Gimme' some bread!

I LOVE bread.  There is nothing more basic.  Nor full of preservatives.  The first stop on this journey to eat well, I examined the amount of preprocessed foods in our diet and I made sure we have at least one meal a day that is created by my hands doing more than opening a box.  We are doing well with that, all things considered, with two busy kids and a full time job.  I'm proud of the progress we've made.

This year, we are taking another step in joining a CSA where we will be adding fresh, local, organic fruits and veggies to our meals.  But there is one place where I've had blinders on, and that's bread.

I mean, did we really think anything could be healthy if it could keep without molding for more than a month?  When I was a kid, bread molded.  I just took a partial package of forgotten hot dog buns out of my bread drawer.  We used the first half OVER A MONTH AGO and the rest of the package still looked pretty good.  Amazing, but also, scary. 

What are all of those preservatives doing to my Little Mouths insides?  I'm not sure.  Maybe nothing, and unfortunately, I don't have the time to make sure every morsel that goes into their little mouths is free of everything that may not be good for them.  I'd love to grow and grind the wheat...okay, so I wouldn't but you know what I mean. 

As an alternative I dusted off my bread maker, yes, I still had it from a gazillion years ago in the garage, and made my very first attempt at making my own bread...well rolls.  Aren't they pretty?

Well, okay.  So they're not too pretty.  But they do taste good!
Thumbs up from Big Mama, but the little mouths aren't so sure about the whole wheat part.  They are a little "nuttier" than they are used to.  I think next time I will use only 3/4 cup whole wheat flour and 2 1/2 cups bread flour and work them up to these...

Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
(I made 5 into hotdog buns to use with chicken sausages this week)

1 cup water

1 egg
2 cups Bread flour
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons bread machine (Has to say "Rapid Rise")yeast
1-2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted



1.  Add all ingredients except butter to bread machine per manufacturer's instuctions.
2. Set bread machine to the "dough" setting.
3. Remove from bread machine and knead a bit with some flour on your counter or other clean surface
4. Divide dough into rolls.  I was having trouble getting the sizes to be the same so I used my kitchen scale.  I made the rolls 1 oz and the hotdog buns 2 oz.
5. Place in 9 X 13 baking dish
6. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for 30-40 minutes or until they have doubled their size.
7.  Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes untill browned.