So, about two weeks ago, we were having soup and bread for dinner at my house. There were six of us there: me, my husband, and the two boys, of course (the four of us still all live at home) -- plus two of my daughters who come back weekly for what we call "Girl's Night", even though we're all adults.
At any rate, the conversation around the dinner table went like this:
I buy 50 pounds of flour at a time from our local Amish store. I've been trying to keep up the healthfulness of food in our family, and so a year or more ago, I switched us to whole wheat. Because I buy so much flour at a time, my baking supplies are a bit like an aircraft carrier: I can't change direction quickly. So my family has had a long time to get used to more . . . um . . . substantial bread, waffles, and even (yes) birthday cakes. Can I say, I think that chocolate cake with whole wheat flour is really yummy?
But my family, even if they submit reluctantly to the yumminess of chocolate whole wheat cakes, still seems to prefer white flour. "Prefer" in the sense of doing happy dances at the dinner table.
This blog post, I need not mention, is brought to you because my kids all said, "You need to write a post about this."
For what it's worth, here's a recipe for bread that makes kids dance at the dinner table:
At any rate, the conversation around the dinner table went like this:
"Yumm, this bread is delicious."And then my four kids actually started dancing in their chairs. Happy dance! Especially the grown-ups. My husband was in stitches: here was our family, rejoicing and celebrating over bread that I made with white flour. Not whole wheat, but fluffy stuff.
"Yes, it's really poofy!"
"Yeah, the bread seems different. Did you do something different?"
[me] "Actually, I think I accidentally bought white flour."
"You bought white flour?"
"Mom bought white flour!!!"
"Wow, this is great! White flour bread!"
I buy 50 pounds of flour at a time from our local Amish store. I've been trying to keep up the healthfulness of food in our family, and so a year or more ago, I switched us to whole wheat. Because I buy so much flour at a time, my baking supplies are a bit like an aircraft carrier: I can't change direction quickly. So my family has had a long time to get used to more . . . um . . . substantial bread, waffles, and even (yes) birthday cakes. Can I say, I think that chocolate cake with whole wheat flour is really yummy?
But my family, even if they submit reluctantly to the yumminess of chocolate whole wheat cakes, still seems to prefer white flour. "Prefer" in the sense of doing happy dances at the dinner table.
This blog post, I need not mention, is brought to you because my kids all said, "You need to write a post about this."
For what it's worth, here's a recipe for bread that makes kids dance at the dinner table:
- 1 and 1/3 cups water
- 1 Tbsp or so of vegetable oil
- 4 cups flour (whole wheat for long-term health, or white for dancing)
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp dry milk
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp yeast
Toss all of this, in this order, into a bread machine. Use the "quick loaf" (1-hour) option, not the regular option, because this seems to make bread with a MUCH better texture. Seriously.
Enjoy.
Funny, my family is the same way. Most of the time I do half and half, that seems to please everyone.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'll have to think about what to do when the next installment of flour enters the house. Half and half mixtures might be in order . . .
DeleteI find that white whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour feels like white flour but still has fiber. There is only a hint of whole wheat flavor, though, so this might not be the perfect compromise. Also, I don't (yet?) make yeast breads, and I've heard pastry flour doesn't work well for that. I do make biscuits, muffins, quick bread, pancakes, cake, cookies, and pie crust, and it does work for all those things.
DeleteHmm, I'm not sure whether the Amish place I go to sells pastry flour. Probably they do, and I just hadn't noticed. I'll keep my eyes open the next time I have to go pantry shopping . . . which won't be for a few months yet, I think.
DeleteThis is funny. My husband and I are the opposite. We've been using white whole wheat for our Saturday morning pancakes for several months now, but a few weeks ago we ran out, so I used regular white AP flour. The pancakes seemed shockingly white, and we really missed the nutty whole wheat flavor. The next week, we had bought the whole wheat, but I accidentally grabbed the wrong flour container from the cabinet and we had white pancakes again. WE were so disappointed!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you! As is our host daughter, Y, by the way: she says she misses the "real" bread. Which just goes to show, it's hard to please everyone at once!
DeleteAm trying your bread to see if I get chair dancing as I most always do half and half.
ReplyDeleteWe got a lot of rave reviews for you bread recipe today! Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteSo glad everyone liked it! We love bread. Well, food in general, but bread is just always something to celebrate.
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