I have always loved to bake. In fact, over the past year or so I have made almost all of the bread that my family uses – sandwich bread, rolls, etc. I do love to bake sweets as well, and I was reminded just before Christmas just how much fun it is to create a pretty, tasty cake when I was asked to help out with the annual 4-H bake sale.
I did a little brainstorming, and – I’ll confess – a bit of taste testing with my mom. We came up with this little idea that would let us have fun baking while also spreading the calorie load around a bit.
I have added a page here on the Crack of Dawn Farms site with the menu of offerings and my contact information. I am making these to order, and I should be able to get cakes out once or twice a week. Just call or email to let me know what you need and when, and we can work out the details.
What is better than sliced bread? Homemade, hand-sliced bread, of course!
Today’s double batch of double-the-recipe bread.
I started making homemade bread a few weeks ago. This is something I have really been wanting to do to provide my family with a fresher, healthier option for sandwiches and such as we attempt to become a little more “homesteady” in our food choices and methods. After listening to Farm Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder, I had visions of instituting a baking day – the day set aside for doing the week’s baking. I figured I would start with doubling the loaf since I have this wonderful long loaf pan. That should take my family through a week.
Not.
I never realized how much bread we consumed! I made the bread on the weekend, and by Tuesday I was making another double loaf! And they were getting antsy because it was running low by Friday.
So, here is the question, was I really that oblivious to my family’s rate of bread consumption? Or (more likely) do we just love the homemade stuff so much more that we are eating more now?
My gut tells me it is the latter. I think we are eating sandwiches when we might normally have something else, having a snack of buttered bread, and I know a certain Man of the House that is having French toast for breakfast more than occasionally now 🙂
Fresh, buttered bread
I imagine (am sort of hoping!) that the novelty of it will wear off a bit… I know I have to work on my own self-control so I don’t undo all of my weight loss of the past couple of years!! But it is sooooo goood 🙂
I don’t think I shall complain about the increased consumption by my fellas, though. I know the ingredients that are going into the bread, and I know they are good. Plus, I really am enjoying the process. It does take time, but if I am going to be around the house, it is not such a big deal since much of that time is waiting on the rise or the bake.
Today I decided to give my mixer a break. I had been using it to do the kneading, but I wanted to see if there was a difference when I did it myself. I haven’t tasted these yet, but I can say that the texture seems much more tender, and I know I thoroughly enjoyed the process! It was very relaxing and rewarding to think about the good I was doing for my family while I was working the dough. Honestly, I don’t think it took that much longer, and I didn’t have to stand over my mixer trying to keep it from walking off the counter!
My first loaf (the long one) didn’t rise properly. I think I did something wrong with the yeast (trying a new brand), but it did eventually rise enough I could bake it. It will be interesting to see how it turns out on the inside… it rose in the pan the whole time I made and baked the second batch (the two smaller loaves).
So, do you bake your own bread? All the time, or just as a treat? I have made rolls, cinnamon rolls, pizza dough, and the like (and I love to bake!), but this is the first time I have attempted to nix the whole store-bought bread routine.. I am excited to try new recipes and work into whole-grains rather than this (quite delicious) white bread all the time. Now that I am getting into a routine, I am ready to expand my horizons!
After getting the interior fence in, things have settled down A LOT in the chicken yard. Atlas is much happier with his freedom to run and not be confined to his crate while we are gone or cannot be watching. The chickens seem quite content – although Dominique the Barred Rock decided to take a flight into Atlas territory the first evening when we fed Atlas. She was a little perturbed to not have access to his dish, I guess. LOL!
Two of the Black Stars did find a gap in the fencing under the coop for us. I was so surprised that day when they started carrying on with their distress calls. At first we assumed they had flown out, but when we put them back in we watched them immediately go back to the gap and exit. Noted. Fixed.
One thing the Black Stars escape showed us is that our 50+ pound livestock guardian is still very much a PUPPY. He may not look so much like a puppy anymore, but he sure wanted those birds to play with. My mom says perhaps he just knew they belonged inside the fence and was doing his job. I’m going with puppy on this one.
All in all, it has been quiet and peaceful with the critters. It has made me realize how much more time I have to do things around and in the house when I am not out with Atlas on his leash worried that he’ll have to stay too much of the day in the crate. I’ve actually gotten to clean house (yay!), start – and finish – a sewing project within a week (found some neat rooster-motif fabric at Jo-Ann’s Columbus Day sale!), start making bread for our family, continue working on my quilt that I started in 2002, and take an afternoon to head to out for an impromptu trip to the Nashville History Festival!
We did have a little scare last week with the baby chicks. With all the rain we had, it turns out the CamperCoop™ was not providing the protection from dampness that was needed. The little ladies were struggling, and we were worried about coccidiosis. We brought them in for several days to dry out and give them some medicine. They are thriving again, and we are still keeping them inside at night, but have refreshed the coop and are letting them enjoy these sunny days outside.
I will really be glad for the chicks to be big enough to start incorporating them in the main chicken yard/coop. We made a Pet Porter tunnel in the garage (two of them end to end with a chicken wire pass through) to give them more space when they are in at night. They seem to have taken a growth spurt while they were recuperating… they don’t all fit in one dog crate any more. Ryan has to go in and retrieve them one at a time in the morning so we can move them out, but it is worth it for them to stay healthy!
Until next time… we are staying busy here on the farm! Here are some pics from our adventures of late (and yes, I realize I didn’t include any Atlas pics this time… these are more about non-chicken/dog projects 😉
My new (made-by-me) apron!
Still getting beans! There are blossoms even!
Ryan at the Nashville History Festival.
Flintlock shot demonstration at the Nashville History Festival.
The best! Vintage baseball at the Nashville History Festival.
Fresh baked bread
My great-grandmother pieced this quilt, and my grandmother taught me how to quilt on it. Goal is to finish it by the end of the year.
