Bread - Humorous Homemaking

Grinding Flour In Our Nutrimill

We’ve owned our Nutrimill for a decade and it has served us well. It is one of the best kitchen tool investments we’ve ever made. What is it? Simply put – the Nutrimill grinds actual grain (wheat, corn, etc.) into flour. I did tons of research before I bought this baby. I read everything I could find and I picked my friend Stephanie’s mind. I’m sure that she’s wishing Stacy would just go away. I’m like a boomerang that keeps coming back. We decided on the Nutrimill instead of the other various mills on the market because it was supposed to be the quietest, have the biggest storage container, and you can turn it off while it’s grinding (unlike some of the other models).

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How to Make Homemade Bread

I keep getting requests for how to make homemade bread and more specifically, for bread machine tutorial videos. I get it #becausebread. I have done these types of tutorials many times on Instagram, but I finally got around to a full three-part series about how I make homemade bread in the bread machine for our YouTube channel. Check it out if you want to learn (and maybe laugh a little).

But that doesn’t mean you should jump over to YouTube just yet. Let’s cover some basics in this article first which will really help you know the tools and method better.

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Best Ever Blueberry Muffins: An Ode to Tammy’s Recipes

Years ago, there was an awesome blog called Tammy’s Recipes. She had the absolute best ever blueberry muffins recipe on there. Seriously, best EVER. Sadly, Tammy is no longer blogging and her blog has gone away (sadness).
Honestly, her blog’s disappearance has given me some kind of Recipe PTSD. Friends, this is EXACTLY why you should print ALL recipes that you find online…the ones that you enjoy, anyway.

You never know when recipe Armageddon will occur and they’re all be gone in a flash. I once had an AMAZING recipe for ciabatta bread. It was my fave…and then POOF! See – Recipe PTSD. It will NOT happen with these blueberry muffins!

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The Complete Guide to Mock Sourdough Bread

This post has been brewing in my head for about two years – and it’s finally here. I’ve hinted around and told you a few times it was coming…better late than never? The early bird gets the worm? Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today? All I can say is…it was my kids’ fault! :-p

I’ve been making this bread for 10+ years. It’s SO popular with my family and friends and everyone asks for the recipe once they have it one time. Some of you have asked for a post and some of you have asked for a video. Sooooo, I decided to do both. This post will be an exhaustive look (I’m exhausted already) at the recipe and the video will walk you through the steps…we’ve put it into three parts (well, Barry did because he’s the genius behind the scenes) so that you can watch them all together or little by little if you’re like me and taking a 2 year old to the potty every 15 minutes. [Read more…]

Postpartum Freezer Meals List

My friend Erinn from Embracing Everything asked for a list of the freezer meals that I used after this pregnancy, so I thought it might be helpful to a few other people as well. Why kill two birds with one stone when there are eggs in your bush that you shouldn’t count?

I started too late preparing for Eli Benjamin. I felt like doo-doo for most of the pregnancy, so I blame it on that. In all honesty, you should start prepping freezer meals in the middle of your second trimester. Most meals and foods will be fine for 6 months in the freezer. Even starting late, I managed to get quite a bit put away. I used a lot of meal components this time so I would be able to throw a meal together quickly instead of making a vast amount of fully cooked meals.

Also, 4 weeks before my due date, I made a HUGE shopping trip and stocked up on everything I might need: snacks, condiments, nuts, butter, etc. After my babies are born, I don’t get out much…I usually take a 2 month hiatus from shopping and gallivanting around the countryside. My mom went with me on this trip and I literally filled the car up with supplies and groceries. [Read more…]

Using a Nutrimill: The Video

You’ve been asking for the longest time for me to do a video showing you how my grain mill works – so here it is! I use a Nutrimill Classic Grain Mill. I hope you enjoy. Let me know if you have any questions. I’ll put the links that I mentioned below so that you don’t have to go hunting for them. [Read more…]

Doughnut Scones

I’m really enjoying cooking through my cookbook stash…and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. Especially when you consider that I have eBook cookbooks as well. Is there such a thing as a cookbook hoarder? On the next TLC: Cookbook Hoarders – Try to pry those cookbooks from their cold, dead fingers.

First off, let’s get something out of the way. The correct way to spell it (according to me) is DOUGHNUT. Not DONUT. Using DONUT makes it sound too much like “Do Not.” Do not what? Eat this? I don’t think so, pal. You better believe I’m going to eat that DOUGH, NUT. Ha, ha! [Read more…]

Cranberry Orange Tea Bread

Ever had one of those times when you decide on making a certain recipe, based on what’s in your pantry? So, you get everything ready and you’re all set – and then you go to get said ingredient and it’s either hard as Plymouth Rock or growing mold? Yeah, that’s never happened to me either.

It seems to be the season for sharing Cranberry Orange stuff, because I see it all over Pinterest. So, because I’m the type of person who goes with the flow, I decided to bring you one myself. Actually, no, I never go with the flow. When I see the flow, I swim as hard as I can the other way. I’m terribly hard headed. Y’all, pray for Barry. Amen.

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Surprise French Toast

Do you like surprises? I don’t. Okay, so let me rephrase that – I don’t like surprises that I know are surprises. Does that make ANY sense? I don’t mind if Barry surprises me with something…but I don’t want him to say, “Hey honey, I have a surprise for you and you don’t get it for a while.” That’s not a surprise. That’s TORTURE.

We love French Toast in this house – I really should make it more often. It takes something that is already awesome (bread) and makes it awesomer. Awesomer is not a word. Lame. I’m getting pretty good at telling you all things that are NOT words. [Read more…]

Experimenting with Bread in the Crock Pot

Y’all, my friend Anne is a culinary genius. I just love her recipes and her website, Quick Easy Cheap and Healthy…she’s frugally minded, just like me. When lots of frugal people get together, watch out! Today, Anne is tickling our fancy with Crock Pot Bread. Oh baby….take it away, Anne!

I’ve been a big fan of the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day method, for a long time now, almost from the minute it was originally developed by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois a few years back. Anything that simplifies the bread-baking process is a wonderful thing, in my opinion, so I was quite excited when Zoe posted a brilliant new idea for baking bread on the Bread in 5 blog.

The brilliant new idea? Baking the loaf of bread in the crock pot.

In the crock pot.

Did I mention it was brilliant? [Read more…]