I know what I want and I don’t settle for less.

Sometimes this gets me into trouble. People don’t always appreciate someone who has themselves figured out, BUT when it comes to food and my health, it’s a major plus.

Throughout the pandemic finding flour has been crazy. Finding the whole grain wheat flour that I prefer (because it provides the most nutrients to my body) has been impossible at the stores. I can hit any farmers market and find free-range grass fed beef, eggs from happy chickens, fruits and veg, even soup mixes and noodles, but flour is not a thing in my area.

But I won’t settle. So I went straight to the source. There are plenty of flour mills out there where customers can get bulk deals.

It’s not easy. Shipping does cost a bit and I’m not a best selling author so the fundingies have been tight, but if you squeeze the belt and save up like I do, it’s well worth it. You save a LOT in the long run and your body thanks you for it.

So far I’ve gone with the Lindly Mills Flour Co. Their website is easy to navigate. They have a good history, reasonable prices, and their story is cute.

https://www.lindleymills.com/

They have been out of the really really good stuff with the wheat germ for a while but there are plenty of other options or places to pick from.

https://www.foodandwine.com/bread-dough/bryan-ford-new-world-sourdough

I like to experiment with recipes, make some healthier, make my own sometimes. I’ve heard a lot of people say, “you can’t do that,” when substituting butter or vegetable oil with olive oil or cooking with whole wheat flour instead of the empty bleached white stuff.

My family loves these changes. My kids are healthy as can be. I’m at the end of another pregnancy right now and everything I eat goes into my baby, that makes me even more conscious of my eating (plus I’ll need to work on losing baby weight soon-so that’s a thing).

Balance is what matters most.

Veggies are a girl’s best friend.

Fruit is nature’s candy.

Protein is a must.

BUT when indulging in bread and pasta, wheat is what keeps people from blowing up. hell, even butter is a friend SOMETIMES.

So because I’m nesting and love cooking from scratch, here’s how my bread baking looks thanks to my giant bag of flour and preparing to feed 4 kids under 1 roof.

I start with a stick of butter and just cover it in honey. I love honey. Bees are my besties. It’s so good for you and boosts immunities to pollen allergies and other ailments.

If you want fluffy bread, you gotta use yeast or something similar. Sometimes beer bread works too, but I don’t mind these little guys. I don’t measure, just cover the top of the honey coated butter stick.

Then I add 1 cup of hot water. I don’t ever boil it. That’s kills the yeast. Just set the tap on hot and let it heat up, then dump it in.

Then I take a spoon and splash the water around because I’m too impatient to just let the butter sit in water and melt.

Now we add 3 cups of flour-give or take a little. Mix it all up and set it aside to grow.

I like draping a towel over the bowl and setting it in my pantry so I don’t let it haunt me while I’m working on other things haha

Once it rises you need to take it out of the bowl and punch it around a bit. Some people call this “kneading” I call it stress relief. But once you do that then you form it and put it in the loaf pan, but it’s NOT time to bake it yet haha Not unless you like dense bread. Gotta let it rise again. But you can cut a few slits or holes, or make pictures on top to allow better airflow for when it is time to bake.

I drape the towel over it again, set it in the pantry, then after at least an hour I reveal it like a magician:

NOW it’s time for baking. I set the oven for the usual 350 and just bake it until my nose says it’s ready. I don’t do timers with cooking, Times set up unrealistic expectations because every oven is different.

If you bake enough bread, you know when it’s ready. It tells you.

Yum.