What's all the Fuss?
A lot of people are finding themselves with extra time on their hands and in a position of trying to be more self sufficient. We are taking it back to our roots. In a way, we seem to be trending towards the idea of homesteading. Homesteading describes a lifestyle of self sufficiency and implies that one does not need outside help- for example, growing your own garden, making your own food and even baking your own bread.
Bread baking is a time consuming activity. With more free time, we have been given a chance to reflect on what we put into our body. Perhaps it has given us a chance to try a new skill that we had been thinking about for a while. Either way, we are given a chance to slow down, to reflect on what's important and what's more important than food?
Bread is a staple in most people's diets- and why wouldn't it be? It's delicious and nutritious. When you make your own bread, you gain an appreciation for what you are putting into your body and how your food got onto your plate (it's actually not as simple as a plastic wrapped piece of food in a grocery store).
And then there is the journey of perfecting your loaf of bread. What type of yeast you use, the amount of flour and getting your bread to rise, are all parts of the puzzle in bread making that are perfected over time. There are even different types of bread - there is whole wheat bread, sourdough bread and there is even bread you can make in a few hours. After all, no two loaves are the same.
Differences Between Types of Bread:
So you’ve decided you want to make bread but now you need to decide what kind?
Most breads include the same basic ingredients, but this depends on what kind of bread you are planning to make. A simple homemade bread will include flour, yeast, salt and water. For a quick bread recipe, you can allow the dough to rise for a couple of hours before baking it. But for a better texture and flavour, you can let it rest in the fridge for 12+ hours.
Then there is sourdough bread, which involves an active culture instead of yeast and can be a bit more time consuming. This active culture uses two simple ingredients: flour and water. However, to make this culture ‘active’ you need to ‘feed’ your culture everyday with flour and water. This process can take around 5 days, but the resulting culture that will create your delicious sourdough bread is worth the wait!