See that bread? You guys, I totally baked it myself! Okay, so I actually threw a bunch of ingredients into a bread machine and let it do all the work, but still! Would you look at that thing? Pure whole wheat perfection. (Did I mention that I made it myself?)
Bread is expensive. A decent loaf of 100% whole wheat sandwich bread that doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup can run you upwards of $4. And even if it doesn't contain HFCS, it often contains preservatives or weird (no doubt genetically modified) soy ingredients. Just what, exactly, is enzyme-modified soy lecithin, anyway? And why do I need it in my bread? The lovely loaf of bread pictured above was made from eight ingredients, all recognizable to me: water, oil, salt, brown sugar, whole wheat flour, vital wheat gluten, and active dry yeast. Bonus: it's vegan. No milk in this bread, folks!
The best part is that it's totally delicious. No, wait! It's that the kids love it. Or that it's cheap! Easy! Makes the house smell like a dream!
I am totally sold. Thanks, Mom, for the hand-me-down. I'm gonna use the hell out of it.
Girl, that looks like golden deliciousness! So many great memories of baking bread with my grandma. There is NOTHING better! Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteBread machines are fun! Hey, what is that you have on the bread? Looks like butter, but I know it can't be that.
ReplyDeleteActually, Erin, it is butter. Very old butter, in fact. I bought it for Thanksgiving dinner, which was at our house last year, because I know some people prefer it to the stuff I use (Earth Balance). But, I made sure to buy the butter from a company whose practices are in line with my ethics:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.strausfamilycreamery.com/?section=Products
I've actually seen the cows while driving to and from Sebastopol and they look pretty happy! :) Raley's sells their yogurt and butter in the Natural Foods section and Whole Foods carries several of their products. I used it for the photo because Earth Balance comes in a tub and I wanted to show a square-shaped "pat" of butter on the bread, rather than a glob. ;-)
I think it's so cool that you guys used to bake "real" bread with your grandma, and that you still do it yourselves sometimes. I myself don't know the first thing about kneading, so I think I'll stick with the machine. ;-)
Maybe I should try Earth Balance sometime. I buy real butter because the thought of those alternative spreads grosses my out like it's putting plastic into my body. Although the saturated fat and cholesterol in real butter isn't great for me because I am a big butter slatherer. How does the taste of Earth Balance compare to butter or margarine?
ReplyDeleteI think it tastes great! Comparable to butter, in my opinion. It's been forever since I had margarine, so I don't really know how it compares to that. I get the "soy free" version and these are the ingredients: Natural oil blend (palm fruit, canola, safflower, and olive), filtered water, contains less than 2% of sea salt, natural flavor (plant derived from corn, no MSG, no alcohol, no gluten), pea protein, sunflower lecithin, lactic acid (non-dairy, derived from sugar beets) and naturally extracted annatto for color. It's also certified non-GMO. Only 3 grams of saturated fat per serving and 7.5 grams of the good fats, poly and mono.
ReplyDeleteProbably more info than you needed, but what can I say? That's how I roll... ;-)
Wow, that looks so GOOD!
ReplyDeleteHow much do you think it cost per loaf?
Sorry, Mel, but I have no clue. I'm far too lazy to try and figure that one out! ;-)
ReplyDelete