Laura's Got Nothing On Me....

So I love to bake my own bread.

Not the standard kind of bread making...But the 'Laura Ingalls Wilder, yes I am a homeschooler" type of bread baking.

From scratch.

From real scratch.

Like from wheat kernels/berries.

I got into this last summer. I made some good loaves and a mean cinnamon roll. ( I made more than one cinnamon roll, mind you...that is just an expression)

When we moved out here, I was able to convince the Dad that I needed to bring the mill. Great. But the kitchen aid--the mixer I use to knead the dough-- didn't make the cut. It stayed at home.

OK. Before i continue, just want you to know that I know that Laura Ingalls Wilder had neither an electric mill nor a kitchen aid to help her out. She also didn't have running water or an oven. But I do. Did Laura Ingalls ever have children needing an education, other meals to prepare and a household to run???

OK...maybe she did.

But that is not the point of this post.

The point is...... I like to make bread. And I haven't been able to since we moved out here.

So. I had my mill. Found a place to purchase some wheat berries. No mixer. Decided against making the children knead it by hand and calling it PE.

I decided--hey! If I am going to purchase a mixer why don't a get the one I've had my eye on since I began bread making. In fact, I spent all last summer wishing my kitchen aid into breaking just so I could purchase this machine....





The Electrolux Assistent from Sweden. Poor Laura, she never had the opportunity to dream of such a machine!


This machine is costly. So, I waited. Waited until I couldn't wait any longer... I waited 4 months. And then this past January, I purchased my machine..... ahhhh...

I have made biscotti--lots of it, some cakes...and began my bread-making just recently. For some reason I have been intimidated to make bread again since I got out of the habit. Did Laura ever have to deal with such tendencies? I think not.

Anyway...made a nice batch the other day. The bread was lighter and tastier than I remember it to be when I used my kitchen aid. I couldn't wait to make more.

Purchased more wheat.

Made another batch of bread with a slight modification to the recipe...ever so slight...really. I just didn't stir the liquid as much as i normally do. And I guess that was enough.

I killed the yeast.


I ended up with this:

Concrete Wheat.

So.

I rinsed it out in my sink with running water, turned off the lights in my kitchen, snuggled down with a good book in my comfy bed in my temperature controlled house and decided I'd try again another day.

Laura's got nothing on me.

~The Mom