, the first person that I saw
make bread on a regular basis was a man, Steve White, my surrogate dad
during my teenage years. Ever since living at his home, I've always
enjoyed home made bread, but I didn't have the motivation to actually
do it myself.
In Utah and in Iowa there was a bakery called Great Harvest that made
100% whole wheat natural bread, so I always bought my bread from them.
When I moved to Georgia I looked and looked for a natural bakery but
there isn't one here. Either the bread was not 100% whole wheat or it
had 20+ obscure ingredients that probably should not be in bread.
Bread may be 50% of what my children eat during the day, so I want it
to be natural and healthy. So I finally decided that if I wanted
natural bread I would have to make it myself on a regular basis. I
dreaded this solution, but I could not stomach store bought bread no
matter how expensive it was.
I decided to buy a Bosch bread mixer, one that I saw Steve White use
years ago. I found it online and I began to experiment. My sister
Kinga sent me a pretty good bread recipe, but the bread came out well
only 25% of the time.
My sister Kinga also recommended that I grind my own wheat and
suggested a K-Tec Kitchen Mill Grinder because there are 2 kinds of
whole wheat: red wheat and white wheat. White wheat is just the
albino form of red wheat. It doesn't have the 2 naturally occurring
chemicals that give it the red color and make it bitter. Those
chemicals are a natural pesticide that the plant developed over the
years to make it not taste good to pests. White whole wheat doest not
have these ingredients, it tastes delicious, but it is hard to find
already ground. It can be found in some health food stores or in some
Indian markets because white wheat is used in Asia. Just ask for
Chapatti flour if you don't want to grind it yourself. Whole white
wheat tastes wonderful and sweet and has the same amount of fiber and
vitamins and minerals as red whole wheat.
So I bought the grinder and ground some white whole wheat and
experimented with my recipe. After tweaking and changing it, I
finally came up with the perfect whole wheat bread recipe and I wanted
to share it with everyone. It makes the most perfect whole wheat
bread if you use whole white wheat, but it will work well with regular
red whole wheat too. The King Arthur brand of flour carries 100%
whole white as well as red wheat.
Well, here is the recipe:
The Best Whole Wheat Bread That I Have Tasted So Far
The Sponge:
4 1/2 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast or 2 packets
3/4 cup warm Water
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
mix 3/4 cup warm water and yeast, then add 1 cup of whole Wheat Flour,
mix vigorously
Let it sit for 45 minutes. It will reach a peak of expansion and then
settle back down a little. That's when its time to do this:
while mixing add:
The Dough:
2 1/2 cups of warm Water
2 cups of Whole Wheat Flour
stir very well and add
1/2 cup of Wheat Gluten
2 1/2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1/3 cup Honey
1 1/2 Tablespoon Salt
mix very well and add slowly:
3 cups of Whole Wheat Flour or a bit more until it's a good bread consistency
knead 10-15 minutes
Place into greased pans and let it rise in a warm place or a slightly
warm oven for
1 hour if using regular yeast or,
40 min if using quick bread machine yeast
Bake at 325 for 20-30 minutes depending on your loaf size and how your
oven works. It should be a very light golden brown, not a dark brown
like you see in stores.
I hope this helps those of you who have a desire to make delicious
bread at home.
I now make bread 3 times per week. It only takes 2 hours and most of
that time I'm doing something else. I just have to listen to the timer
to do the next step. Of course this bread can be made by hand, the
appliances are not necessary.
I'm sending a couple of Family Home Evening pictures of when we went
on the fitness trail here on Fort Gordon. It was a really fun
activity and very good exercise. We're still enjoying our "winter"
here in Georgia. There are also a couple of other pictures. One is
of Nephi sleeping on the stairs with his head on a rag. It looks like
he is praying like a Muslim. He is even facing east toward Mecca. A
very funny way to sleep. Oh, and one of Nephi wearing my skirt and
posing like Merlin Monroe…
Sylwia
Domowy Chleb
8 Marzec 2008
Jesli dobrze pamietam to dzisiaj jest Dzien Kobiet w Polsce. Na dzien
kobiet pamietam ze kobiety dostawaly kwiaty. W Ameryce nie ma dnia
kobiet ale jest swieto Valentine's. To prawie to samo co dzien kobiet
bo najczesciej meszczyzni kupuja cos kobietom—czekolady,perfumy, zadko
kwiaty, i ida razem do restauracji na obiad.
Wiec w ten dzien kobiet pisze o starodawnej kobiecej pracy pieczenia
chleba. Choc pierwsza osoba ktora znalam co piekla chleb to byl
meszczyzna--Pan Steve White, z ktorego rodzinom mieszkalam jak bylam
nastolatka. On piekl chleb dla calej swojej rodziny na caly tydzien.
W Ameryce chleb w skepach jest nie naturalny i ma bardzo duzo dodanych
chemikalji i cukru. Nie dobrze smakuje i jest nie zdrowy. W Utah i w
Iowa byla jedna piekarnia z naturalnym chlebem i ja tam zawsze chleb
kupowalam. Ale tu w Georgia nie ma zadnej takiej naturalnej piekarni.
Wiec ja sie zdecydowalam zaczac sama chleb piec.
Pieczenie chleba to nie jest latwa sprawa. Pewnie tez dlatego nawet w
starodawnych czasach byly piekarnie. Jest wiele recept na pieczenie
chleba. Trudno z nich wybrac. Kinga mi dala dosyc dobra recepte ale
chleb nie byl doskonaly i nie zawsze wychodzil.
Kinga mi tez powiedziala ze powinnam sama mielic ziarno na make. Bo
sa rozne ziarna pszenicy in nie wszytkie dobrze smakuja. Tu w Ameryce
mamy czerwone ziarno i jasnozolte ziarno. Czerwone gorzej smakuje, a
jasnozolte ma takie same wartosci zdrowotne ,ale duzo lepiej smakuje.
Wiec ja kupialam mielarke do ziarna i zaczelam sama make mielic. Tez
zmienilam te recepte troche po trochu az wynalazlam doskonaly chleb.
Jest naprawde wysmienity i ja piecze chleb 3 razy w tygodniu. Tez
kupilam sobie maszyne do mieszania chleba niemeckiej firmy Bosch.
Bardzo dobrze mi make miesza wiec nie musze tego robic rekami. Piecze
5 bochenkow w piecu i moje dzieci bardzo szybko cieply chleb zjadaja.
Dzile sie maja recepta z wami jesli was to interesuje. Ale ja wiem ze
w Polsce i Niemczech jest bardzo dobry zdrowy chleb z piekarni, wiec
pawnie was to nie interesuje za bardzo.
Najlepszy Cheb Pszenny Jaki do Teraz Wynalazlam
1. Pomieszaj 4 ½ male lyzeczki drozdzy z ¾ kubka wody.
2. Dodaj jeden kubek maki z otrebami (naturalenej nie bialej) i
dobrze razem wymieszaj.
3. Daj tej mieszance siedziec 45 minut.
4. Po 45 minutach dodaj:
2 ½ kubki wody
2 kubki naturalnej maki
2 ½ duzej lyzki oleju
1 ½ dzuej lyzki soli
1/3 kubka miodu
½ kubka gluten z pszenicy
Jeszcze 3 kubi naturalnej maki
5. Mieszaj wszystko przez 10-15 minut.
6. Wlorz w blachy do pieczenia i daj chlebu rosnac przez godzine w
cieplym miejscu.
7. Piecz w piecu 163 celciusza przez 20-30 minut. Chleb bedzie zloty a
nie ciemno brazowy…
Przesylam kilka zdjec z wieczoru rodzinnego jak poszlismy cwiczyc tu
na bazie na takiej zdrowotnej scieszce. Co kilka metrow byly
instrukcje cwiczenia. Bardzo fajnie sie bawilismy. Fajna jest "zima"
w Georgia. No it tez pare innych zdjec przesylam. Na jednym Nefi
zasna na szmatce na schodach w naszym domu. Wygladalo jakby sie po
arabsku modil; nawet byl sklonienty na wschod w strone Mekki; bardzo
smieszne tak spac. A na ostatnim to Nefi ma na sobie maja spodnice i
o pozuje jak Marlin Monroe.
Sylwia
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