Bread and Butter **RECIPE ALERT**

The weekend is drawing to a close, and I enjoyed it in a fully Au Naturale way filled with delicious food and just as delicious leftovers: homemade mac & cheese; fish tacos with homemade guac; organic yogurt for breakfast; and a quick trip to the winter farmer's market for eggs and milk.  It felt good to be back on the wagon.

One thing I needed to address, though, was the inevitable demise of the farmer's market wheat bread (of which I have waxed poetic about through this blog) and the handrolled butter, also of the farmer's market.  Both had inconveniently bit the dust at the same time. Also considering my wheat ran out at the same time as the remainder of my homemade rye, trying my own wheat seemed like a good choice for my next baking adventure.

Of course I needed the butter to go with it, and if you read my very first blog entry you'll know why I am hesitant to buy even organic store made butter.  The problem with flame retardant, it seems, is not so much the butter but the packaging surrounding it, causing the chemical to leech into the butter itself.  This does bring up the problem with modern packaging- plastics vs. metal (and the included protective coating) vs. vegetable wax, etc., but that's another blog entry for another time.

Butter is crazy-beyond-easy to make.  Below is the recipe, in 3 lines or less:

Homemade Butter:
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 tsp salt (optional)


Pour cream into food processor or blender and blend for 10 minutes, or until the butter separates.  (For me, the butter began to form after only about 5 minutes, then liquified, then resolidified with the yellowish color we are generally used to).  Strain out the liquid, and season to taste with salt if desired.  Press butter into a small bowl with back of spoon to further remove liquid.

That's it!!  And it is beyond delicious.  Store-bought butter, it's been nice knowin' ya.

As for what to put beneath the butter, please enjoy the below wheat bread recipe: it is easy to do for even those who don't have much experience baking.  I used as many organic ingredients as possible and also added 1/4 cup of flax seed to give it even more of a nutritional boost:

Simple Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients

• 3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup honey
• 5 cups bread flour
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and 1/3 cup honey. Add 5 cups white bread flour, and stir to combine. Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.
2. Mix in 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1/3 cup honey, and salt (and flax seed if you desire). Stir in 2 cups whole wheat flour. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole wheat flour until not real sticky - just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch. This may take an additional 2 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled.
3. Punch down, and divide into 2 loaves. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes; do not overbake. Lightly brush the tops of loaves with 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine when done to prevent crust from getting hard. Cool completely

My apologies for no photos of the bread, as they would have pretty much looked just like the rye pics but a little lighter in color.

Instead, please enjoy pictures of the other tasty meals of this weekend:

colorful tacos, no?

fish tacos with accoutrements 

marinated spicy fish for tacos.  Yum!

taco bar.  Notice the "400 Pound Monkey" Beer bottle

Baked Mac & Cheese