Adventures in Breadmaking

Being a dirty hippie, over the summer I got it into my head that it would be really excellent to try and cut high fructose corn syrup out of my grocery bag—and my diet. Despite those new commercials claiming the sweet stuff is basically a health food (“It’s made from corn!”) I figured it couldn’t be doing my body any favors, and foods that contain it tend to be processed and manufactured on a large scale I’m starting to wonder about. In any case, I’ve been trying to eat more locally, and a HFCS embargo seemed doable so long as I continued to do most of my shopping at the farmer’s market and the edges of Stop and Shop. Easy-peasy, right?

 

Actually, not so much. I’ve had limited success so far. I had no idea how many of the products I usually buy contained corn syrup—and I’m hardly filling my cart with a pig ton of Jet-Puffed Caramel Coated Sugar Buddies. Cereal, preserves, even crackers all contain HFCS.

 

Slowly, I’ve been experimenting with replacing these ready-to-eat items with their homemade counterparts—switching out the cereal for muffins in the morning, throwing a strawberry crisp in the oven for dessert instead of whipping out the Chips Ahoy.

 

Bread and tomato sauce were two of the biggest HFCS culprits, and while learning to make my own sauce has been on my to-do list for ages (an Italian girl who can’t make sauce! My grandmother is rolling over in her grave) I decided to start with bread. When I was a kid, my mom’s family lived in Queens down the hall from a woman named Mrs. Kaiser who made her own bread every day. Even now, I associate that smell with people who love me—and who might, if I ask nicely, let me try on their old hats.

 

Most of the bread recipes I found online were for a machine, which I am sadly lacking (actually, I’d love to hear from anybody who’s got one: is a bread machine worth it? I feel like every time I ask, the answer I get is “you’ll use it one time and it will sit in your cabinet like a spaceship until you die”). I experimented with a couple of half-white, half-wheat, “low-tech” loaves, but in terms of a nice rise, this one seems to have worked the best so far. It’s adapted from RecipeZaar, and you can find the original here:

 

Ingredients:

 

2 3/4 cups water (approx. 105 degrees)

1 tablespoon yeast

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons butter

6-7 cups white flour

 

Directions: In large bowl, mix sugar, yeast, melted butter and warm water. Stir and let stand approximately 2-5 minutes, until bubbly. Add salt and flour; stir, then mix well (I used a standing mixer with a paddle attachment). Let stand (covered with a towel) for 30-60 minutes. Punch down, then knead. Shape into three loaves. Place into greased loaf pans (I like to use circular ones) and let rise until rounded above pan. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until done.

 

Do any of you guys have a better recipe? Also, do you find you have a hard time finishing the loaves before they start to get stale and yucky?