The farmer gave us golden grain
For us to grind and grind.
Now it’s flour brown and white,
Soft and very fine.
Add the water, yeast and honey,
Mix it with our hands.
When it’s soft and not too runny
Let it stand and stand.
Shape the dough into a loaf.
Put it in to cook.
When it’s crusty, crisp and brown,
We’ll have a little look.
I've mentioned several times (at least) about how we begin each home school co-op day with baking bread for snack. We make a lot of homemade bread in our house, and it is one of my favorite things to do with young children. I've had several requests for bread recipes, so I thought I would share my favorite go-to bread recipe.
I love this bread. It is easily made into regular loaves (as we do for our family's bread), and also works well made into whatever creative shapes the little ones dream up. It's fairly simple to adapt it for soaking, which breaks down the phytates and makes the bread much more digestible.
This bread recipe is very adaptable, and I often change it up based on what we're doing each week. When we had our carrot co-op week, I used fresh carrot juice for part of the liquid and we added grated carrots. When we had fun with nuts, I had the children knead chopped nuts into the dough.
Here is how I make it...
Valley Mama Bread
First, I mix 4 cups water with 1/2 cup honey and heat it on the stove. When the mixture is warm and the honey is dissolved, I put it in my bowl.
Next I stir in about 2 Tablespoons yeast (or yeastie beasties, as Mason sometimes calls it...from the book The Too-Great Bread Bake), and let it proof until it's nice and bubbly...about 5 minutes.
While the yeast is doing it's thing, I melt about 3 Tablespoons of butter on the stove (you could also use coconut oil or olive oil). Once melted, I add it to the bowl.
Then I add 1 Tablespoon of salt, 1 Tablespoon Vital Wheat Gluten, 1/2 cup wheat germ and 1 cup rolled oats. Sometimes I add other things instead of wheat germ and rolled oats, such as flax seeds and quinoa flakes.
Next I add the whole wheat flour, about 4 cups. I add it one cup at a time and stir it with each additional cup, until it looks something like this...
I hope to be grinding all my flour myself soon, right before I use it, but for now, I love this freshly-milled, locally produced flour...Mountain Mama flour.
Then I let it sit for a minute while I go get River out of the bathroom sink she's climbed into, and thank Mason for informing me of her daring stunts. When I come back, the whole wheat flour has absorbed more of the liquid, which means less unbleached white flour to add, which is a good thing.
Next, I add unbleached white flour (also locally produced) until the dough is still a little sticky, but firm enough to work, about 4 cups.
Then I turn the dough onto a floured counter or board for kneading. I have a nice kneading counter these days, but if I want to knead on a surface that is not ideal, I place a damp towel under the board which keeps it from sliding all over the place while I'm kneading. And sometimes, I let my dough blade and my food processor knead it for me. :)
Then I knead the bread, adding a little flour to keep it from sticking too bad, while keeping it soft. You do not want to add too much flour here.
Once the dough is kneaded (you can check the gluten development by doing the 'window pane test', where you stretch a piece of dough between your thumb and fingers to form a windowpane), I put it in an oiled bowl to rise until doubled...about an hour. I often turn my oven on warm, then turn it off and put the bread in it to rise. Our climate in the San Luis Valley can make bread rising a challenge, and this method often works for me, especially on cold days.
Once the dough has doubled in size, I gently deflate it with my hands. Then, I either shape loaves, or bring it out for the children to shape as they arrive for co-op day. These photos were taken on our last co-op day, so the children did the shaping.
Once the dough is formed into loaves (or leaves, people, dinosaurs, cats, carrots, pinatas...), place in oiled pans for the second rise.
Then I let the dough rise again, while I heat the oven to 375 degrees. When it's ready, bake at 375 until done. The time varies depending on the shapes of the bread...loaves taking longer, little rolls baking quicker.
If you are making loaves, take them out and let them sit in the pans for another 5 minutes or so. Then take them out of the pans, but do not cut into them until they are completely cool! I know, this is hard, but they slice so much better if you wait!
If you've had your little ones make shapes for snack, then of course, you eat them right away. I did not get many photos of the finished product, as it was eaten pretty quickly. I'll post some photos of loaves next time I make it. Here are some mini-loaves made by the kiddos.
We always enjoy this bread, and I hope you do as well!
If you're interested in some of my other favorite, basic bread recipes, here are a few:
Fermented Whole Grain Bread, from Feeding the Whole Family
Soaked Buttermilk Bread, from Nourishing Traditions
Soaked Whole Wheat Bread, from the Elliot Homestead Blog