First zero waste breakfast
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I have to admit, I’m feeling a bit proud of myself today. I am a good cook; I can throw things together in a creative ‘what shall I do with this?’ fashion and 99% of the time, it turns out to be a great mealI can bake cakes, rustle up anything chocolatey with aplomb, even make Baked Alaska without a mishap, but ask me to make bread and you’ve found my weakness.
I have resorted to a bread machine and a packet bread mix, but I feel like I’m cheating. I like my energy to be in the food I make; I know that sounds weird. But Little Miss Green feels it too with cries of ‘I can taste your love in this’, when I make home made food. (Little does she know she has a week of tinned convenience food on the way, but that’s another post). In addition, the packet bread mixes cost as much as buying a loaf of bread ready made in many instances.
Yesterday then, after two weeks of begging me to have another go at making my own bread, (I was hoping it was a passing phase and she would forget) I tied my hair back, rolled up my sleeves and dived into my mixing bowl along with some yeast and flour. I used a recipe a friend gave me many years ago which doesn’t require any scales. That’s good when you have battery operated scales and the battery has just run out, right? Before you ask, I’ll be You Tubing it later in the week.
I was very sceptical, but carried on anyway; cheered on by Little Miss Green herself. I’ve had so many unpleasant surprises on the bread front. I’ve made house bricks, things that are burnt on the outside and wet on the inside (how does that happen?), I’ve made loaves that have collapsed, loaves that have split in half. I have made all sorts of spectacular dough sculptures, but rarely a good loaf of bread. I even made bread once that the dog wouldn’t eat – that’s very, very bad news; especially as he would eat sheep shit…………
Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, yesterday afternoon my oven gave birth to a perfectly formed loaf of bread. Little Miss Green’s first zero waste week breakfast consisted of two slices of Ma Green’s toast, an apple and a banana.
A small, perhaps even insignificant leap for many, but a giant leap for Mrs Green 🙂
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Does your bread machine only work w/ the premeasured packaged mix? Ours came w/ a small recipe book that is so simple – basically measure flour, create a well, add in wet ingredients, and yeast. We use our bread machine several times a month.
Hi Mrs Green
Sounds a little similiar to our house where my 5 year old (who claimed he wasn’t taking part) asked for an orange and toast for breakfast – as oranges are healthy. Yay. My bread bag is recycleable with my carriers at my local co-op – double yay.
I should get back to making my own bread, maybe a personal challenge for Feb/March? I make my dough in the bread machine then cook it in the oven.
Hi Deb, do you know, every recipe I tried with the book that came with the bread machine was a total disaster. It was so frustrating, which is why I resorted to the packet mixes. It kind of defeats the object of home made bread for me though, which is why I was delighted with my success this weekend.
Mrs J – you got through a zero waste breakfast; that’s brilliant and I love that your 5 year old is on board (even though he’s not admitting it 😉 )
Hey Di; that would be a great personal challenge; one so worthy of our time and energy. It has a great ‘feel good’ factor to it too 🙂
My bread machine is leaking… Off to find out if I can get a replacement pan for it. However, the kids have asked if we can have a go at making bread without the machine so may well be giving that a go this week sometime.
make my own bread too,no breadmaker but the secret[!]for me is using the kenwood chef and dough hook,[thanks to the freecycle for the machine]let the machine knead it for five or ten mins and then prove.so much easier !
I love my breadmaker. I use it all of the time and I don’t use premixes. I’ve had a few flops over the years but not many. Some things that ruined my bread was not putting the ingredients in the machine in a specific order, expired or soon to expire yeast (use up it for pizza dough since that doesn’t really need to rise), and some of the items not mixing well when the machine first starts. In that case, I usually lift the lid to check how the items are mixing and quickly scrape the stuff off of the sides of the pan with a spatula into the mixing dough.
Never never think a bread machine is cheating! Packet bread mix on the other hand. . . . .
I always think that a bread machine is using less energy than heating up the entire oven just for a loaf or two. Plus it’s so easy. We’ve been borrowing my parent’s for a couple months now. We’re well overdue to take it back, but I seriously use it at least once a week.
Tell Little Miss Green I had the exact same breaky that she did on the weekend!
@Sarah: Did you manage to find a replacement, Sarah? Let us know how the hand made bread turns out!
@carol boulton: I’ve heard lots of people make bread that way, Carol. I’m a bit weird, I actually LIKE the kneading part LOL! Beats going to the gym 😉 Still, it’s great you have found a method that works for you.
@Condo Blues: thanks for the tips, CondoBlues – there was some really useful information in there. It’s great to hear other people’s experiences about what does and doesn’t work.
@Jen from clean bin: I consider myself told Jen 😀 And I agree wholeheartedly about the energy thing; a breadmachine is far more economical. LMG will be chuffed she shared breakfast with you 🙂
I use my bread machine daily, and make a split tin size loaf.
I make the dough in the machine then bake in the oven, this is when the oven is on for dinner anyway or if not I will whip up some cakes for the freezer to utilise the oven space etc.
I use the timer facility on mine as I know when I will be needing the oven for dinner so work it that everything comes together.
I’m afraid to make bread too!! :))
So really glad you mastered it & double YAY!!
The other week I came this close to making it, & then dad bought a bunch of bread the same day!! grr!!
Ah well, next time!!
Mum’s made it from scratch often, but it’s been a learning process for her too..
I wonder if anyone actually measured the exact number of Watts needed by a bread machine (& kneading machine – we actually have that & not the bread machine) vs. an oven? would be nice to know (approximate) exact numbers?
@maisie: see what I mean? You are just the goddess of the kitchen and organisation. You bring into practise all the things I know I should be doing 😀
**bows at feet**
@Layla: I’ve done the wattage thing with a gadget I had. I can’t remember what it was now, but it was a tiny, tiny amount of energy for the breadmaker and I can only guess at the oven – but it is far less to use a breadmaker unless you have the oven on for other things already.
Let us know how the breadmaking goes. Get some tips from your Mum 🙂 I did a You Tube vid of me making my second ever loaf, but it wasn’t right. I didn’t know what I was talking about at all and the dough was too sticky. I managed it in the end but I think I would be too embarrassed to put the vid up, plus it would be confusing, rather than helpful for people who don’t know how to make bread.
Perhaps I will try again 🙂
Thankyou kind lady.
But you have given me the incentive to go further with my recycling efforts, contacting the council etc, which I would never have done brfore reading your blog.