Practice #18: Bake your own bread…?

I have a feeling I just scared off about 80% of you all. I get it. Homemade bread is intimidating. Especially for those of you who work away from home. Let me spend a few minutes trying to assuage your fears. Once you’ve done it a few times, it is really simple and becomes like second nature.

I make my bread from the book The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and I’ve been making it a few times a week every week for almost a year. I began by checking the book out at the library (as I do all of my books before I make the decision of whether I should buy them or not) and studied the recipe hard for a few days and watched the video on how to make the boule about 100 times. Then, I gathered all of my supplies, texted my mom, husband and sister for some encouraging support and then just went for it. The first few loaves turned out about as wonky as you’d expect but then I got the hang of it and my family has been enjoying delicious homemade bread for a year.

Full disclosure, don’t go into it thinking the whole process only takes five minutes. Here’s what the breakdown of it looks like for me: One evening, I mix the dough (3 minutes) and let it sit out for 2 hours before I put it in the fridge on my way to bed. The next evening, after the kids have gone to bed, I grab half of the dough, make my boule (1 minute) and let it sit for 40 minutes before putting it in the oven for 45 minutes. Then, I let it sit overnight before Andrew wakes up to slice some for his breakfast and lunch. Reading this, it seems like a lot but the hands on time is about 5 minutes (hence the title of the book) while the rest of the time is just letting it sit or bake.

Less waste? No more bread bags! We were up to 2 a week before I started doing this. Also, I know every ingredient (flour, salt, water and yeast) that’s going into mine and my family’s body.

Don’t want to do this? I get it. It’s not for everyone. If you just can’t add one more thing to your routine, how about reusing those plastic bread bags for other purposes before tossing it straight into the landfill? Pack your lunch sandwich in it, use it to collect the trash lying in your car, put your wet swimsuits in it, collect dog doo or dirty dipes in it, you get the idea.

Another option is to forego the bread bag completely. Take a swath of linen to your bakery and ask them to put one of their fresh loaves in it. Fold it up, have them put their pricing sticker on the linen and put it in your cart. When you get home, if it will take you a few days to eat it, you might want to transfer it to a container that will let minimal air in. Reuse a brown bag, perhaps?

I hope this post has encouraged you in your bread buying/making habits. Do what you can to help reduce the waste we create from all those bread bags!

P.S. Again, I don’t want to make you feel like you have to purchase things but… putting a French butter bell/crock on your holiday wish list wouldn’t be a bad thing. They are life changing.