A Year of Homemade Bread
Depending on your bread abilities, a year of homemade bread may seem either outlandish or breezy. Staring the task down face to face, I’d say it seems to hold a bit of both absolutely and absolutely not. But the drive to create a close relationship with every aspect of our diet will push us through this year of homemade bread, rolls, bagels, and hopefully a new array of baked goods that become favorites. What do we consider store-bought? Any store, even local. Brian does have a few staple local baked goods that he will indulge in as treats (we’re thinking of your scones Borealis Baking Company!), and Econo’s fresh made tortilla chips are a top tier favorite snack in our house, so for now those will stay too, but otherwise we’re creating everything ourselves: pasta, pizza, tortillas, cookies, pancakes, the whole sha-bang.
But the scope of the whole sha-bang has been the center of our conversation around the year of homemade bread. We love slices from Mainstreet Pizza on the way home from town; and sometimes a takeout sandwich is easier to grab on the go. “Does that include mac and cheese from the co-op?” Well, I guess ya. And It does seem daunting all laid out together but the truth is the above examples are a small standing few among the vast majority of our meals being homemade. So why not push it one step further? We have been dancing around the desire to reduce our store bought snacks (eventually to zero) and this is a great chance to act on that idea (and a great chance to hone in on a homemade pretzel recipe, which leads to white chocolate covered pretzels of course).
What will be the hardest part of the challenge? I love croissants and will have to dedicate some time to practice the art of the fold and roll. Brian loves sweets so there will be a lot of pies, tarts, and other decadence of the buttery kind, especially as berry season ripens. But the main difficulty is the convenience of store-bought bread products, and dedicating time to having these items on hand when we want or need them. Aka planning ahead with patience, aka not my strongest attribute. The conversation of convivence also comes up when we expand to include any flour based product, the tortillas and pretzels and so on. Still, we’re excited. It is a privilege to have the time-frame to plan this year of no store-bought bread, and I hope that along the way I will find tips and tricks to save time when making bread products for anyone who wants to try but have busy days.
A Year of Homemade Bread Pros: A Year of Homemade Bread Cons:
- increased baking skills - time investment
- no preservatives or added filler - risk of recipe failure
- sourdough added benefits - shorter shelf-life
I can keep going with positives all day - pride in product, sustainability and self sufficiency, customization of ingredients for taste - but the cons are harder to conjure, except for pasta; that may be the hardest aspect since a box of spaghetti really does hit the spot sometimes. But, it is doable because we want to do it and because we want to challenge ourselves to close the loop on this part of our food system.
This isn’t meant to be a finished declaration (check back at the end of the year for that), and it has sections we are still discussing and I will continue to share those thoughts here as they develop as the year rolls on (haha). So, thanks for reading, and feel free to check back as I dive into the challenge and share recipes I find along the way.
Cheers ~
Olivia
