Provident Living: Bread of Life

Provident living is part of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Christ taught that His Second Coming will occur after a period of tribulation.  God desires that His people be prepared to endure through these perilous times.  Those who harken to the warnings contained within God's word will be blessed to receive His kingdom at His coming.

Matt 24: 29-30 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

As a small part of my provident living focus, I learned a great bread recipe that I can make in my Vitamix blender.  This recipe requires no additional bread maker or mixer. 

King Arthur Flour Recipe: 1 lb. loaf:

 

2/3 cup warm water

1/4 cup warm milk

2 Tbsp melted butter

5 tsp sugar (heaping)

1 heaping tsp dry yeast

Combine warm liquid ingredients with yeast in medium-sized pyrex measuring cup and let stand until foamy head forms (15 min).

2 1/2 cups bread flour

1 1/4 tsp salt (1 tsp)

If you substitute 1/2 cup of fresh whole wheat berries ground into flour, than use 1 cup warm water.

Add flour and salt to Vitamix dry grains container. Pulse your variable-speed Vitamix beginning at speed 1 and increasing to speed 6 until a deep central well forms in the flour.  

Add liquid ingredients to dry grains container by pouring contents of pyrex  into flour/salt mixture.  Pulse for 2-3 seconds at speed 6 a few times until all liquid has been added. 

Perform a series of 25 -40 short 1-second pulses at speed 6 proceeding to scrape the dough away from the sides of the Vitamix container using a wet spatula.  Scrape dough away from sides of container after every 5 pulses until the dough achieves an even, smooth, yet still-sticky consistency. 

After achieving a uniform and smooth consistency, pulse the Vitamix for about 10-20 seconds until the dough ball rises in the container above the blades and pour/scrape the dough out of the Vitamix container into a greased bread pan. 

Lightly smooth out the bread dough in the bottom of the bread pan using a wet spatula.  Then cover the bread dough with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour. 

Pre-heat oven at 350 degrees F and bake for 40 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Techniques for achieving a crispy crust (I don't do any and get perfect crust):

1. Brush top of loaf with  egg whites prior to baking.

2. Sprinkle top of loaf with water prior to baking.

3. Pre-heat cast iron pan in lower oven rack and add water to create steam during first 20 minutes of bake time, then remove. 

4. Add caserole dish to lower oven rack containing ice cubes to generate steam during first 20 minutes of bake time, then remove.

5. Crack open oven door during last 5 minutes of bake time. 

Cleaning Vitamix Dry Grains Container:

Fill 2/3rds full with warm water and dab of dish soap and spin at high speed until clean. 

How does it Taste? 

The loaf was soft, light and spongy, with a nice crispy crust. Its not wonder bread but the loaf turned out to be about as light yet substantive as I have ever tasted in homemade bread. 

Drawbacks:

Vitamix can only makes 1 loaf at a time and the loaf doesn't last long in my house before its devoured. 

Next Time:

Grind storage wheat in the Vitamix dry grains container and make either a whole wheat or 50/50 white-wheat loaf.