Crunchy Cooking: Granola time!

Here we go with another edition of crunchy cooking at the Diaper Diaries! Please don't forget about my giveaway - entries are open through Mother's Day, Sunday May 10th!

Granola is delicious and basically good for you. It's high in fiber, and you can boost the nutritional content by adding different things to it. It's great for breakfast, as cereal with either milk or yogurt. Actually, granola and dried cranberries in milk is probably one of mine and Husband's all-time favorite cereals. Granola is a fun topping for ice cream or frozen yogurt, and it's delicious to just eat a few handfuls by themselves as a snack. Obviously, my recipe is for "loose" granola rather than bars. I've yet to try a good granola bar recipe at home, they always taste raw in the center to me.

Here we go! Get out your wet and dry ingredients: lowfat sweetened condensed milk, canola oil (I use canola rather than vegetable oil, which is produced from soybeans, which I try very hard to keep out of my family's diet), vanilla flavoring; oats, sliced almonds, and sunflower kernels. I also put in three optional dry ingredients: powdered milk, toasted wheat germ, and flax seed. (Now remember, this is a post about a healthy recipe, so pay no attention to the pizza box in the background. It's um....an optical illusion.)


Start by whisking - either by hand or in an electric mixer - 1 cup of oil with sweetened condensed milk. It's much faster to do it with a mixer, but I have only a stand mixer and don't feel like washing it for something as small as this. I usually use one can of lowfat milk, and one can of regular, just to keep the granola from drying too quickly in the oven, but you could probably use 2 cans of lowfat if you stay close to your oven the whole time. When you begin to whisk, the oil and milk will resist incorporating...


...but be patient, and go slowly, or you will slop oil over the sides of your bowl! Soon it will come together and look smooth. At this point, whisk in vanilla (if desired, it's optional). I just use "some" vanilla. When I pour it in, it looks like it's about a tablespoon.


In a separate large bowl, mix half of your dry ingredients: one half of a large can of old-fashioned (NOT QUICK!!) oats, half a bag of sliced raw (not toasted) almonds, half a bag of sunflower kernels. Make sure you buy the bag (6 oz) of sunflower kernels, and not the 7.25 oz jar, because the jarred kernels are tossed in a spice mixture for tasty snacking and salad topping. Here is my super high-tech way of estimating half a bag: I flatten it out, put my hand about halfway down, and then pour out the nuts to where my hand is.


You can also add your optional dry ingredients at this time if you wish. I use powdered milk for vitamins A and D, calcium, and potassium. I use wheat germ for vitamin E and folic acid, and flax seed for extra fiber and omega 3 fatty acids. I just use a scant 1/4 cup of each.


Mix half your dry ingredients together, pour half of your milk mixture over oat mixture and toss to mix well.


Grease and flour (or spray ^ with cooking/baking spray) 2 to 3 large cookie sheets or jelly roll pans. Has everyone heard this tip before? When you're using spray, open your dishwasher and place pans on the inside of the dishwasher door, so that the excess spray goes inside the dishwasher instead all over your counter or stovetop. Although don't do this if the dishes in your dishwasher are clean. Remember, I wouldn't tell you something like that unless I had done it.

How large your pans are will determine how many you need. I use 3. Be careful! If you use 3 pans, the granola will not be as deep in the pans, and may brown much more quickly!

Anyway, after you've mixed half your granola, put into prepared pans.


Repeat with remaining half of dry ingredients. This is what a scant 1/4 cup looks like, by the way.

Mix dry, toss with milk mixture, put into remaining prepared pans. Put pans into preheated oven (anywhere from 225* to 300* F), and bake for up to 3 hours, tossing every 30 minutes.

If you're baking the granola at 225* F, which I recommend, your total baking time will end up being around 3 hours. Baking it lower and slower allows the oats and nuts to really cook, and baking low and slow brings out a delicious nutty flavor in the sunflower kernels that lends a peanut-buttery flavor to the granola. If you're in a hurry, you can bake it at a higher temp, but I would stir it every 20 minutes instead, and your total bake time will end up being more like 2 hours. When you stir and toss it, rotate your pans around in your oven, because all ovens have hot spots!


Anyway, 2 or 3 hours is a long time to wait for something to cook. So you could clean the kitchen and be really productive...


Or you could be less so.


For tossing the granola, I like to use a heat-resistant rubber scoopula (concave spatula). It's gentle on my pans, and effective at scooping, stirring, and redistributing the granola around. You want to scrape the granola from the outside of the pan to the inside, pushing what was inside out to the edges. Toss it well, and check for browning. Return the pans to the oven. Find something else to do.


This does not make the time go faster.


Still waiting, two hours in.


Last half hour! I think it's going to be ready this time!


Mmmmm, see how rich and brown this looks compared to the picture of when I was stirring it?


The top right pan actually got a little too done, but it still tastes great. When you have multiple pans in the oven, it may be that one pan is ready to come out before the others. You'll know when it's done. Pay attention to your nose, too, because right when it's ready, you'll kind of suddenly smell the sunflower kernels.


Let cool completely, and then put into storage of your choice. I usually use this tupperware thing, which will hold an entire batch of granola, but it's home to Little Lady's "oh-oh's" right now.


So instead, I put half the granola right back in the oatmeal canister, and half into a clean, reusable animal cracker jar. You could also use gallon ziploc bags. Enjoy!


Granola (one more time, so you don't have to sift through everything):

1 large can old-fashioned oats
1 6 oz bag sliced raw almonds
1 6 oz bag sunflower kernels
about 1/2 c EACH powdered milk, wheat germ, and flax seed, optional
2 cans sweetened, condensed milk
1 cup oil
about 1 tbsp vanilla, optional

Whisk oil, milk, and vanilla if using. In separate large bowl, mix half of dry ingredients, and toss with half of milk mixture. Pour into greased and floured jelly roll pans. Repeat with remaining half. Bake at 225-300 F for up to 3 hours, tossing every 30 minutes.

Make it your own! If you like cinnamon, add some cinnamon. Or nutmeg. You could experiment with different flavor extracts and oils. I wonder if cocount oil would be really tasty...? Or in what proportion to put peanut butter into the wet ingredients? Let me know what you do to make the granola a perfect fit for you!

(One of my good friends told me she used coconut oil in place of vegetable oil, a bit of orange zest, and almond extract in place of the vanilla - yum central! She also added dried cranberries into the cooked and cooled granola. Please be sure to leave a comment and share with us some delicious variations on how you made the granola your own!)

Crunchy Cooking: Homemade Fruit Roll-Ups

So, as many of my mommy friends and relatives may know, I made all of the kids' baby food. It was such a rewarding (and money-saving) experience and something I really enjoyed doing. I also attribute my son's love of a wide variety of foods to his baby food - from the very beginning, he was tasting REAL food. I used the book "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron as my primary resource. My sister-in-law used both this book and the website Wholesome Baby Food. There does appear to be a little bit of conflict between the WBF website and the SBF book about what ages to introduce certain foods; I always say when in doubt wait, but consult with your child's pediatrician if you're unsure.

Anyway, "Super Baby Food" is so much more than baby food! There are tons and tons of toddler and family recipes, as well as great arts and crafts ideas. My big man and I like to make yummy homemade granola bars; M helps stir.


But our big favorite snack right now is fruit leather, or homemade fruit rollups. M has always loved fruit - better than cookies, even - and I was looking for a new and fun snack for him, as well as a different way for him to eat his fruit. It is such an EASY snack to make, and he enjoys watching and helping. I love knowing that he's eating real fruit, without preservatives, dyes, artificial flavoring, or high fructose corn syrup. And M...well, he just loves eating it! So here you go, instructions and photos for how to make this delicious Super Toddler snack for your own little crumb crushers at home.

You can start with fresh, frozen, or canned fruit. If you start with fresh: wash, peel (if necessary), cook (if necessary or desired), and process in blender until completely smooth and free of lumps. If you start with canned: wash thoroughly all cans or jars before opening (you never know what dust or yuckiness, including pesticides from the grocery store, could be lurking on the lip of the can), strain liquid out, reserving if you wish, place fruit in blender and process until smooth.

Here's why I use frozen: it's cheapest by volume, always in season, already washed, peeled, and cooked (when necessary). Simply let the fruit thaw completely, either by sitting out at room temperature, or by thawing in 30-second increments in the microwave. Using a slotted spoon, strain the fruit into your blender, reserving the juice (if desired; juice can be used to drink, mix with other juices, or make a homemade fruit syrup or jelly).

Look how much juice I have! I'll combine this 1 cup of blueberry juice with 2 cups of sugar on the stovetop, boiling very low until all sugar is dissolved and juice has thickened into a syrup. Yummy on pancakes - homemade blueberry syrup!

Anyway, if you want to sweeten your fruit leather, now is the time to do it. I heated up a few tablespoons of juice in the microwave and dissolved 2 teaspoons of sugar in it. I sweeten fruits that have been frozen, because the ascorbic acid (citric acid, which is basically just lemon juice) used to preserve color in frozen fruits makes them a bit tart. After you have dissolved the sugar, add this into your puree and process again to incorporate thoroughly.

Pour puree into your prepared pans. Use large pans, like 10x15 cookie sheets or jelly roll pans, and either grease with shortening or cover with plastic wrap. I like to use plastic wrap, because you can flip the leather to dry on the other side, shortening your drying time. I used the mondo-huge bag of blueberries from Kroger and it made 2 pans' worth of puree/leather!

Place into preheated 275*F oven for 30-35 minutes (I promise it won't melt the plastic wrap, I freaked out over it the first time too). (**EDIT: Several people have told me that their plastic wrap/Saran wrap did actually melt in the oven. DO NOT use cheap/store brand lightweight plastic wrap if you choose to use some; I use a heavy-weight professional grade plastic wrap from Sam's, so that's all I have in the house. As a plus, it's much easier to work with. You could probably also use parchment paper if you don't like plastic wrap. But don't forget, you don't have to use anything if you don't want to.) Then turn the oven off and let sit for 8-10 hours, or overnight. If you cook every night like I do, it's best to get this ready so you can pop it in the oven as soon as supper comes out. (There are other ways to dry your fruit leather, but they all involve leaving the oven door slightly open while on. Between the little ones around, and the fumes from our gas oven, this is just not an option for us. If anyone would like those directions, post a comment/question and I'll post them for you.)

Now, how long it takes to dry out completely will depend a lot on the humidity. Where we are, I put the leather in the oven on Friday night, and it wasn't ready to be cut until Monday afternoon. But because I had lined my pans with plastic wrap, I was able to take it out on Sunday night and flip it over onto waxed paper, and put it back in the oven. (When I needed the oven during the drying process, I just took the leather out and then replaced it once the oven was empty and turned off again.)

Finally! Ready to cut! Here are all my tools: a cutting board, cookie/pastry/biscuit cutters in cute shapes, a knife to score the fruit leather around the cutters when necessary, a rolling pin to press down on the top of the cutters (to save my fingers!), an airtight container to store the leather in, wax paper to layer between the cut pieces, scissors to cut the wax paper.

** I just got done making another batch of fruit leather, and found the EASIEST way to cut it - a pizza cutter! So fast and easy, and a lot easier on my hands. I just cut it all into squares this time, since M is really into squares right now anyway.

Cut into cute shapes - never miss an educational opportunity! :o) M and I talk about the shapes he's eating. Even if you don't have cutters, you can use a sharp paring knife to free-hand basic shapes. Be conservative and waste as little as possible (although I do eat all the scraps as I'm cutting the shapes, mmmmm). Be even more conservative, and reuse the wax paper the leather rested on to cut and layer between your fruit leather pieces! Now, if you have an older child who wants his fruit leather that he carries in his lunch to school to look like "real" fruit rollups, just cut it into larger squares or rectangles and roll up, either with plastic wrap/wax paper, or just roll it up by itself.

Enjoy!

Hope y'all enjoy getting crafty in your kitchens!

New Series: Crunchy cooking: Homemade Wheat Bread

** I don't know if I've mentioned on here or not, but I also have a family blog that we keep private, just for friends and family members. But I occasionally post things on the family blog that I have to wonder if my fellow-cloth mamas might be interested in? Things about frugality, natural living, more sustainable and less grocery-store dependent homes and kitchens, etc. So over the next few days I'm going to share some of those things. Because let's face it - cloth may have brought us together, but there's so much more to us as parents and families than just what goes on the babies' bums!! I hope you guys enjoy my new short series on Crunchy Cooking, starting today with homemade wheat bread.

If I had to try and pinpoint why I stopped buying bread at the grocery store, I'm not sure I could come up with one single, solid, definitive reason. Partly just because I enjoy baking; a great deal because I've become more label-conscious, and I just don't know much about all the preservatives in a lot of store-bought food; more recently because I think that $3 for a loaf of bread is reprehensible. Also, bought bread doesn't have a tremendous amount of flavor to me, unless you buy the $5 loaves. No, thank you.

I don't use a bread machine for our bread. For me, the enjoyment of making bread at home is, well, making it! I started baking all our bread while I was pregnant with Little Miss R, and I used a recipe from Cook's Illustrated that Big M and Little M liked a LOT, but I was never wild about it. (I did like, however, that it was a super quick rise recipe and made 2 loaves at a time.) Right before she was born, I made a bunch of loaves and froze them so that I wouldn't have to bake bread for a while. Well, something went wrong with those batches, and we ended up tossing all the bread. (Groan.) We went back to store-bought bread.

Then, in January, Deb from Smitten Kitchen posted this recipe. I think I made it that very same day. (That, by the way, is one of the huge perks of keeping a well-stocked pantry! I often impulsively decide to prepare a dessert to go with dinner, or need to make something to carry to a group function, or make a meal to carry to a family or friend. It's so wonderful to not have to run to the grocery store to buy 1 or 2 things.) Oh, my goodness. This bread. Is. Perfect. Seriously. The first time I made it, I was a little frustrated at the rise times, and that for all the work it made only one loaf. So over the past 3 months, I've tweaked and played with the recipe and got it to a more desirable and manageable recipe for me. I'm going to blog it the way I make it (produces 2 loaves), but please remember this is not my recipe! Follow the link above for the original recipe and credit.

(A few disclaimers: First, I know this is not the uber-healthy homemade bread that a lot of people are looking for. I use more bread (white) flour than wheat, I don't soak my grains, or use any add-ins like flax, wheat germ, or kefir. But it's tasty. And I know exactly what I'm putting in it. Second, this is not a "Bread 101" or "Bread for beginners" kind of post. All I know about baking bread is what I know from my own limited experience. And I tried - and failed - a lot at bread before it got to be second nature. You just have to be willing to try! Although I will share my little tips and tricks that I've picked up along the way and use. And, I don't know any of the fancy stuff about bread and gluten bonds, and the difference between weighed flour and flour measured by the cup or anything. You don't need to know this stuff, so don't get intimidated by cookbooks, magazines, and websites who talk all about it!)

Okay, so here's the cast of characters:

Salt, honey, shortening, active dry or rapid rise yeast (you can get it in envelopes, but I go through so much that I buy it by the jar), powdered milk, whole wheat flour, bread/high gluten flour, and warm water. (Not pictured, white granulated sugar, although you could probably use brown sugar instead, or eliminate it completely by increasing the honey portion by 50%.)

Whenever I cook or bake, I like to pre-measure everything so that once I'm ready to start mixing I can just grab stuff. It makes the process go more smoothly - especially if you have something that needs to be mixed or added right away - and it kind of makes you feel like you're on a cooking show! ;o) So, start out with 3 rounded (not heaping, not level) teaspoons of yeast. I like using rapid rise yeast because I'm sort of impatient with rising, but it's handy to have plain ol' active dry in the house too.

If you use jarred yeast, you're supposed to keep it refrigerated after opening. (Frankly, even if you purchase the envelopes, I recommend storing them in the fridge to prolong the life of the yeast.) So, go on and measure out your yeast into a small, shallow saucer (^) so that it can come to room temperature.

In a separate small bowl (^), measure out 4 T (tablespoons) of solid shortening and 2 T of honey. You can buy solid shortening by the stick, but it's cheaper to buy a tub, and I go through a bit of it between bread, biscuits, and other baking that I do. You can use any flavor of honey you prefer, but I just stick with clover.

Get out your flours. It's important to stir the flour to aerate it before measuring. Mama, don't freak out, but the most effective way is to stir it with a knife. See above (^); this is a brand new bag of flour. You can even see the imprint of where the sealed bag pressed on the flour. It's densely packed. But after you aerate it...

It's looser and looks fluffier. I don't think these pictures do it justice, because I'm not a skilled photographer and can't take photos the right way. So trust me on this one!

Into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, measure out your dry ingredients. Start with the flour first...

By dipping your measuring cup into your aerated flour...

And leveling off the top with a knife. You need 5 C of bread flour, 3 teaspoons of salt, 1 T of granulated sugar, 6 T of powdered milk, 3 C of whole wheat flour, and the 3 teaspoons of yeast you premeasured before.

Here's the mixing bowl, full of all the ingredients! Now, I layer the dry ingredients in the order I listed them above. This is because when I used to use a bread machine, the directions said to never put the salt against the yeast because it can "deactivate" it somehow. And sometimes, I measure out all my ingredients and don't start mixing up the bread right away. It probably doesn't matter, but that's just how I do it.

Next, you'll need 2.5 C of warm water. I know it's a little anal retentive, but I use my digital kitchen thermometer and take the temperature of the water. That way, I know that the water is not so cool that it fails to activate the yeast, and not so hot that it kills it. For the approximately 10 seconds that it takes, it gives me a tremendous amount of security! The labels on your yeast jar or envelope should tell you the temperature to use, but pretty generally, anything between 110*F and 130*F is good.

See? 120.9*F. Just right! I start with hot water right out of the tap, take the temp, and then warm it in the microwave from there. Go slowly - you can always keep heating it, but if it gets too hot then you have to start all over or wait for it to cool.

Okay, so I use my stand mixer for the initial mix, but you can also just do it by hand in a large mixing bowl. If you're using a mixer, fit it with a paddle attachment, and turn it on low (for those of you with a KitchenAid mixer, I never turn it above "stir" for this bread) to mix the dry ingredients together. If you're doing it by hand, then the only alternate direction you need is "stir." :o)

Add your shortening and honey, still mixing on low (i.e., "stir").

In a slow and steady stream, add your warm water (^). Can you see how thin a thread of water I'm pouring out in the above pic? This is how slowly I add the entire 2.5 C. Adding the water slowly prevents lumpy clumps of wet flour in your dough - yuck. You're probably going to want to lock down the head of your mixer (if that's an option for you) so it doesn't start bumping around. The dough will slowly begin to come together and leave the sides of the bowl.

After you have added all water, if any flour remains dry on the bottom of the bowl, sprinkle in additional water.

Can you see that little bit of dry flour (^)? I think I added about .5-1 teaspoon of water.

Mix just until dough comes together. It will be lumpy and sticky, but soft and pliable. Scrape the dough off the mixer paddle, and dump dough out onto floured (either wheat or bread flour) surface...

(In the above pic (^), that's not something nasty on the counter at the bottom of the pic, it's a nick in the laminate counter top. Just wanted to make sure you know I didn't knead a bug into our bread!)

Sprinkle the top with more flour...

Dust your hands with flour...

And let's get started! I tried my hardest to take pictures of the kneading process, but it's tough to take pictures one-handed by yourself. But, nevertheless, here's my little "Kneading for Novices"! Kneading scares a lot of people, but it is really, really simple; it's basically just pushing, folding, and rotating the dough to mix and incorporate all ingredients well. It starts out sticky, and it takes some time and patience, but by the time the dough is ready to rise, it should no longer be sticking to your hands or the counter. There is no one single right way to knead, but here's what I do:

Start by (^) pushing the dough away from you.

Grab the elongated "point" you just pushed out (^), and pick it up...

...Folding it on top (^) of the rest of the lump. Rotate your dough about 60-90* clockwise or counter-clockwise...

...And repeat! That's it! That's all there is to it! Do this about 1,000 times - haha, just kidding. Kneading for this particular recipe takes around 10 to 12 minutes. Just keep sprinkling flour on top of the dough, your kneading surface, or your hands as needed. Remember, the dough should be tacky, but not sticky. Pliable, but not goopy and NOT tough. If your dough is tough while you're kneading it...well, frankly, I would probably just chunk it and start over. People who know more about bread than I do might know a way to redeem it, though.

The above photo (^) is about 5 or 6 minutes into kneading. You can already see how it's looking smoother, but it's not quite there yet.

Okay, so the above photo (^) was about 12 minutes after I began kneading. You can see it's significantly smoother (however, wheat dough will never look as smooth as white bread dough). So what do you do if you think it's ready, but you're not positive? You can do a windowpane test! Pull off a golf-ball sized hunk of dough...

And gently stretch it, holding it up to the light. You should be able to see light through the dough (^) before it tears, like a window! If it tears before thinning, then the dough is not ready, and needs more kneading. If it passes the windowpane test, you're ready to let it rise. Reincorporate your windowpane test hunk of dough, and gently shape your dough into a round. Place in a lightly oiled or sprayed large bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel...

...And put it somewhere to let it rise until doubled. I usually rise things on the stovetop for a few reasons. First, because I'm ridiculously impatient, and I cheat-rise things by placing them on the stovetop with the oven turned on to create a warm and cozy environment. Second, the stovetop is not my countertop and workspace, so things are out of the way!

Now, the original recipe over at Smitten Kitchen calls for instant yeast, but I used rapid rise. I also used slightly more yeast than the recipe calls for. So even though the original recipe says to let rise for nearly 2 hours, when I checked on my dough last night, it was nearly doubled after just 14 minutes! So I...

...tossed it in the fridge (^) to slow down the rising...

...And tossed the kiddos in the bathtub so I could get them to bed.

Anyway, so once the kids were in bed, I checked on my dough again. Well...

...It had risen far more than double (^). No sweat. The second rise is the one to be careful on. Anyway, dump your risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface again. (I'll be honest - I don't even clean the countertop from the kneading to this step.) Separate your dough into 2 halves...

...and press - by hand - each half into a rectangle about 6 inches wide by 10 inches long (^). Perfection is not key here! You can also use a rolling pin if you like, but it's not necessary, and why wash something if you don't need to?

Start rolling the rectangle up (^) by starting at the short end. When you get to the end, roll it over so that the seam side is up...

...and pinch (^) the seam closed...

...and I also like to pull the ends over to the seam side (^) and pinch all that together too.

Place rolled up loaf, seam side down (^), into lightly oiled or sprayed bread loaf pan.

Repeat with remaining half of dough. Lightly mist the top of each loaf with cooking spray, or rub gently with oil...

...cover loosely (^) and let rise.

Be careful on this second rise - if dough rises too much, then either during or immediately after baking, it can fall. This is both unattractive and un-delicious. I generally let them rise until they've crested over the edge of the pan, or maybe even a little more.

See above (^): the dough has risen just a little over an inch above the lip of the pan. Time to go into the oven! Preheat your oven to 350*F (or you can preheat it during the second rise so that as soon as the dough rises to perfection you can get it in the oven right away).

Bake the bread at 350*F, rotating your pans frequently to avoid the hot spots in your oven. I generally rotate each individual pan and/or swap the pans around every 15 minutes. But then, I'm the Type-A poster child. :o) Either way, total bake is between 45 minutes and an hour.

Look at those lovely loaves! But are they done? There are a few ways to check! First, you can dump a loaf out into an oven-mitted hand, and knock on the bottom. It should sound/feel hollow. I know this sounds ambiguous, but you'll know it when you hear it.

The other way is by temperature! Grab your digital kitchen thermometer...

...and take the bread's baby temperature (ahem, in the bottom). Finished bread should register between 190* and 205*F.

Dump loaves out onto wire cooling racks to let cool. I like to use a little trick I picked up from Big M's mom and rub some butter - REAL butter, unsalted - on the outside of the loaf.

I use about 3 T per loaf (^). This just softens the crust, which is really great if you're planning to use the bread for sandwiches, especially for kids. Take especial care to rub the butter into the corners and any spots that feel particularly...crusty.

Let the bread cool completely before slicing to prevent gumminess. Then slice each loaf. I pre-slice the loaves because then it's already done, and you can just grab a piece (or 2) whenever you want it! I like to slice the bread as thin as possible, because homemade bread tends to be a little denser than store-bought bread, and thinner slices are just more pleasant for sandwiches.

Slicing is kind of tough to get used to, but I'm getting better at it (^)! The key is using a really good quality knife specifically intended for bread slicing. I love my Cutco 9.75" slicer that I got from my best bud's husband Isaac.

So, slice both loaves. I put one loaf into the freezer, and we keep one loaf out at room temperature for munching on for the next few days. For the loaf that goes into the freezer...

I separate the loaf into 2 halves, and bag each half separately (^). This is mostly because an entire loaf won't fit into a standard gallon-size storage bag.

The loaf that we're going to eat also goes into 2 storage bags, and then into our bread box (^)! That's the remains of a loaf of banana bread beside it, yum. I don't like putting bread in the fridge, because it makes it hard and tough. If you don't think you'll use an entire loaf before it gets moldy or stale, then freeze half of it, and just leave half out at room temperature.

Ta-da! So that's it! I really hope that you give bread-baking a try. It's not nearly as time-consuming or difficult as a lot of people tend to think that it is. (In case you didn't pick up on it, I mixed and kneaded the dough AND photographed the entire process while the kids were eating supper and playing!) And if you have only ever eaten store-bought bread and you try this, let me warn you that you may not love it at first. We're so accustomed to the ways things taste (and feel, the texture is quite different) that it takes a while for our tastes to adjust. But give it a shot - I bet you'll enjoy it! (Remember, if you want to make a single loaf or check the original recipe or instructions, head on over to the recipe on the Smitten Kitchen.

2-Loaf Wheat Bread

5 cups high gluten/bread flour
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
3 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons powdered milk
3 rounded teaspoons active dry or rapid rise yeast
4 tablespoons solid shortening
2 tablespoons honey
2.5 cups warm water

In large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine all dry ingredients. Add shortening and honey, and then slowly add warm water. Mix until just combined, dribbling in additional water if necessary.

Place dough on surface dusted with bread or wheat flour, and knead for 10-12 minutes or until passes windowpane test, adding flour to surface, dough, and hands as needed. Place dough in lightly oiled, large bowl and turn to coat. Cover loosely and let sit to rise until doubled.

Place risen dough on lightly floured surface. Divide dough into 2 halves. Press each half into rectangle, and roll up, closing seams. Place dough, seam side down, into 2 lightly oiled bread loaf pans. Cover loosely and let rise until dough crests top of pans.

Place loaf pans in 350*F preheated oven, and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, rotating as needed.

Remove loaves immediately to wire cooling racks. Rub loaves with unsalted butter to soften crust (optional), and let cool completely.

Slice, store, enjoy!