Bread Time

I am veering off the kids education and talking about mine for a moment. Now that Passover has ended and we can eat bread again the kids have been asking "When are you going to bake bread?! When?" We were busy earlier in the week and I was putting it off. I was putting it off partly because we were busy and mostly because I was trying to work up the courage to attempt soaking the flour.

I follow slowly in the footsteps of my friend Larissa. She forces me down the path of improving our nutrition by bravely trying these things. Oh, I knew she was right-soaked grains are better for you-but it was going to add even more planning to my life. I struggle with planning food. It is much easier to purchase a loaf of bread. Then it became easy to bake my own. Then I had to add milling my own flour (because it is so much better then store bought flour) but I stalled at soaking. It seemed complicated. You have to add an acid. You have to soak it at least 12 hours. This would require me to think a day ahead of when I want to bake bread. Who has time for that? But as I watched my friend chronicle her journey on her blog I knew I had to try it too. You can't un-ring the bell. I knew it was better and if I knew it was better then why wasn't I doing it? So, this evening I made the time to grind the flour and it is now soaking in a bowl on the counter. I have 2 bowls soaking on the counter. One has the bread flour and the other has the leftover flour with which I will make waffles in the morning. I am hoping this experiment works out.

When my mother was visiting and she noticed my grain mill and she asked what it was. When I told her she shook her head and said "I won't start worrying until you start making your own clothes out of Calico." I laughed and told her how much I hate sewing so no danger of that but I can't wait to hear what she thinks about this extra step I have added into my life. After you read this mom, let me know. :-)