Creating bread is an ancient activity. The following article reports the finding of 14,000 year old bread remains!
14,000-Year-Old Piece Of Bread Rewrites The History Of Baking And Farming
July 24, 2018 by Lina Zeldovich
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/07/24/631583427/14-000-year-old-piece-of-bread-rewrites-the-history-of-baking-and-farming
If early man could make bread we should be able to do it easily with all the equipment and facilities we have at our disposal.
An early memory to making and cooking bread was at summer at camp. We took a pre-made biscuit mix. Added water and stirred together. Molded the mixture around a green stick. Cooked it over an open fire until done. Once it was off the stick, we put jam in the hole. Pretty basic and possibly messy.
I grew up in the era of Wonder Bread Builds Bodies 12 Ways. A sandwich created during breakfast with mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato was pretty soggy by lunch time.
https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/125104/wonder-bread-still-says-it-builds-healthy-bodies.html
We had homemade bread once in a while. The kitchen took on a special character when the aroma rose from the oven. It was traditional to cut off an end as soon as the bread came out of the oven and slather it with butter as a special treat.
Years past... After I was married I started to bake bread, experimenting with different ingredient. My go to book was and is A World of Bread by Dolores Casella, published in 1966. As you can see, it has been well used, this page has been edited several times! I just looked it up online. Amazon has a paperback copy of the 1977 version for $987.25! There are other sites that carry used books to search for the book, if you are interested in adding it to your collection.
Now back to how easy it really is to create your own bread. You may have received a recipe form a friend or relative that says a pinch of this, a dash of that. Well this recipe goes even further down the road of estimating the measurements.
Cornmeal and Molasses Bread
- Add 2 T regular granulated yeast to a large bowl.
- Add 5 C room temperature water
- Pour in some Black Strap molasses
- Add the corn meal
- Add a few cups of sized all purpose white flour
- Mix together
- Let stand until the mixture as risen a bit
- Add more flour until the mixture is sift enough to knead without sticking to the fingers
- Knead until the dough feels smooth
- Let rise until double in size
- Kneed adding more flour if required to be able to work the dough
- Preheat oven to 325 - 350 degrees
- Grease four bread pans with butter
- Divide dough and put into pans
- Let rise until double in size
- Bake 20 - 25 minutes
- You know when it is close to being done by the aroma emanating from the oven
- To test for doneness, remove one loaf from a pan
- Tap the bottom
- When done it should sound hollow
- Let cool on a baking rack
- Store in ziplock bags
- Freezes well
Now if that sounds to loosey-goosey for you there are lots of recipes online and in traditional cookbooks to try. Do not be held back by the lack of a particular ingredient. If you do not have yeast, try making a starter! Leave out the cornmeal. Use sugar instead of molasses. Create your own recipe!
Baking your own bread and sharing it with family and friends is a simple and rewarding pleasure. It can brighten any day.
