herbalscents

I love making homemade bread. Especially from fresh ground wheat.  Last week, we got a grain mill attachment for my mixer.  Which makes grinding wheat a lot nicer now that it only takes 10 mins to grind it instead of an hour or more like it was taking on my hand grinder.

I like to use about 2 1/3 c Soft White Wheat and 4 2/3 c Hard Red Wheat.  I find that gives me a fluffier bread.   You can use store-bought whole wheat flour too, but be sure to fluff it with a fork before you measure it or your bread will come out really really heavy.

Measure out 2 c water, plus a little extra and warm it to between 105F and 120F.  The extra is to account for any evaporation.  After you have it the desired temperature, measure out 2 cups.  Water your house plants with whatever extra you have. 

Add 1/3 c agave nectar and a slightly heaping teaspoon of yeast.  Set aside.

In your mixing bowl, combine 3 c flour, 1/3 c gluten flour (i am working on not having to use the gluten flour anymore, but I haven’t figured out a good way to make fluffy bread without it) 1/3 c oil and 2t salt.

If your yeast mixture is foamy then it is ready to add.

As you mix, gradually add more flour until your dough is not sticky to touch.  Knead for 15 mins.  (10 if you are using a mixer)  It should be elastic when you are done kneading.

Cover and put someplace warm and ignore for an hour.  In my case, warm is in my dehydrator set to “rising bread”. Before I got my dehydrator, I would put it in the oven (with the oven off).

While you are waiting, butter your loaf pans.

After an hour, it should be about double in size.  Punch your bread down and shape it so it will fit in your loaf pans.

To shape the loaves, first divide the dough into 2.

Then roll out the dough so that it is about the width of your loaf pan and about twice as long.

Roll it up

Then tuck the sides in so that it looks nice.

repeat with the second loaf

Warm the oven slightly (about 100F) and put the loaf pans in to let it rise again.  This time about 30 mins. They should be about double in size again.

Then just turn your oven on to 350F.  Bake for about 40 mins.  When they are ready they will be golden brown and the bottoms will sound hollow when you thump them.  Brush a little butter on the tops while they cool.

Here’s the ingredient list in a manner that’s a little easier to read:

2c very warm water

2 1/3 c soft white wheat (omit if using store flour)

4 2/3 hard red wheat (7c if using store flour)

2t salt

1/3 c oil

1/3 c agave nectar

1 T+ yeast

1/3 gluten flour

I adapted my recipe from The Family Homestead.

When I read about different ways to save on my grocery budget, one thing I consistently read is to repurpose leftovers. But I very rarely come across anything that tells me how to repurpose them. This was one idea that I had:

Monday night, we had rotisserie chicken for dinner. After dinner, we had only eaten the breasts. So I tossed the wings and leg quarters in the fridge, and then Wednesday night, we had chicken enchiladas.

Chicken Enchiladas
Remove skin and debone chicken, reserve bones and skin
Shred chicken
Sautee onion, i used 1/2, but normally, i use a whole one
Add chicken, cook until heated though
Add green chile, i used 8 ounces
Soft fry corn tortillas
Place 1 tortilla on plate, top with chicken mixture, then top with cheese, repeat until desired amount is served.

Once you have dinner ready (or almost ready) go back to your chicken scraps.

Dump them in a stock pot, and cover with water.

Bring to a boil, and then turn to low heat, and ignore it until bedtime. Stick it in the fridge, and in the morning, simmer on low heat 6-8 hours. Now you also have chicken stock. And you used your chicken 3 times.

If you want you can also toss veggie scraps in with the chicken. That will give it some vitamins. I usually forget and throw my veggie scraps in the compost first…Also, the stock freezes really well, and you can do it with any leftover bones, chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, etc. I will warn though…I have only made beef broth once, about a month ago, and I thought it really really stunk. But that could be because I’m pregnant, and random things stink right now…:)

What ways do you repurpose leftovers?