Both my husband & I have been on paths to healthier life styles over the past year. Sometimes our paths have intersected - both of us gave up all soda, for example - and sometimes they felt miles apart - over the summer, I was following a High Protein Low Carb plan, and he was exclusively juicing. I've since switched to the essentially vegan Cyster Diet, and the hubs is in a "generally making better choices & watching portions" stage; but one of the things that we are always in sync on is the desire to pass our healthy choices on to our kiddos, to set them up for long term success.
We try to be role models for the boys, without being obsessive about food, either. So, we emphasize stopping when your tummy is full & not eating just because you're bored... we talk about how yummy healthy foods are, and how good we feel when we eat fruits & veggies... but we also encourage them to enjoy ice cream & choose Happy Meals every chance we let them ;) And, perhaps most importantly, we try to make sure they understand where their food comes from, so they can grow up to appreciate homegrown / homemade foods regularly, over processed choices.
Tonight, I attempted homemade bread for the first time, and in keeping with our vision for our family, I had the boys help me. Luckily, this healthy, Cyster Diet-friendly recipe has just 4 ingredients, so it was an easily managed adventure. And I am just so pleasantly surprised at how well the bread turned out!
The recipe we used was from this blog I love, and it only has 4 ingredients: warm water, sugar, yeast, and Einkorn flour. I'm gonna be honest, if you're wondering what Einkorn flour is (and I'm sure you are), you should Google it. My husband discovered it in his research of various health foods, and encouraged me to look into it for my nutrition plan.
In fact, this whole home baking endeavor of ours was his idea, too! We've been trying to streamline our finances / improve our budget, as well as improve our eating habits, so our efforts there include a new vegetable garden (still in planning stage)... making our own butter... grocery shopping changes... and baking our own bread, to avoid the chemicals in store-bought options. He has attempted a few recipes, both in the oven and in his bread machine, but this was my first go at it.
So, anyways, I gathered my few ingredients, putting the flour in 3 cups so each of my boys could "help." We stirred the sugar into the warm water & sprinkled in the yeast, and the kids watched it bloom like it was something fun, lol. When it was ready, they crowded around the mixer to dump the flour in, I drizzled the yeast mixture in, and they cheered it on as it combined.
This no-knead bread has to rise twice, so I covered the bowl with plastic wrap & let it sit while we ate dinner. We came back to it 45 minutes later & Aidan's eyes were like saucers when he saw the puffed up bubble of plastic wrap - what a great opportunity for a science chat, too ;)
The rest was super easy - pour it into the buttered loaf pan, cover with buttered plastic wrap, let rise again. Then bake it for half an hour & let it cool completely before slicing. Unfortunately, I chose a too-small pan, which I didn't realize until the second rise, so the top mushroomed over a bit...
But it was still delicious - especially with some all natural apple butter on top ;)
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