It is 93 degrees in beautiful western Colorado and I have no bread to feed 3 hungry children. Did I say I was busy? Yes, adding work into my normally busy day has made me rethink a few things. So, might I share a few solutions for such a time as this?
- Solution #1- buy store bought. Ugh I feel like a failure to do so…. ( go with Solution #2)
- Solution #2- make your own!
- Use what you have! I have an old bread machine. Time to let it work while I work!
- Get a new recipe and try it!
- Utilize the Sun Oven– keep the kitchen cool! Keep Mama cool! Have Sun Oven pay for itself! – all pluses!
Homemaker Help
I have a dear friend Chris, who has a wonderful, delightful, young adult daughter, Heather. Heather shared a bread recipe that we devoured in less than a minute after it came out of the oven the last time I was at their ranch. I noticed they have their “old” bread maker work for them with the quick dough prep while they run their Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmaker’s Camp, www.ChristianFilmmakersCamp.com. So I followed suit since I didn’t want to go with solution #1. I went with using what I had and feeling good for doing so.
I put the recipe into my bread machine as stated below and I ran errands. As I walked into the house with arms full of groceries, etc. the timer went off and I was able to take the dough, punch it down and put it into 2- 8″ bread pans. I proceeded to preheat the Sun Oven while I put groceries away and in 10 min or so the dough was at the height recommended by Sun Oven. I spritzed the bread tops with water ( to get a brown top), put the loaves into the Sun Oven and went back to fixing lunch, etc. 40ish minutes later- fresh bread! I made this recipe yesterday in a very hot kitchen (due to my oven being on) on a 90 degree day and made a resolution right then and there to bake in the Sun Oven for the summer.
Heather’s Bread Recipe
by Heather Lawrence, Co-Chef, Main- Baker, Tasty Sweet Maker of the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmaker’s Camp. Thank you !!!
- 3/4 c warm milk, buttermilk, kefir (Kathy used powdered milk : see note of being busy above!)
- 1/2 c warm water
- 2 eggs
- 4 c wheat flour (can use part white, part wheat flour) (Kathy used our Hard White Wheat)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp honey (approximately – I don’t measure this, but I don’t use all that much)
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten
- 2 tsp yeast
- For the Sun Oven: Dough must be up to 1/2″ from top of bread pan.
Put ingredients in bread maker in order listed on dough cycle. At the end of the 90 minutes, shape into two 1 lb loaves, let rise until double (approximately 45 minutes), then bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.
If you are using a Sun Oven.. Allow only to rise to 1/2″ of the top of the bread pan- @10 min. Then into the Sun Oven for roughly 40-60min. My Sun Oven today ran at 300 degrees. Other days I would just watch it as it can be 375 degrees and of course would bake that bread ASAP! So adjust to where you are! Nice thing is Sun Ovens don’t burn!
I bet this recipe will do well in a mixer too! Give it a try!- but if you have an old bread maker, make it work while you work when you need a little extra help! For the record- This bread is so YUMMY! Perfect for sandwiches.
Optional Helpers: Dough Enhancer, Bread Bags, Bosch Mixer , Grain Mills
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