Making bread is very simple at it's essence, but can be daunting for the newbie; there are a few tricks to the process that you learn from experience or someone telling you, that can make all the difference. I used to make bread by hand every day - grinding the organic wheat in my grinder, making the bread, and then cooking it in a wood-fired coal range with no functional temperature gauge! But it took me time to get to that point - and many failures. A friend set me right. :-) For the last number of years I've mostly made bread in a breadmaker (with the home-ground flour or without), but with our number at home dwindled down, it's not worth bothering with a breadmaker - easier to make smaller batches to suit us by hand. 

But that reminds me of a story....with an important lesson.....

Back in my early breadmaking days, Y2K was a *thing*. For those of you too young to remember, the theory was that all the world's computer based systems were set up with an internal calendar that only went up to 1999. The hypothesis was that when the year rolled over to 2000, all those computer systems could have a meltdown, and suddenly we'd be without power, water, fuel, check out registers etc etc etc. I.e. global disaster! So a lot of folk started prepping for Y2K by stockpiling food and water etc. Now a lot of the homeschooling families we knew were large, and making their own bread was important. So some of them ordered in large amounts of wheat for breadmaking. Ordering a ton (a pallet load) per family was not uncommon. One family we knew did just that. Being the curious sort who likes caculating, I asked some questions....how long does it take you to grind enough wheat to make bread using your hand grinder? (30 mins) How many loaves does your family use per week? (8-10 I think). Who's going to do all that grinding? (the kids) How long will all this wheat last? (I did some figuring - about 2-3 years worth). They were kind enough to allow me to buy a bag of wheat from them to make my own bread with. I had a fancy electric grinder - 5 mins for me. Now, I started making bread. I tried it by hand, by machine - every time, the loaves were dense to the point of inedibility! I adjusted everything I could think of - same results. I had just about given up when we visited another friend's place for lunch. She served up beautiful home made bread, made with wheat she ground, in her breadmaker. OK - what are you doing that I'm not? I asked. Her first question was "Where did you get your wheat??" When I told her, she informed me that lots of folk she knew had got wheat from the same source, and it was all too low in gluten to make good bread. She suggested I feed it to the chickens and buy some good breadmaking wheat from another source. That's when I learned that gluten content of wheat varies season to season and by variety, and that good suppliers test the content of the wheat they get in, and mix lower-gluten batches with high-gluten ones to give an overall effective result, if it's being sold for breadmaking. 

In breadmaking, gluten is very important - it's the protein in bread that gives the dough it's elasticity. As the yeast works, it releases carbon dioxide, and the elastic dough traps that gas in itself, causing the bread to rise. With low gluten, litte CO2 is trapped, and the resulting bread is dense. (That's the simplistic version, but you get the idea). So if you have trouble making good bread, and you've checked you're following all the steps right, then check the source of your wheat or flour and it's qualities. 

One of the things I learned to do is to allow plenty of rising time. I do a triple-rising, with the first one being overnight. This makes for a better textured loaf. And also has health benefits - long, slow ferments (ie rising) alter the composition of the wheat dough, making it more digestible. Today's commercial bread is forced to rise in an incredibly short time, and is nowhere near as good for you, other ingredients aside.

This is one of those things I started doing for convenience - with no internet access living in a remote spot, I had no one to tell me this was a good idea. What I did have was 5 young children, and getting up early enough to make decent bread ready for lunch every day was not convenient. So I would set the dough to rise the night before, knowing it would often "over-rise" and collapse, and then just beat it down in the morning and do the second rising before shaping into loaves or buns, doing a final rising and baking. These latter risings took way less time if they'd had an overnight-er first, the texture was better, plus I saved the initial mixing time by doing it the night before. 

Ingredients: for two loaves of any shape or 24 normal sized buns (in my pic here I've made 6 larger hamburger buns with half the batch)
8 cups flour - plain or wholemeal or a mix. The pictured bread has two cups wholemeal.
4 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
3-4 TBSP olive oil
4 cups warm water
2-3 tsp yeast granules or 4 tsp Surebake yeast (Surebake has other additives to make better textured bread, but they're not real good for you). 

Method:
1) Mix boiling water and cold water in a bowl until you get a nice, warm water. It should feel warm when you put a finger in it, but not hot (hot will kill the yeast. Cold will not make it rise). If using yeast granules, stir into water and set aside to activate for 15 mins, at which point the mixture should be very frothy. If using Surebake, just put in with sugar in the next step: 

2) Place flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre, and a small valley on the outside along one edge. Place the salt in the valley, and the sugar in the well (along with Surebake if using). Pour the oil along the valley too. 

3) Pour the water and/or yeast into the well. Using a flat knife, begin stirring from the middle outwards, mixing the liquids with the flour, aiming to incorporate the salt near the end of the process. The resulting dough should be quite wet and sticky - that's fine - but not total mush, though it actually doesn't matter if you make quite a wet dough at this stage (and sometimes gives better results). Ensure fully mixed and everything is sticking together more or less in a big lump. 

4) Coat the inside of a very large bowl (ideally glass or steel) with oil. Dump your dough in the middle, and turn it over once so it gets a bit oiled. Cover the bowl  with a damp teatowel or some glad wrap. Set aside in an ideally just slightly warm location, but room temp is fine unless extremely cold. Leave overnight. If your bowl is not very big, then divide the dough and place in 2 or more containers. You want room for a lot of expansion without overflow!

5) In the morning, the dough should have risen considerable. If it rose and collapsed, that doesn't matter. Using your fist, lightly pound down on the surface of the dough until it has shrunk. Now sprinkle a handful or two of extra flour around the edges. Begin kneading by drawing up one edge and folding over, pressing down. Turn slightly and repeat. Continue to lift, fold, press over and over, incorporating the flour, and adding more little by little if the dough is still sticky. Once it's of handle-able consistency, turn out onto a lightly floured and continue to knead. Aim to knead for about 10 mins, but know that if you've never done this before, your arms will start to get tired and protest (it gets easier with practice!). The more kneading you do, the better for the dough, as kneading incorporates the trapped CO2 more evenly through the dough, forcing it into smaller and smaller spaces. This is the part where experience will benefit you - you are aiming for a smooth feeling, elastic dough that is not sticky when kneaded. Once you've got the hang of how it should feel, your bread making will be consistently successful. 

Once you've kneaded it, return to a clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover. Set aside in a warm place until doubled in size - about 1 hour. 

6) Now, divide the dough in two, and form into loaves or buns. It can be placed in two large loaf tins, or made into hand-shaped loaves, or plaited, or rolled into buns of whatever size you like. Place the resulting loaves or buns in tins or on a tray, cover with a teatowel and set aside in a warm spot to rise once more until about doubled. 

7) Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Brush the tops of loaves or buns with milk or beaten egg (optional, but gives a nice glaze/browning) and bake. 35 mins for a plaited loaf, about 20-25 mins for buns, and 45 mins or so for a loaf in a tin. The bread is done when it sounds hollow if you rap on it with your knuckles, and the bottom is lightly browned. If in doubt, flip upside down and cook an extra 5 mins or so. Cook on a wire rack. Fend off the ravening hordes drawn by the smell of baking bread until it's cool enough to cut. :-) 

Well cooled bread slices much more nicely than hot bread, but sometimes it's nice just to tear it apart with your hands and eat it. 

Notes: 

• In cold conditions or if you store your flours in the freezer, warming the flour and utensils before you start can make a big difference to your results! Place a bowl of flour in a heat proof container into an oven preheated to 50C or low, and let warm through before you start. 
• If your room temp is too low for the second and third risings, heat oven to 50C while kneading etc, then turn off and place dough inside to rise. Remove before heating to baking temp. 
• In mid winter, the first rising may be best in the hot water cupboard or on top of the fridge, both warm locations. Don't put it anywhere too warm though, unless you have lots of room for rising in your bowl, or you may wake up to a mess! 

Another easy-to-make dairy free milk. 

Easy to make at home without all the additives. Homemade almond milk actually tastes like almonds (surprise!), much more so than store brought which actually has so little almond in it, so it may take you a few days to adjust. Can also be mixed with other home made milks (eg coconut) to adjust flavour, or watered down further is you wish.

Purchased gluten free flours are ridiculously expensive, especially considering they ones available here are mostly made from only cheap starches. This blend has a better combo of starches and proteins, and is more nutritious. It is suitable for all baked goods NOT made with yeast. 

Chicken stock is super easy to make. While one can do it with lots of veges in the same way as I make Beef Stock, usually for chicken I keep it simple - just chicken carcasses, water, and salt. 

Every time I roast a chicken, or if I have bones left over from cooking thighs, drumsticks etc, I pop them in a bag in the freezer. When I want to make stock, I pull out enough frozen bones to fill a big pot, cover with water, add some salt, cover, and bring to the boil then simmer for at least 2 hours. 

Remove bones, cool and strain, and that's it! Flavourful, delicous chicken stock - perfect as a base for soups and casseroles, or making chicken broth drinks etc. 

Chicken broth/stock is nourishing for the gut, and helps the immune system fight colds etc.

There are a number of ways to cook rice, but the one I always use is the absorption method. With a little bit of knowledge of the right steps to take, you can have perfect, fluffy rice every time. 

1) If using white rice, wash the rice TWICE - this is very important as it removes excess starch, preventing the cooked rice from being sticky. Simply measure your rice into a pot, pour water over it, stir with your hand, then drain, and repeat. If using brown rice, you do not need to wash it. 

2) Boil the kettle. For every cup of rice, pour 1 3/4 cup of boiling water into the pot of rice. Measure carefully! So for 2 cups of rice, use 3 1/2 cups water, 3 cups - 5 1/4 and so on. 

3) Add salt to taste, give the pot one stir with a fork, and set on stove with element turned just a LITTLE above it's lowest setting. Keep an eye on it, and when the pot has just barely come to the boil (some light movement and almost bubbling), then turn to low, and place a fork under the edge of the pot lid to allow some steam to escape.

4)Cook on low for 25 mins for white rice, and up to 40 min for brown rice (some brown rices don't take that long, so check from time to time). DO NOT STIR while cooking, else the rice will clump and stick. To check if water has been absorbed, use a fork to carefully press a hole in the middle, so you can see to the bottom of the pot. The rice is done when no water remains visible. Do not burn. 

5) Once finished, let sit off heat with lid on for 5 mins. Fluff with a fork, and serve.

Rice milk is super easy to make, and can be made with either cooked or uncooked rice. Store bought rice milk is ridiculously expensive if you do the math on how much it costs for a cup of rice - which is all you need to make rice milk, along with some water. Sweeteners and flavourings are optional. Take a look at what they put in rice milk some time. And think about those tetra packs they sell it in - they can't be recycled and go to landfill. 

Place 1 cup of uncooked rice (any sort - I used brown) in a bowl. Cover well with water, and set covered bowl aside to soak overnight, or at least 8 hours. 

Drain rice but do not rinse. Put rice in blender with 4 cups filtered water, and if desired, 1 tsp honey and 1/4-1/2 tsp pure vanilla essense. Blend until smooth. 

Set a large strainer over a clean bowl, and line with cheesecloth or an old, clean tea towel, folded in half. Pour blender contents into cloth, leave to drip for a while, then gather up sides carefully and squeeze through liquid. Discard rice solids. 

​Pour rice milk into a bottle, cap, and refrigerate. Shake before using.

If you have some left over cooked rice, then make milk with it!

Put 1 cup cooked rice (again, any kind) in blender with 4 cups filtered water and optional flavourings as above. Blend until smooth. It is not essential to strain this type, as the result will be much less gritty and much smoother, but I do so anyway - straining through cheesecloth as above. However, take care when squeezing it, as the fine solids will squeeze right through the cloth. 

Bottle and refrigerate. Shake before using. 

A good quality stock is a wonderful basis for soups, casseroles, gravies, or to add flavour and nourishment to any meat or vege dish. This basic recipe can really be used with any kind of bones, but I generally use beef bones (free from the butcher) or mutton bones (from our sheep). If I've cooked a roast, I place left over bones in the freezer to use in the next batch of stock (skipping the first step below), but otherwise make it from raw bones as follows.

Ingredients (for making in large 9ltr crockpot* - yields 3-4 litres finished stock)
Roughly 2- 2.5kg bones
2-3 onions, peeled and quartered
3 large carrots, peeled and halved in both directions
3-4 sticks celery, roughly chopped
1 whole garlic bulb, halved horizontally without peeling (today I used three small ones fresh from the garden, where this year's crop is dismal)
6 bay leaves
3-4 sprigs thyme
A few stalks of parsley
Sea salt to taste
Optional: a few fennel seeds and black peppercorns

Method:
Place bones in a roasting dish, sprinkle with salt, and roast at 180C for about 45 mins. Place bones into crockpot. Add a little water to roasting dish and heat gently on stove until you can scrape loose all caramelised bits. Pour this into the crock pot. Add all veges and herbs. Cover with water. Place lid on, and cook on low for 12-18 hours. 

Cool, lift out bulky items with tongs and set aside. Strain liquid, pour into containers, and freeze, or put in fridge for use soon. One completely cold, any fat will set on the surface. This may be easily removed before using.

* Note: If you don't have a crockpot/slow cooker, this stock may also be made in a large pot on the stove - simmer uncovered for 3-5 hours.

Note 2: I used to add some vinegar when making stock, in order to draw out the calcium and nutrients from the bones. I no longer do, as the vinegar can also draw out lead from the crockpot. 

Pick of finished stock to come :-)