Thursday, October 18, 2007

Our Daily Bread

Here is Scribe holding our daily bread.


He has mastered the process of baking whole wheat bread from scratch.

Since the beginning of this summer, I have been teaching him how to bake bread. The other day, I told him he was ready to do it on his own.

He was so excited, when he woke up the next morning, he got right down to business.


The first step is to get the wheat berries ready to grind.

The reason Scribe was chosen to be the bread baker is because he showed a fascination with our NutriMill. I told him he could run it on his own if he would let me teach him how to bake bread.

He was more than happy to learn.



Here he is looking at his freshly ground flour. Our favorite wheat berry is white winter wheat.







An open wheat bucket is like a magnet in our house. The younger three LOVE to play with the berries.

I don't blame them. One of my favorite memories as a child was playing in wheat in the granary with my friend. (Actually we would jump from the rafters into the wheat, which now looking back, I realize was not a very safe thing to do!)

We keep the bread recipe posted on the inside of the cabinet door.

Squire is Scribe's moral support. He told me he's not very interested in baking. He would rather make things that don't take so long...like our oatmeal in the morning.

Once Scribe gets all the ingredients together, our Kitchenetics mixer does the mixing and the kneading.


Shaping the loaves is his second, and everyone else's favorite part. He gets to choose a helper, since he has two sisters and a brother who want to 'play' with the dough. This day he chose Squire, while promising Duchess she would be his next helper.

He makes 2-3 loaves each time he bakes and needs to bake about every other day. The entire process takes him about 2-2 1/2 hours. He still needs a little help in figuring out how long to let it raise before baking, but that will come with practice.

He is one proud bread baker, and I am one happy mama!



8 comments:

  1. Wow, what a great helper you have. The bread looks and sounds wonderful.

    I just came across your blog. You have a beautiful family.

    We have five children and are in the process of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. I am so excited and feel so blessed to be given the opportunity to adopt.

    Blessings,
    Julie

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  2. Scribe, that is a wonderful accomplishment, and a great blessing to your family! Keep up the good work!

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  3. I LOVE this post, I grew up like this too and I am SO impressed that your little guy can do this all on his own!
    I grew up on a hobby farm too and really cherish all the memories about what that life was.
    I will check back in!

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  4. Some of my fondest memories of your mom are going to your house and eating the homemade bread that she had made....looks like you are taking after her and teaching your kids well too!

    PS...I still love homemade bread but don't have much time these days to make it.

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  5. Wow that's great that you are teaching him how to do that and that he's so willing to learn :)! Keep up the good work Scribe!!

    Have a great day!!

    Erin

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  6. Look at him go! You can just see that he is so proud of himself! :)

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  7. Mmmm... A bread maker and cake decorator. You have your very own bakery!!

    So... Is there going to be a bread/cake sampling day for all of your homeschooling friends??

    Blessings, Beckie :o)

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  8. Your bread looks delicious! And your helper is darling!

    I invited you to do an I Remember post. I hope you will!

    Meredith
    * please see my blog for an explanation

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