We have been at the Earthship for fifteen months now. One of the stipulations that Luke granted was that I could visit the Fraser Valley four times a year. Last year I beat it outta there in January as soon as we got plowed out! There was SO much snow! Then when I got to the Fraser Valley they had so much snow that I got stuck here!
This January Michael and Hayley asked if I could House/Pet sit while they went on a tropical holiday. Now then, I don’t want to House/Pet sit and run so I made the decision to stay for a couple of extra weeks so I could have a visit with Michael and Hayley AND hold a Birthday Celebration dinner since we have so many Winter Babies in the family; eleven, that’s a lot, right?
So with the prospect of leaving Luke alone for four weeks I left him four loaves of Sourdough Bread. Guess that should have been eight loaves of bread because he has run out! The bread maker that was at the Earthship died last March so if he wants bread he is going to have to make it himself.
This is part of the challenge of living out in the middle of no where without a Save On Foods just down the road. When I am home I am totally in my element and can quite efficiently create meals out of the many ingredients in the pantry. And this is why I worry about leaving Luke home, alone, because I know he relies on me to keep him fed. I guess he will have to have a few cooking lessons before my annual trip to the Fraser Valley next year.
Bear with me as I walk Luke through how to make a loaf of bread. I should also mention that the bread came out a lil pale and sad looking but it was pretty decent. I reckon not having a cast iron lid on the pot made a difference and also the recipe called for nuts and cranberries but this has to be no fuss, no muss, no nonsense for Luke to make on his own.
And here is a link the recipe I used; Sally’s Baking Addiction has tons of great recipes! Go and check her out, for sure!
You will find the recipe here, Luke. Important to note that she uses instant yeast, we DO NOT! Make sure the yeast container you grab is the Traditional Yeast not the Bread Machine Yeast.
Use Hot tap water; check temp with the meat thermometer that is in that cup with all the lil spoons in it. If that one is not there, there might be one in the fridge, on the door.
She adds nuts and cranberries and you totally can if you like because they ARE there in the pantry but you can go ahead and leave them out if you like.
When you turn the oven on to 475F you are then going to put one of the red dutch ovens into the oven to heat as well. Handle the pot and lid with extreme care once they are hot because, mate, they are HOT!
When you take the baked bread out of the oven you are going to dump it out onto a cooling rack. Not sure if Sally does that or not but I do; flip it right side up once you have set the HOT pot onto one of the burners on the stove. Don’t put the HOT pot or lid anywhere else but the stovetop because it will burn whatever other surface you put it on.
Any Questions, Luke, shoot me a message and I will do what I can to help you out! Good luck!
