The Art of Zen Living

One of the ways I’ve been living simply is by making my own bread.  Week in, week out, one night a week (while I do other things) I “make me this night my weekly bread”.

As good as my basic Honey Whole Wheat recipe is (re-posted inside), a bit of variety is also good.  Here are a few things I’ve tried and what I thought.

1. Rolled Oats: Yummy.  I just throw a handful into the flour when I’m mixing it in.  Changes the texture in a subtle but pleasing way.
2. Spelt berries (seeds): Uncracked, they’re teeth breakers, but provide a nice nutty flavor.  I suggest cracking them with mortar and pestle, or perhaps placing them in a bag and using a mallet.
3. Millet: Very tasty.  Again, it’s more of a texture change.  Adds a nice, pleasant “pop” sort of crunch.  Again, I added this to the flour before I mixed it in, about a 1/4 cup.  No need to soak or crack it, but be sure it’s washed.
4. Rye Flour: Substitute 1/2 cup of rye for 1/2 cup of the whole wheat.  Gives it a nice, rye undertone.

I have a few other things I want to try over the next few weeks - quinoa, graham flour, cracked and toasted buckwheat to name a few - so I’ll keep you posted.  I’m also going to try some more traditional bread flavorings, cinnamon raisin swirl among them.  Look for that post in the next week of so as well.

See inside for the recipe, and stay tuned for more “Dough!”

There’s something very satisfying about making a loaf of bread. It’s almost as if home made bread is the ultimate in domestic achievement. You tell someone you’re baking home made bread and their eyes light up. It’s a very pleasing experience, heavy on the senses - the contrasting colors of the ingredients, the firm but pliant feel of the dough, the heady scent of the yeast as the bread rises, the sound of the whisk in the liquid before you add the flour, and the clank of the spoon against the bowl as you mix the dough, the pounding of the dough being kneaded. Finally, the wonderful aroma of the bread baking, and the taste of the fresh, still warm bread with butter melting into it. Yummy!

Somewhere along the line, we’ve been tricked into thinking that bread is hard to make (it isn’t - if I can do it, then believe me YOU can!), that it’s cheaper to buy at the store (not by a long shot - but that’s another post in the frugality category), or just that you don’t have the time to make bread. Let me walk you through the steps, and you’ll see that it takes very little time and effort, and is extremely rewarding!

OK, so here’s what you’re going to need:

3 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup honey
1 cup warm water
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 packet dry yeast

You’ll also need:

1 large mixing bowl
1 1/4 teaspoons measuring spoon
1 measuring cup
1loaf pan

That’s it! To be fair, this is the basic list - I used several other items, as shown here:

OK, we’re ready to go - let’s get started!

Step 1: In a large mixing bowl combine 1 cup of water ( at a temp. of 110 to 120 degrees F ) with the salt, the honey, the yeast, the oil and the milk and stir until mix.

I have three tips here - first, make sure the bowl is warm first. I used a glass bowl, and filled it with hot water, then dumped out the water. If you don’t have a thermometer to check the water temperature, a nice, hot bath is usually around 100-110 degrees. Second, mix in the yeast first, then add the other ingredients - if the yeast isn’t dissolved into the water first, it clumps. And finally, if you measure out the oil first, the measuring cup will have a nice coat of oil on it, which will make the honey slide out of it effortlessly.

Step 2: Mix in the flour and stir until the dough starts pull away from the bowl.

This is pretty straight forward. I added about 2 cups all at once, and stirred. Once that was well mixed, I started adding the rest of the flour about 1/4 to 1/2 cup at a time, until I ended up with what you see in the picture above.

Step 3: Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for 6 to 10 minutes or until the dough become smooth.

OK, first let’s cover “lightly floured”. I didn’t know what that meant when I started baking bread, and as a result my first few loaves had way too much flour mixed into them from this step. This is what lightly floured should look like:

Now it’s time to kneed. Rub some flour over your hands to coat them. I just take a little flour in my palm, then rub my hands together as if I were washing them with the flour. Slap the dough down, and shape it into a ball - doesn’t have to be a perfect ball, just a mostly round shape. Now punch down on it until it’s flat and about an inch thick. Repeat. That’s all there really is to kneading bread dough. I also pick the dough up and twist it around in my hands, or after pounding it flat I’ll fold it over and press it out again with my palms. All you’re really doing is working the dough to make sure everything is mixed nice and smoothly in. Here are a few tips:

1. Don’t worry if a little of the dough sticks to the counter. You will, at least a few times, have to add more flour to the counter to keep the dough from sticking, but try to keep it to a minimum. This applies to your hands as well.
2. I always go for the full 10 minutes of kneading. Set a timer and then go to work. If you aren’t constantly looking at the clock, it feels like it goes much faster. This is a good activity to practice being in the now, because so many of your senses are engaged. The smell of the yeast, the feel of the dough, the sight of the pattern of the flour, the sound of the dough slapping on the counter. I really enjoy this part!

Step 4: Place a small amount of oil in a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl and flip the dough to cover the dough with oil. Cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rise for about an hour ,the dough should double in size. Note: This may take longer if the room is cold.

I use canola oil spray (I have a refillable sprayer I use, but this one made a better picture) to coat the bowl. Pouring a little oil in and rubbing it around works fine too. You can either use a clean bowl here, or do as I do and clean as you go. This is the same bowl I mixed the dough in. When I was done kneading, I left the dough where you see it for the minute or so it took to clean out the bowl and get it oiled. Once that happened:

Don’t bother cleaning up your work area just yet - you’re going to need it again. You’ll want to make sure nothing falls into your dough - one way to do that is to throw a towel over it. I’ll show you my favorite way a little later!

Now you have about an hour. Sometimes I go for my walk and workout, or I might work on a post, or work on my chores around the house. If I’m done with everything for the day, I might see what Tivo has waiting for me. When we come back an hour later, the dough should have roughly doubled in size. Don’t worry if it’s slightly less or slightly more, as long as it’s risen a noticeable amount, it’s fine.

Step 5 : Take the dough out of the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Shape the dough into a 8 inches log and place into a lightly greased loaf pan.

Tips:

1. Punch the dough a few times while it’s in the bowl. It will return to a normal size.
2. Put dough on your not-cleaned work area and shape into a log that will fit in your loaf pan.
3. I treated my loaf pan the same way I did the bowl - sprayed with canola oil.

Step 6 : Loosely cover the pan with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rise for 30 to 60 minutes - until the dough rises about an inch above the pan.

“Cover with oiled plastic wrap”? All you’re trying to do is keep the bugs out and dust off! Ugh. Who wants to go through all that???

Remember I said I’d show you my favorite place to let things rise? Here ya go:

Just throw it in the microwave and close the door. Done. Don’t RUN the microwave. Also, if your microwave isn’t a a nice, room temperature then you may want to fill a glass with hot water and put it in the microwave next to your dough. Isn’t that easier than oiling plastic wrap?

Now you have another “about an hour”. Sometimes I go for my walk and workout, or I might work on a post, or work on my chores around the house. If I’m done with everything for the day, I might see what Tivo has waiting for me. I bet that all sounds very familiar!

Step 7: Preheat oven to 350(f) degrees. Place in center of oven and cook for about 40 minutes (after 20 minutes loosely cover the pan with aluminum foil). When done, immediately remove bread from loaf pan to cool. Test if the wheat bread is done by (gently) thumping the bottom of the bread - it should sound hollow. Let the bread cool on a rack, then slice.

This part is all pretty straight forward. Bake 20 minutes in a preheated oven, then cover (as shown above) loosely with aluminum foil to prevent the top crust from becoming too crunchy. I only have one trick for you here. If you like your crust a little softer, then take a clean, lint-free cotton kitchen towel, and get it wet. Now twist all the excess water out of it until it feels just barely damp. Cover the bread with it while the bread cools:

OK, now we just let it cool. Then end result:

Please note the foil I used to cover the bread folded up nice and neat and ready to be stored until I need it for the next loaf. Saving that foil is frugal, and it’s also good for the environment. It’s important to save the Earth - I don’t know about you, but Earth is where I keep all my stuff!

Wrapping up, I highly recommend this bread - it has a great flavor, was nice and moist and easy to cut. I enjoyed it toasted, but my friend and her son didn’t like the toast so much. You’ll have to try it yourself I suppose!

OK, that’s it! Bet that’s a lot easier than you thought it would be - I know I thought it would be a lot harder! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments so everyone can learn, or e-mail me directly at Daniel@TheArtOfZenLiving.com