Bread, the staff of life

 “If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.” --Robert Browning



Now that Robert knows what he is talking about.

I mentioned before that I have this rather largish family. It cost BIG to feed this brood and I am always on the look out to provide excellent tasting and nutritious foods at an cost effective price. I never sacrifice taste or nutrition for mere price, but if we want it, if we like it. I will find away to make it work.



I make my own bread stuffs as much as possible. For a variety reasons and purposes I use three different methods that I find to be cost effective, simple, easy (there is a difference between easy and simple) and take up very little of your precious time. I will be dealing with each method separately, they all have serious advantages and limitations. Lets start with the Bread Maker shall we?

The topic of a bread maker has come up several times over my days.


The first time it was brought to my attention was when someone was going over my Bridal registry some 25 years ago. I of course being a NDP member of Parliament's assistant I axed that thought in its tracks. Didn't that person know that kitchen appliances were a symbol of a patriarchal society and female bondage?

Time passes and opinions change to the next person who had the regretful experience of suggesting such an abomination to me. Didn't they realize that the bread maker was a silly expenditure of about (at the time) $200.00 for a item that makes a 99 cent item. silly little people when would they learn to make cents? And what the heck was my time worth any how?


Well slowly years go by and ideas and circumstances change. Change you say in what way? Well lets start off with the fact that I have a largish family that uses several loaves of bread a day. A mere two loaves of bread a day at the current $2.50 for plain no nonsense bread can certainly add up. Adds up to about to 2 Grand a year and that is not even taking into account buns, and that nasty Cheese bread they all love that currently sells for a whopping $5.99 a loaf. Man that is just plain obscene.

Flour has gone up in price, yes even whole wheat and other grains, bread will continue to escalate, but be consoled they will be used a loss leader at the stores. But I digress.

The rising prices and increasing concern with what is going into the stomachs of my family  prompted me to reconsider my ban on this symbol of "male enslavement". (Really I have no idea how my mother didn't vomit at some of the things that came out of my mouth back in my NDP days. I can only hope that I do so well with my children.)

Deciding that I had had enough of paying thru the roof for my family's hoity toity tastes in specialty breads I researched the dreaded bread maker. Golly Mr. Bill not only is it verrrrrrrrrry cost effective I can control what is going in their little tummies and it proves to be darned convenient too. Shocker I can tell you.

Now any decent community garage sale will turn up a bread maker that has been found by it's current owner to be too bulky to keep on the counter, never really used it or got into the habit of using it, thus consigning it to the dreaded under the counter corner where it collected dust and took up toooooo much room. Voila you have a almost brand new bread maker for almost no money. You can of course also find them on Kajiji or Craigs list, even freecycle has them sometimes.

Bread makers come with the ability to make loaves from 1 lb up to 3 lbs. I needed one that could make the 2 to 3 lbs breads, any less and I was wasting my time, too many mouthes to waste on a 1 lb chump change size, this limited me to the number of models I could use but need not effect your decision or be cost factor for you. After doing my research I felt I Neeeeeded a bread maker that had a timer, a timer you say? Yes a timer that can have the ingredients added in the morning and will have a fresh loaf waiting for you when you get home from work still all nice and warm. or it could be timed to bake during the night while the hydro rates are lowest and voilà you have a fresh loaf awaiting to be toast or lunch sandwiches. I decided I very much needed this feature. This feature is also usually coupled with another feature that I love. It's called the dough feature. This is wonderful as the ingredients are added to make specialty breads like sour dough, pumpernickel or other round breads or for buns, even pizza dough, makes a great base for cinnamon rolls and the like too. It mixes the dough, allows it to rise and kneads the dickens out of it too. All you have to do shape it and pop it into the oven. A real life/time saver in the kitchen and I love it.


A few cautions about the resulting product. Number one: after having home baked bread you gotta wonder what the heck is actually in the bread you buy at the store. They way over yeast it to make it that fluffy, my bread it substantial and filling, the texture is more noticeably cakeish, heavier but lord love a duck it melts in your mouth like manna from the gods. It has flavor that isn't white washed with yeast being the primary flavor or smell. Delightful.

My bread doesn't last long enough for me to tell you it will last just as long as the store bought brands. I suspect it doesn't, no nasty preservatives in it. BTW a cheese bread makes a wonderfully hearty grilled cheese sandwich that my critters can't get enough of. And thats the real selling factor is isn't it? They love the homey smell of it cooking, appreciate that I go to alllll this trouble ( simple as 1 2 3 really) and the taste is beyond wonderful... some how this has become a no-brainer for our house. Try it....I hope you'll love it as I have come to.