Recipe: Simple Sandwich Bread

Almost 2 years ago, Scott & I started making our own bread instead of buying loaves at the grocery store. Since then, I can count on one hand the loaves of bread we've bought at the store. It creeped me out that supposedly "fresh" bread can sit on the grocer's shelves for weeks without showing signs of mold or staleness. Most of the breads you find in stores contain preservatives, artificial colors, bleaching agents, and nutrient destroying additives.

The sandwich bread recipe we use is an egg-enriched, white bread recipe. I know, whole wheat is much healthier! We have tried dozens of recipes with varying amounts of whole wheat flour, but this white bread recipe is just so far superior! The egg makes it a really rich, chewy bread and it holds up really well to butter without crumbling or tearing. If you have a great wheat bread recipe, please share, but for now we'll stick with this :)

We love love love our breadmaker. We use it at least twice a week to make bread, pizza dough, rolls, or buns. If you don't have one, I absolutely recommend getting one! I see them at Goodwill and Salvation Army all the time for just a few dollars. Keep your eye out and you might be able to pick one up for a great deal.

The smell of fresh baked bread is wonderfully infectious and welcoming! Homemade bread is a great way to impress your holiday guests without a lot of time or effort. We got this recipe from our Bread Machine Cook Book by Jennie Shapter. Here's what you'll need for this simple sandwich bread:

Ingredients

Yeild: 1 Medium Loaf

1 egg + 1 yolk
Water (see method)
4 1/2 C unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon rapid-rise active dry yeast

Method

Put the eggs in a measuring cup and add water to make 1 1/3 cups. Lightly mix the eggs and water, and pour into the bread machine. Next, sprinkle the flour over the wet ingredients to cover evenly. Measure the sugar out into one corner of the bread maker, and the salt into the other. Cut the butter into cubes and add to the machine. Last, make a small well in the flour and add the yeast.

You can bake the bread in the bread maker by selecting the White Bread setting, but we like to bake ours in the oven in regular loaf pans. This seems like a silly distinction, but baking in loaf pans makes for a better shaped loaf for sandwiches or toast. The bread maker makes a taller, almost cube shaped loaf which doesn't work as well. If you want to bake in the oven like we do, select the dough setting. Close the lid, and walk away! Our dough setting takes 90 minutes.

When the dough is complete, remove from the bread maker immediately. Shape into a loaf on a floured surface, and lay into a greased bread pan. Cover the pan with a wet cloth and leave in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size. We usually set ours on the stove (while the oven preheats), or in the microwave.

Once the loaf is risen, make a slit about 1/2 inch deep across the top of the bread. Bake in a 350* oven for 25 minutes or until dark golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack to cool.

We just love this bread recipe! The smell is intoxicating and it makes really yummy toast and sandwiches. The inside is fluffy and moist, with a crunchy outer crust. It should be noted that homemade bread should be stored in a sealed, dry container ideally in the fridge. The lack of preservatives make it prone to mold if left out for too long, so be careful! We almost never have issues because, well, we eat this up so fast! 

I challenge you not to have a hot slice of this bread fresh from the oven... it is almost impossible! I hope your family enjoys this yummy bread. Merry Christmas, and thanks for checking in! 

xo Allison

Quick Tip Tuesday: Using Dried Beans

Each Tuesday I'll post a quick tip or product swap. Something really simple that you can implement in your family's home without too much work or prep time. This week, I decided to swap out our usual canned beans for dried.

We made this swap for two reasons-
1. Using dry beans helps us avoid all the extra sodium used to store prehydrated beans in a can.
2. It is way cheaper! A 1lb bag of all natural dried beans was $1.29 at Meijer, which yields a little more than  three 15-oz cans of hydrated beans.

Dry beans are most likely available at your regular grocer, displayed right near the canned beans. Hydrating them for recipes is incredibly simple, and can be done a couple different ways. If you're using your beans right away for a recipe, try the hot soak method. I won't be using these for our chili until Friday, so I used the overnight soak method:

You will need:
Beans
Water
Container for soaking

Method:
Sort and rinse your beans before you begin. This is just to make sure they are clean and that no pebbles or other objects make their way into your recipe.
Measure out however many beans you want to use (I used 2 cups dry) and pour into your soaking container.
Fill the container with cold water so that the beans are completely covered.

Leave the mixture to soak 8 hours or overnight.
When complete, drain and rinse the beans with clean cold water.

Transfer to clean container for storage until use (use as soon as possible for best results).

(instructions adapted from the US Dry Beans Council... who knew there was a US Dry Beans Council!)

Pretty simple, huh? These beans aren't the prettiest, but since they are just for Chili, that's fine with me. If you need nice looking beans for a bean salad, I would suggest going with the hot-soak method instead, as the beans are less likely to crack or wrinkle that way. Since we are trying to reduce our meat intake in favor of other proteins, this trick will definitely come in handy! Thanks for checking in, and I hope you enjoyed this Quick Tip Tuesday!

xo Allison

Homemade All Natural Baby Wipes

Hey everyone!

Since I'm just getting my feet wet with this project, I thought I would start with something inexpensive and very easy to make. Homemade baby wipes fit the bill perfectly, and I can't wait to share the recipe with you!

Here's what you'll need:
1 Roll of Paper Towels
Baby Lotion
Baby Wash
Baby Oil
2 Cups of Water
A bowl, fork, knife, and a tupperware container for storage

First, take your paper towel and cut the roll in half width-wise. I like to use Viva paper towels for this project because they are really sturdy and stretchy, which is perfect for messy baby booties! Set aside one half of your paper towel roll as you will only need one half for this project.

In your bowl, combine 2 cups of water with 1 Tbsp each of Baby Lotion and Baby Wash, as well as 1 tsp of baby oil. We use Arbonne brand baby products on Felicity because she has very sensitive skin and all Arbonne products are completely natural, safe, and yes, even vegan. No harmful junk in there! Of course, you can use whatever brand of baby products that you like best. Stir the mixture with your fork until the elements are combined well.

Set your paper towel roll into the storage tupperware, and carefully pour the water mixture over the roll. As the mixture soaks in, the paper tube in the middle should release from the towels. Remove the center tube and seal the lid. I laid my wipes down in the container because I didn't have a tupperware tall enough, but you can easily store them standing in a taller container.

Done! How easy was that? As with any wipes, always remember to reseal the lid properly so they don't dry out.

These wipes are totally safe for sensitive baby booties, and faces, hands, feet, legs... and everywhere else babies get messy! These work so well, I will seriously never buy baby wipes again! I hope you enjoy this recipe, thanks for checking in!

xo Allison