I may have spoken too soon....

On Friday Scribe made a new batch of bread. Apparently his teacher forgot to mention a very important tidbit of information. Make sure you use the dough hooks in the mixer. You MUST use the dough hooks. Always use the dough hooks when making bread dough.

I was so concerned with safety and making sure he kept the lid on the mixer, that I must not have emphasized enough he use the right mixing tool. My Kitchenetics has a dough hook, a French whisk, and a thick batter/thin cookie dough whip. I had been the last person to use the mixer and left the thick batter attachment in the bowl. He just used that.

A loud clunking from my mixer led me to the kitchen. "Mom, some thing is wrong with the mixer. The bowl (which should be locked into place) is spinning too." I gasped when I saw the thick batter whips. "Is it bad?" he asked. Shrugging my shoulders, I picked up the base of my machine up and gave it a shake. The sound of rattling plastic led me to believe it could be broken. Yep, it was bad.

I called the company to see if it could be repaired. How bad is it? Here are my options:

Repairing the motor base of the machine: $250.00

Purchasing a new motor base: $250.00

New thick batter whips (which now need to be replaced): $39.00

New model trade: $399.00 -$50.00 credit for old machine= $349.00

Switching to a Bosch (best price on Internet/free shipping) $349.99

Seeing my 9 year old serve "his" bread to guests: Priceless

I guess you could say that our last two loaves of bread cost somewhere between $289.00 and $349.00. (Painful smile.) So until I can decide what I should do, I think Scribe will have to learn the art of hand kneading.

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!

Pita Bread Lesson

This year for Labor Day we had some family and friends over. The King grilled leg of lamb and Dutch oven chicken. I love pita bread with my leg of lamb, but have become a pita bread snob in recent years. I can't stand the preservative flavor in the store bought stuff. Solution: Bake your own! Here is the rolling out process.




Next, bake on individual foil sheets in a 500 degree oven. The pita will "puff" up. It only takes a few minutes to bake, but I can only fit 6 in each oven at a time, so it gets a little time consuming.




I cut each one almost immediately to expose the pocket. I don't know if I let them set for a while if they would deflate, so I cut them right away. I had really good luck baking this batch. I made 50 full pitas and only 4 didn't puff. A record for me.

Exhausted

I am exhausted today. Yesterday I woke at 5:00 a.m. anxious about the Application for Citizenship document for Duchess that needs to be mailed before the end of this month. The fee for the N-600 is $215.00. After July 30 it will be $420.00 I don't want to miss the deadline! This will be proof that she is a U.S. citizen. I did get it finished, now I need make copies and get it in the mail.

Want to hear the irony? There is a law in effect that automatically made her a U.S. citizen as soon as she was adopted by us. She can also get a U.S. passport without the document. I've spoken with other adoptive families who have not filed the N-600, and have no intentions of doing so. We want to be on the safe side. We want the document that "proves" she's a citizen.


Then Jouster woke up early and asked me to take him shopping. His favorite mall is an hour away. Shopping with him is emotionally exhausting. We don't agree on clothing styles. Fortunately we can compromise somewhat.

We were gone most of the day. I got home in time to find all my containers, label them, nurse the baby, and take off for my cooking club that meets once a month. One or two women plan the menu, type the recipes and cooking instructions, do the shopping and get it all set up for an evening of cooking. This month was a little easier. We prepared 12 dishes each for four families. We have had up to 15 dishes for 6-8 families in the past. We got home about 11:00 p.m. (an early night for our group) and then had get it all into the freezer.

This is what we prepared: Ginger Flank Steak; Taco Crescent Bake; Tater Tot Hot Dish; Pizza Pasta Casserole; Bean Biscuit Bake; Chicken Pot Pie; Chinese Chicken Morsels; Mexican Chicken Lasagna; Church Potatoes; Crustless Spinach Quiche; Granola and Caramel Rolls (those are baking right now).

I love having the meals in my freezer. Especially for the evenings the King is out of town. I don't always feel like preparing meals when I am alone with the kids. This club saves us from too many nights of Pizza delivery's and Taco Bell drive through's.

I have tried doing this on my own at home. It's not as much fun as when you can get together with friends and cook...and we meet at a church with a huge kitchen, commercial stove, and dishwasher. I am in charge of the menu planning and shopping for next month. If you have any great freezer meal ideas, please let me know. I need all the help I can get.