Work is love made visible
I am feeling under the weather..
We are out of yogurt and bread.
We are always out of yogurt and bread by Sunday.
Into the kitchen I go.
I will be posting, God willing, my rhythm for each day this week. For an explanation on rhythm click here
I only made yogurt and bread today, I reflected on the women in the prairie who did this wether they wanted to or not because they had to feed their families. I am sure on a regular day they were more tired than my sicky, tired self is feeling today. With that in mind, I pulled out the grain mill and my supplies and made our favorite bread.
Thick and filling Oatmeal honey wheat bread
(makes two loaves)
2 c water
1/2 c honey
1/3 c butter
6 cups whole wheat flour
1 c qiuck cook oats
2 tsp sea salt
4 1/2 tsp dry active yeast
5 tbsp olive oil
Heat the water, honey and butter until they reach about 120 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix the oats, salt, yeast and 5 cups of the flour 
add the honey mixture and mix on low for a minute
if the dough is sticky, add the remaining cup of flour little by little until the dough clears the side of the bowl while being mixed. It is now time to knead the bread dough. You can knead it by hand (its supposed to be therapeutic) but I use my dough hook and turn the mixer on speed 3 or 4 for about 2 minutes.
I then take it out of the bowl for a second, grease the bowl and pop it back in. Cover it with a damp kitchen towel and let rise until double (this will take about 1 hour). During this time I am making yogurt or something else that needs to be done during my baking break.
Punch it down, divide it into two pieces and rolleach out into a rectangle, then roll it up jelly roll style and put into greased bread pans.
Let it rise until double and then bake it at 375 for 20-25 minutes. This bread is so good, it is by no means empty calories. I eat two slices with jam or nut butter and I am good for a long time.
Enjoy!
Stay tuned for the rest of the week, I will be posting my rhythm for each day of the week. Here is a little poem I wrote to remind my family of what each day is for.
The rhythm of our week
written by Tricia Gaitan (Crunchy Catholic Momma)
Monday kneads the water and flour, bowls of dough hour by hour
Tuesday pulls the needle and thread, to sew the blankets for the bed
Wednesdays linens washed and sunned, till all the clothes are clean and done
Thursday stop to search and look until you find the perfect book
Friday works the soil by hand, to weed and plant the good Lord’s land
Saturday time to plan ahead and gather the grains to bake the bread
Sunday comes to give us rest, Thank the Lord for our little nest.
If you have a rhythm for your week, please post it in the comments so we can all learn from each other.
