Bread as a Healthy Choice.

Photo of a great tree along Refugio Valley Rd.

My latest minor obsession is choosing not to purchase foods with high fructose corn syrup in it. Let me tell you, it ain't easy. Yesterday I spent almost 20 minutes reading every loaf of bread to find one with the dreadful ingredient. Found one. ONE. It was $4.25 a loaf. So I think I may be baking bread again. Now I'm not Mary Beth... it was she who blogged about her bread last year, right?, but still I've baked some...

I have a recipe that I've always liked. It's fast and easy and adaptable. Checking the copyright on my book, I've baked this off and on for almost 30 years! It's from Beverly Nye's book A Family Raised on Sunshine. She was a Mormon woman making the rounds of local TV broadcasts the same time that Carol Duval was starting out.

Anyway, her Easy No Knead Bread (the basic recipe):

In a very large bowl, pour 5 cups warm water. Add 2 packages dry yeast and a 1/2 tsp. of sugar. Stir. In about 10 minutes, the water will appear to be "alive" and small bubbles should form on the surface.

When the yeast is ready, add:
8 TBS. sugar or honey
8 TBS. shortening (Ok, the mneumonic is cool, but 8 TBS., is 1/2 C)...
8 tsp. salt (see? This is easy!!)
6 cups of flour

Beat this mixture on high speed for 3 minutes.

Add:
6 more cups of flour.

Stir the final flour in with a spoon. Actually I usually end up mixing this with my hands at the end.

Let rise for about 45 minutes until doubled in size.

Spoon it into pans and let rise again.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes in large pans, 30 minutes in small pans. Remove from the pans immediately and brush with butter. Let cool on racks. Makes 4 large loaves or 7 small ones.

Now the things to do to change this:

substitute whole wheat flour for up to 1/2 the flour
As you spoon it into the pans, layer cinnamon and raisins in.
She wrote that you can make a part of this into buns or garlic sticks. It's like your basic yeast dough mix.



Whatcha Doing Today? Cleaning, and walking the dogs.
Reading?Poisonwood Bible and The Creative Habit
Steps:4700 so far.
What's For Dinner, Deb? We've got a play tonight at the Willows, so it's dinner out somewhere first.