Keeping Busy

I picked up the Bosch while we were in Fort Worth along with the 45 pound bucket of wheat, can of dough enhancer and gallon of agave nectar. I already had Mother's grain mill so was eager to get home and get to work. I could not wait to return home and finally try it out to see if my bread baking endeavors had any greater success. These were by far the best loaves that I have made as of yet. The feeling was exilerating as I watched it rise successfully and then as it overpowered the senses filling the house with it's heady yeasty aroma. The Bosch's dough capacity made it possible to make enough bread for 2 days for us. So, I figure that I can now just start a routine of waking every Mon, Wed and Fri to get the bread started and we should be completely able to forsake store bought bread needs at this point. Since this recipe also makes wonderful pizza dough, hamburger buns and dinner rolls we are now store free in the bread dept. Of course, one loaf, as always, was devoured as soon as it came out of the oven. What's in the pic is what was left after everyone snacked on the 1st loaf. I promised I would post the bread recipe once I came up with a good one that was seemingly fail proof. This probably does no good to those that do not have any kind of machine to do the kneading. It did work well when I used the Kitchenaid with it....though the recipe was a little too large for what the Kitchenaid could handle. Once I split it up into 2 portions to be kneaded it faired alot better. I will say that after having not used the dough enhancer and then using it that the dough enhancer is key to turning out a really great loaf of bread. You can order dough enhancer from Joyfully Living's website or you can also order from The Urban Homemaker. If you have never seen The Urban Homemaker's free catalog you have GOT to order one!! I have spent quite some time looking over it's pages. And along with their products are many great recipes included that we have tried.





The winning bread recipe and my all time favorite. Retrieved from the Joyfully Living website.

Basic Bread Recipe (machine kneaded)

Begin this recipe by grinding 8 cups of wheat berries in your wheat mill or having at least 12 cups of whole wheat flour on hand.

5 1/2 cups warm water
2/3-cup oil - we use expeller pressed coconut oil
2/3-cup raw honey
2 T sea salt

Mix all these ingredients together in your mixer bowl with kneading arm installed, and add 5 cups of fresh flour (this is only 1/4 to 1/3- of the total flour used) Mix again, and add:

2 T Instant yeast
2 T Dough Enhancer

Add about 5 more cups of flour and turn Bosch on to speed 1. Continue to add flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Don't make the common mistake of adding too much flour.

Knead dough in your Bosch for 6 minutes on low (be sure to put on the splash ring on so your dough won't fling itself across the room). But DON'T put on the lid to the mixing bowl or you'll break off the side tabs.) Oil hands and form loaves into oiled bread pans. (You will be amazed how wonderful this bread dough feels and smells!) Let dough rise once in pans until doubled and bake at 350 degrees until a hollow sound is heard when thumped (at least 30 minutes).

Variations on the basic recipe

Pizza: Roll dough out on pan. For thin crust do not let rise, for thick crust, roll out more dough and let rise before baking at 450 degrees for 8 minutes. Add toppings and bake at 350 degrees until bubbly. Mexican option: Black bean or pinto paste with cheese, olives, tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions. (Bean paste is a fresh ground, dry bean stirred into boiling water, and seasoned to taste)

Low Calorie: Use 1/3-cup oil and 1/3-cup honey.

Diabetics: Substitute pear juice for honey.

Fat Free: Substitute applesauce for the oil and/or honey.

Healthy Pregnancy: Use 1/3 7-grain when grinding grain. Substitute a portion of the honey with blackstrap molasses for iron; add 1 cup cracked sesame seeds for calcium. (Opt: Knead into dough, flax, sunflower seeds, dried fruit, nuts, cooked oatmeal, juicing pulp, or sprouts) Ezekiel: Grains to mill-7 cups wheat or spelt, 1-cup barley, 1-cup rye, 1/4 cup pintos, 1/4-cup lentils, and 1/4-cup soybeans. Do not mill: 1/3-cup millet. Substitute this for the flour in the basic recipe. Form into a round loaf and bake on a pizza stone or cookie sheet.

Herb: Add 1 teaspoon each of rosemary, basil, and oregano while kneading. Form into a round loaf and brush the top with olive oil before and after baking. While hot, serve with a bowl of olive oil, Balsamic vinegar, and fresh ground pepper for dipping.

Cinnamon Rolls: Roll out dough. Spread butter and applesauce over dough and sprinkle raisins, nuts, cinnamon, and sucanat or other sweetener on top. Roll up dough and cut with a piece of dental floss slid under roll and pulled together at top. Place on a buttered jellyroll pan to rise. (Cut an 8” piece of the roll and place in a loaf pan for a cinnamon loaf). Let rise until doubled and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.
Topping: An egg white whipped in mixer until meringue with 1T honey and 1 T butter mixed in will make a light sweet topping. For a heavier topping try 1-cup cream cheese whipped with 1-T butter and 2-T honey.

Cheese Rolls: Same method as cinnamon rolls except filling is butter, shredded cheese, cayenne pepper, and dill or parsley. Cooked meat can also be added.

Sticky Rolls: Use a round cake pan with 2-T butter melted in the bottom. Cover butter with honey or maple syrup and pecans or walnuts. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Knead raisins into dough. Roll dough into 1” balls and fill cake pan with the balls touching. Let it rise, bake 350 degrees, and turn pan upside down on a platter to serve.

Tortillas: 3-cups flour, 1-cup warm water, 1/3-cup olive oil, and dash sea salt. Knead and roll into 2” balls. Press and cook in tortilla press.

The golden loaf

A day's worth of bread baking.. I saved all of the bread bags from previous loaves we have bought in the past so it makes storing homemade ones easy. You can see the moisture in the bags from where the bread is still warm.

Lots of homemade baby food. Despite the fact that both Garrett and Gavin have transitioned over to big table food later than most Gavin is now eating many "real" things such as cooked veggies, bananas, strawberries, apple peices and cheese...along with a few scrounged up off the floor peanut butter sandwich crusts and/or some very freely shared ones from the table. What was that about not allowing your children to touch peanut butter until the age of 2????? I think we pretty much blew that one out of the water with the last 2 babies due to generous siblings. He's still not eating enough of it all to make full meals out of it so I still do baby food to make sure he's getting what he needs. For whatever reason both he and Garrett were in no hurry to grab the chewable stuff. They both gagged on it well after their 1st birthdays. Garrett's was so bad I thought there was surely something wrong with him. But I guess after this many you just figure out that they'll eat it when they're ready and until then they're quite happy with baby food and content with what is. So, I spent the morning boiling up produce and out came the rewards. Some of it's 1/2 way gone already since Garrett also shared in the taste testing and some of it was made a couple of days ago so has already been dug into.

From left top to bottom: combo of blueberries and grapes, carrots and on bottom combo of carrots and squash. In middle top to bottom: peaches, applesauce and pears. And on right top to bottom: green beans and sweet potatoes. I quit adding bananas since he is now eating them without being pureed or smashed up. I found it much easier to store the pureed stuff all this way and when we are on the go just putting some into some saved up baby food jars for the road.

When waking up BEFORE your children would've paid off

Sweet, longed for, summer rain

And I have now successfully completed Aubrey's 1st dress. Since it was made out of an old childhood pillowcase I'm not sure I really want to post pics. I just got what I could to experiment on and went to work. My goal was to have their mathcing outfits finished by this weekend but that just ain't gonna happen at this point. Maybe if I had a little more experience under my belt I might could've given it a shot. Next goal is to get their dresses finished and start to work on the boys' pajamas so that they will be done by their birthdays in September. Once that is done I plan on making each of the children fleece blankets for Christmas and then starting to work on my own homemade cloth diapers. I love our Nurtured Family ones so much and want to have more on hand for newborn Ivye that I figured I will give making them by hand a try. What they charge for cloth diapers is ridiculous but I felt that was the only way to really break myself into it. Now that I am already in love and used to the routine and more than familiar with my sewing machine I figure I can now start sewing them up myself. Hopefully I will be as in love with the ones I make as I am with the ones we have now.



And on the note of doing things the natural way, I have found the wrap I am in love with in every way. After having tried multiple slings and carriers this by far won out and far outshines the others. Until she grows into the Ergo I will be using the Sleepywrap. I am so excited. I have spent time practicing at home with an old long sheet just to see if I really will like it and be able to get it on as fast as I need to without having to mess with being tangled up in it for hours beforehand. It is so easy! So, I wait with excitement for it to arrive. It even carries 2 year olds so I have no doubt between this and the Ergo that I will love wearing baby Ivye for quite awhile.