Fresh out of the oven – no knead bread
Against the grain (via Guardian UK)
Bread expert Andrew Whitley explains why we need to get back to baking our own.
Thousands have abandoned bread altogether, troubled by bloating, irritable bowels or some apparent intolerance for wheat. Coeliac disease – for which the only cure is complete avoidance of the gluten in wheat, rye, barley and oats – now affects at least one person in 100, but sensitivity to wheat is detectable in as many as one in five.
Bread has changed. One disturbing possibility is that modern farming and industrial baking produce bread that more and more people cannot and should not eat. The “green revolution” spawned new high-yielding varieties of wheat designed to work with the artificial fertilisers and pesticides used in intensive farming. But recent research suggests that these new wheats have fewer minerals and vitamins than traditional varieties and more of the proteins that cause “leaky gut” type conditions.
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In the 1990s a new breed of enzyme-based “improvers” displaced the suspect chemical additives. You won’t know they are there because the law says that as “processing aids” they don’t need to be declared on the label. But we would do well to ponder what bread engineered to stay soft for weeks may be doing to our insides.
Bread is life. Literally, in the sense that, properly made, it has what organic pioneer George Stapledon called “the ability to enliven”. We need to reclaim the staff of life from those who sell it to us without admitting what’s in it. Some are already doing this, by making bread slowly, with their own hands. Were the baking industry to ask itself what this signifies, I’d be tempted to say: it’s about time.
How many of you bake your own bread? Raise your floured hands!
:: References ::
No Knead Bread (NY Times) – this is one of our favorite recipes here on the urban homestead.
The Secret of Great Bread: Let Time Do the Work
Make Your Own Sourdough Starter
Bread Making
We bake every week! We grind the hard red winter wheat too. I have always loved to bake bread and have done so since I was a teen. Now I am teaching my husband and children this skill as well. As much as they love to eat that whole wheat bread – I thought they should know how to bake it also. We’ve been baking weekly for about four years – since I got my mill. We don’t think we could ever go back to anything less than fresh ground wheat. There is something so wonderful about bread that has not spent time in a plastic bag on a grocery shelf.
I appreciate your comment on IBS and celiac as well. We have wondered why the increase in known cases of these diseases over the last 15-20 years. I have read that people with a wheat sensitivity often don’t have the same trouble with ‘real bread’ baked from scratch. I guess I need to research and understand this a little more.
Your bread is beautiful – thanks for sharing the recipe!
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I do! I do! I have been grinding my own wheat (we like hard white) and making my own bread for almost 15 years. I started out with a kitchenaide grainmill attachment for my mixer. I now have a family grain mill hand mill and a whisper mill. I make the no-knead bread and regular bread. Here are a couple of links to my bread on my blog:
http://randvfarmstead.blogspot.....bread.html
http://randvfarmstead.blogspot.....ay_20.html
I agree with Mary. I can’t imagine going back to store-bought bread. My husband threatens me with buying bread if I don’t have any made. LOL! That gets me riled and I get bread made quickly.
In Christ,
Ginny
http://randvfarmstead.blogspot.com
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Thank you for the pictures of that great bread. We haven’t bought bread in the store since I read the article in Mother Earth News about how to make the no knead bread, and I gave it a try and we can’t go back! Now I’m expected to have bread for my Family at all times!! I don’t mind, because now I have a rythmn for it, and its gets worked into our busy Lives, no matter what. My kids see it fermenting, or coming out of the oven and thier eyes light up and smiles are shared all around. This is what Life is supposed to be like. This is what creates memories for my kids that later in their lives, they will look back and think fondly with Love in their hearts about living the way we do. Like my memories when my Father grew a bunch of corn and we all shucked it together, while my mom screamed about earwigs, and we ate outdoors on the patio and listened to a baseball game, ate watermelon and apples for dessert. Thank you for being there for all of us devoted to this good life.
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I’m more of a newbie. I haven’t bought sandwich bread for a year, making my own, which my boys prefer. I’m now looking into making sourdough and pita. With gas prices on the rise, the transportation costs for something that’s mostly air is going to go up more than for, say, a sack of flour….
Really want to get into the grain grinding thing, though….
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I bake bread as often as I can, but I have to use special organic gluten-free mixes and a special bread machine because I am a Celiac and can’t have gluten!
And I would like to point out a mistake in your quote! there is NO CURE for Celiac disease, the only TREATMENT is a life-long adherance to a strict gluten-free diet!
(without the machine, you come out with more of a brick than a loaf of bread!- one of the few “plugged” appliances I use!)
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We bake between 2-4 loaves a week depending on what our meals are. Store bread is so disgusting.
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I do, although not so frequently. We grind our own grain, and we sweeten with raw honey or blackstrap molasses. More frequently, I make homemade biscuits.
The grain mill is my friend.
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I do bake bread, primarily the no-knead bread, but my wonderful wife is really the floured one in our family of 5. She usually bakes loaves a couple of days a week, sometimes it comes in traditional loaves, sometimes they’re buns and rolls for our sandwiches/burgers and other times who knows…cheese rolls anyone?
Oh yeah, we’re totally hooked! We have started grinding our own flour from hard white wheat too and are really loving the fresh wheat bread. My 10 yr old, when presented with some store bought bread a few weeks ago, flat out refused to eat it (and this is a kid who lives off pb&j). I think it it really one of the best first steps a family can do to begin taking control of a important part of our diets.
Bake on!
P~
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Are there some no-electric grinders out there?
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Wow, it’s wonderful to see how many of you bake your own breads. I see there are also some hard core bread makers out there. Those that even take it a step backward and grind their own grain.
Is the food price increase having an affect on the price of wheat/flour in your area? How are you dealing with the rising cost of wheat?
Thanks Ginny for the posting your site’s links – always a pleasure reading your posts and insights.
BTW: just to clairfy that the “quote” is from an article posted on the GUARDIAN (not mine) Perhaps you may want to email them your corrections.
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Hello Robert
Yes, there are quite a few hand cranked grinders out there. One of those is the COUNTRY LIVING GRAIN MILL which happens to be sold on PeddlersWagon.com
http://www.peddlerswagon.com/p.....-mill.aspx
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Wow I have not gone that extra step at making my own bread yet. But with the bread at over 2 dollars a loaf here I am looking into the making my own bread.
Where do oyu find your own grains? We have feed stores around here but I don’t think they carry that!
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Hi Anais!
Yes,I am a home baker!I bake my own bread and rolls and oven doughnuts!I am working towards grinding my own wheat!
atb
blessings from across the pond
gerry mx
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To the commenter that was looking for a source of grains:
We are in Oklahoma and have ordered bulk wheat through Walton Feed out of ID and also bought 60# bags of wheat through a local franchise location of Great Harvest Bread.
hope that helps!
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What a timely post! I made a loaf of bread yesterday and some rolls. It was a smashing hit with the pot of bean soup and my husband praised me several times.
(I’ve had some trouble with over cooking the beans before.) The recipe I used is one that’s been in my husband’s family for at least 4 generations.
My mom blessed me with her wheat grinder 1.5 years ago (she still has a hand crank one for herself) and I’ll oftentimes make hard red wheat bread. I enjoy the workout kneading dough gives. The freshly ground wheat is a pleasure in muffins and tortillas also.
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Yes! I’ve been baking my own bread for several years and in the last 3-4 years have started grinding my own grains. The price of wheat has more than doubled in the last six months but it is still cheaper and better to bake your own.
I also have a whole wheat sourdough starter that I have been playing with for several months and it’s making some great bread.
Did you know that over 75% of the vitamins and minerals in whole wheat are lost within 72 hours of the grinding process? That means that the flour you buy in the store – while better than the processed bread – is still lacking in nutrients. Grinding fresh grains is great! Well worth the effort.
I’ve recently started selling some of my breads at a local farmer’s market so it’s helping us all around!
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We have been making all our own breads, tortillas, etc. for about ten years. We have also been grinding the wheat that long with the country living mill. One of the few pieces of equipment I would not live without. We even grow some of our wheat! We had a nice wet (for a desert) year and we should (fingers crossed) get a nice harvest at the end of June.
I haven’t used commercial yeast for about four years. I found the best sourdough you can get is “native”. In other words, don’t buy grapes from California to start your yeast if you live in Colorado. My favorite yeast source is cedar berries. You can usually find cedar trees within a few blocks of anywhere. And your yeast will be adapted to your climate perfectly. And you should never have to add “conditioners” to your dough. The only thing a natural healthy yeast needs is flour (but a little salt and sugar make it taste better).
Sorry, homemade bread and cheese are my favorite subjects, if you let me I could go on forever.
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I do occasionally. I’d like to bake bread more often. Kneading is fun and a good way to work out your anger if you’re mad at someone! (But the last time it hurt my hands to do so – maybe I’ll have to look for that no-knead recipe.) It’s so neat to see that the dough is “alive” as you knead it. And the little miracle of putting a small lump in a bowl, covering it up, coming back in a couple hours and now you have a big lump! The smell as the bread bakes is just wonderful.
Yes, it’s a bit more work than just grabbing a loaf wrapped in plastic and tossing it in your shopping basket but it is so worth it. It’s not even really “work” but a joyful task!
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Me too! Or should I say….Me 18!
I grind my own wheat and practice bread making in the style of Sally Fallon’s “Nourishing Traditions”. I refuse to make tortillas with whole wheat flour and baking powder biscuits just aren’t the same unless I use at least half unbleached flour. I was in a hurry yesterday and didn’t have any wheat ground so made pancakes with white flour for breakfast. My ten year old was not impressed LOL…he actually asked if I would please make whole wheat next time. I start my batter the night before and my whole wheat pancakes are so light and fluffy.
Yeast bread isn’t the only bread that benefits from letting Time do all of the work.
Oh…not to mislead anyone, I do buy bread regularly as well. I’d say I’m about 1/2 and 1/2. My spirit is willing but my flesh is weak- I’m a work in progress LOL.
Thanks for the recipes people are passing along.
Danielle
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Danielle – just a little FYI – it is possible to make very pliable whole wheat tortillas that are also very yummy. I have adapted a standard white flour recipe and use whole wheat flour instead. I also use grapeseed oil instead of the lard or shortening. My family loves these served with black beans, lettuce and a little grated cheddar cheese. [If you grind soft (pastry) wheat it is light and white looking like store flour - but keeps all the benefits of being whole wheat. You might like the results of this flour in tortillas more than the hard wheat.]
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I’m making my own break RIGHT NOW!
I just starting making my own bread a few months ago, cus I was fed up with the price of organic bread and the fact it’s so hard to find good vegan bread.
I love my home made bread! I even freeze some of it to keep it from going moldy and so I only have to make it every other week.
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Another plug for grinding your own wheat and making your own bread. http://www.beprepared.com is a great place to buy buckets of wheat. I know there are cheaper places (ask one of your Mormon friends, they know where and how to buy grains in bulk), but this company sure makes it easy.
I can’t brag enough about that no-knead bread recipe I first saw in Mother Earth News. I’ve tried it on all sort of combinations of home-ground wheat and it always turns out great. Even 100% winter red wheat makes a great loaf. My old way of making bread I had to add at least half white flour to get a decent loaf from home-ground red wheat, but with the no-knead recipe it turns out wonderful even if I use 100% red wheat.
As someone who actually buys a lot of wheat berries– YES the price has gone up, but it is still much cheaper (and better for you) than buying store bread, duh.
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I do! But we make Gluten free bread. Still trying to perfect the recipe… always turns out really dense and tough. My son and I react with rashes to Wheat products unfortunately… Most likely because of the “green revolution” wheat. Eventually, we’d like to build a Cob Oven too!
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Hands up here.
Still can’t get DH to actually eat it most of the time as he is under the impression that bread is supposed to bend into a U shape without breaking.
Oh well
Kind Regards
Belinda
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I made flatbread last week, my first attempt at bread–I wanted to start with something that didn’t sound so intimidating. It was so good that I bought more flour and plan to start some no-knead bread tonight–thanks for the recipe!
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