Domestic mama

I have felt very domestic the last few days. The other day I made homemade granola which turned out super yummy, especially when sprinkled over vanilla yogurt. Monday I went to my friend, K’s house who made some stupendous homemade bread. I had heard that she ground her own wheat into flour and asked her about it. She confirmed that she did and showed me how she does it. She then offered to loan me her grain mill and a bucket of wheat to try. Yesterday I ground 10 cups of wheat into flour. It was so cool! The wheat started out looking like it had just been taken from the plant and ended up being a usable flour! Get this – K said that while the initial investment in the grain mill was pretty pricey, she just ordered 120 pounds of wheat (enough to last years) for $8.20! She gets her yeast at Sam’s for $4 for 2 pounds. That makes making yummy homemade bread super inexpensive. She said her grain mill will also grind rye, corn, or beans into flour.

I made some bread with my newly ground flour, but didn’t alter the recipe to reflect that I was using all wheat flour, so the bread turned out a bit heavy. I called K and asked about it. She gave me her recipe and technique for using the flour, so I tried it out today. It worked wonderfully! I made 2 dozen crescent rolls and 2 dozen cloverleaf rolls. I baked them only partway, then froze them, which made them basically brown & serve rolls. Now whenever we want homemade rolls, we’ll just have to let them thaw for about 10 minutes, then bake for 10 minutes and they will be as good as fresh – all without having to worry about them going bad before we can eat them. Even after making 2 loaves of bread and 4 dozen rolls, I still have enough flour left for another batch or two.

While making the rolls, I also tried making some of my own yogurt. A friend sent me the recipe the same day that Martha Stewart demonstrated it. I tried it out then and it turned out great. The second batch turned out edible, but not as good. The third time it didn’t turn out. Today was the fourth time I tried it, and so far it’s not looking good. I think I need a new liquid/candy thermometer. Even so, I may just stick to store-bought yogurt from now on. I guess I’m not quite that domestic! It sure was fun to try out some new things though.

In other news, Bug-a-Boo and I attended his first library storytime today. It was great! That, though, is the subject for another post.

Edited to add: What do you know? I left the yogurt in the still warm, but turned off oven overnight and when I checked it in the morning, it was perfect. Maybe I won't abandon making yogurt yet.