Our Favorite Bread

In thinking about this post, I did a bit of research, because it seems to me that bread has really gotten a bad rap lately. It was confirmed to me that bread, or some form of grain, has been a staple all over the world, literally since time began. Virtually every people group seems to grow and use a basic grain that’s used in one form or another, be it a flatbread or yeast bread.
Spiritually it symbolizes life. Jesus described Himself as being the bread of life. In the Old Testament the prophet Isaiah asked, “Why do people spend money on that which is not bread?” (Isaiah 55:1,2)

I may be wrong, but I think that our concerns about too many carbs can be the result of having so many varieties and choices that we lose track of how much we have. Plain and simple bread is still nutritious, inexpensive and a good choice to include in our daily diet.

About sixteen months ago I received an email from Lovella. Although we were friends when we were younger, we had just recently re-connected via her personal blog. She asked me if I'd be willing to submit some of my recipes to a new blog (which soon became known as mennonitegirlscancook). I really had no idea what this would mean, but to make a long story short, I never would have thought I could have so much fun with photography and cooking! Doing this with others of like mind, has given me inspiration, encouragement and new friendships, not to mention so many new recipes to enjoy!

The recipes on my sidebar are recipes I have submitted so far. What I would like to do is to add some of my new favorites from the cooking blog, to my own list. So this first recipe, which I would normally call Lovella’s Bread, is one that she posted about a year ago. You can find her recipe here. I have adapted it somewhat and found that it is quite a workable and forgiving recipe. It may help to know that.

Lovella's Multigrain No Knead Bread

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups multigrain flour or whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached or regular white flour

1 ½ tsp vital wheat gluten
¼ tsp instant yeast
2 tsp salt
1 ½ cups room temp water

Method:

1. You will need a heavy pot with a lid. If you don't have that , the next best thing is to use a large corningware or good clay pot with a lid. Line it with parchment paper.
2. Stir the flours, gluten, yeast and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
3. Add water and stir with wooden spoon. The dough will be shaggy – not the usual “baby bum” feeling.
4. Cover the bowl with a dinner plate and let rise for 12 – 15 hours. You read correctly and this is why it took me a while before I actually tried it. You have to figure out when is the best time to mix it. It takes about 2 minutes, so I do it when I’m making supper or just before going to bed.
   The next morning or noon:
5. Take off the dinner plate and sprinkle it with some porridge oats. Dump the dough onto the plate and sprinkle it lightly with flour and oatmeal, just so you can manage to shape it into a ball.
6. Carefully place it into your baking pot. Cover with lid and rise for another 2 hours.
7. Bake at 475F for 30 minutes with the lid on and then turn down the oven to 350F and continue baking for 10 minutes with the lid off.
   
   This bread has no fat or sugar, but it is very moist and even family members who didn’t care for whole wheat or grainy breads before, love it!

Give us this day our daily bread. Luke 11:3