04 April 2020

Weekend Cooking: Baking Bread & Eating Out of the Freezer

Flaxseed Whole Wheat Bread at Beth Fish ReadsHow are you all holding up? I hope everyone is well and finding clever ways to eat out of their pantries.

Our meals this week were grilled pork chops with a frozen veggie, pasta with my homemade sauce (frozen from last summer), chicken soup (also from the freezer), and tuna salad sandwiches. I'm not sure yet what we'll have tonight, but I'm leaning toward risotto.

If you follow me on Instagram, then you already know that I baked bread yesterday. I think the yeast I ordered last month will be here within the next ten days, so I decided I could start using what I had in the house.

I bake bread all kinds of ways: completely by hand, using my stand mixer, and using my bread machine. No matter how I mix and rise the dough, I always shape the loaves myself and bake in the oven. When I'm super busy with work, I let the bread machine do the kneading and the first rise. That's what I did yesterday.

Using frozen vegetables and fruits. Before I get to the bread recipe I wanted to share two tips for frozen foods. Like everyone, we're trying to avoid the grocery as much as possible. I know we could use delivery services and curb-side pickup, but we haven't gone that route. First, available time slots are few and far between; second, if I have to make a substitution because the store is out of an item, I'd rather do it in person. Thus our reliance on the freezer to make it to the next shopping trip.

Flaxseed whole wheat bread recipeThe other day when I was opening up a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, I had a craving for the roasted veggies of yesteryear (as in early March). I wondered what would happen if I roasted the frozen vegetables instead of boiling them. As it turns out, roasted frozen vegetables is a thing, and I wasn't the first to do it. Try it . . . you'll thank me.

We also have several bags of frozen fruit to turn to when we run out of oranges and bananas. To make the fruit easier to use and to increase its versatility, I made up small bags of mixed fruit. We can now easily pull out a single serving to use in cereal or oatmeal or to eat for a snack. I've been making up ten packs at a time -- it takes only five minutes or so. Our current fruit mix is blueberries, cherries, peaches, and mangoes.

Now on to the bread recipe, which comes from Beth Hensperger's The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook, which has been a favorite of mine for years. As I said, I used my bread machine for the kneading and first rise, but you could make this bread using your preferred method (stand mixer, food processor, by hand). The ingredients make one 9-inch loaf.

Flaxseed whole wheat bread recipeFlaxseed Whole Wheat Bread

  • 1 1/8 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 2 cups bread flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
  • 2 tablespoons flaxseed
  • 1 tablespoon gluten
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons yeast
Mix the ingredients and knead using your usual method or following your bread machine's instructions.

After the first rise, shape the dough into a loaf, put it in a greased 9-inch loaf pan, and let it rise again. Slash the top of the dough and bake in a preheated 375F oven for 40-45 minutes or until the internal temperature is about 200F.
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Weekend Cooking hosted by www.BethFishReads.comWeekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.

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19 comments:

Marg 4/4/20, 6:05 AM  

We are making no-knead bread tonight ready for tomorrow morning.

Mae Travels 4/4/20, 7:13 AM  

Roasting frozen vegetables is a good idea. So far we are obtaining fresh foods through out local market, which hasn't had a long wait for curbside orders, but sooner or later we'll have to try that. Baking bread is another good idea, which we are doing.

be well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

gluten Free A_Z Blog 4/4/20, 7:27 AM  

Beth,
Wonderful tip about roasting frozen veggies and I've been doing similar with making small baggies of my smoothie fruit an veggies. I also have not had groceries delivered. I went to Costco yesterday which was a BIG mistake. Way too crowede.

Karen 4/4/20, 7:34 AM  

Here's another tip (that I'm sure you also do!): When I notice fresh produce getting a little, shall we say, TIRED, I quickly pop it into the freezer. From there it can go into smoothies, omelets, stir-fries, etc. I feel so bad when I neglect to notice that my strawberries or baby spinach are rotten/slimy, so this is a way to give them a second life.

rhapsodyinbooks 4/4/20, 8:08 AM  

The mixed fruit frozen bags are a great idea; thanks!!!

Tina 4/4/20, 8:27 AM  

I never thought about roasting the frozen veggies. I was just reading in local online news that some of the growers have a surplus of fresh veggies and fruits but it’s rotting, some in the fields because people aren’t coming out to pick them. We have a lot of those pick-your-own blueberry and tomato farms near where I live. Evidently folks wanted something for long storage. I’d LOVE to get some fresh blueberries.... had I known or thought about it!

Lovely loaf of bread, hoping to make a loaf of whole wheat today. The last of my King Arthur whole wheat flour.

bermudaonion 4/4/20, 9:42 AM  

We have been using grocery delivery and our shoppers have been very good about giving us options for any substitutions. Since we're trying not to do it too often, though, it's hard to stock up on fresh produce which we love.

Laurie C 4/4/20, 9:46 AM  

So jealous of your bread! I LOVE homemade bread, but haven't found a really foolproof gluten-free recipe that doesn't take a million years to bake. My husband is the grocery shopper in the family, but he's used to going 2-3 times a week. He just went early this morning and we're having trouble storing everything even with our spare fridge in the basement! Turns out it's the frozen fruits and veggies that have gotten scarce in our area over the past two weeks, while he was able to find plenty of fresh, which we can freeze ourselves if it looks like we'll need to. I've often thought about germs coming in on stuff from the store before, but certainly not to the point of panicky hysteria that I've gotten to now. It takes a real effort for me to talk myself down when I realize that there's no way to be 100% sure that what we bring into the house isn't contaminated with the virus, and that all we can do is our best to avoid it. Thank you so much for continuing with the Weekend Cooking weekly posts and all of your blog! It really helps me feel somewhat normal!

Melynda@Scratch Made Food! 4/4/20, 10:04 AM  

First, I love her books, always great bread recipes! I think that the isolation is wearing thin, but I see more and more folks bring out frugal skills they put away years ago, and while I can't wait for this to be over with everyone healthy, I hope we retain some of the calmness and self-sufficiency. Have a great week, thank you for continuing to inspire folks to cook, share and eat well.

GypsyPlate 4/4/20, 10:30 AM  

Finally out of 14 day self quarantine after returning from India! Couldn't even go for a walk. But I did just pot my bread recipe the other day, sharing it here!

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz 4/4/20, 10:42 AM  

I was finally able to get flour---$25 for 10 pounds---so I've started baking again. It seems that almost everything I make for our meals has flour or milk or eggs in it, and these are hard to find right now.

Jackie McGuinness 4/4/20, 1:13 PM  

I am still struggling with making gluten free bread, but working on it.

Never thought of roasting frozen vegetables, thanks for that.

Deb in Hawaii 4/4/20, 1:29 PM  

Roasting frozen veggies is a great idea. I am limiting myself to a grocery store run every 10 days, mainly for fresh things as I stocked my pantry up quite a bit. I am still working a mix of at home and outside my house as we are deemed essential so I try to tack it on to before or after a work day so I am not going out other times. I may have to try some early morning trips as toilet paper remains scarce and I'm down to about 4 rolls. ;-) I'm glad everyone is taking care.

Claudia 4/5/20, 3:49 AM  

I wasn't happy with my bread today, used part spelt and it was very sticky to work with. But so far, our Natural Foods market and regular grocery store has everything we need, so I'm mostly reserving the frozen items, and using more of what's growing outside.

JoAnn 4/5/20, 4:57 PM  

We've run into the same problem with grocery delivery... now that everyone seems to be doing it, they are booking out 5 or 6 days. We got an order this morning that was placed last Tuesday. Many items were out and I was not happy with the substitutions. Our freezer is nearly empty now, so I'll venture out to the store this week.

Can't wait to try roasting frozen vegetables. Your bread looks delicious!

RealLifeReading 4/5/20, 6:49 PM  

Your bread looks delicious.
I've just put my bread (tangzhong plain and tangzhong raisin) in the oven!

telkahost 4/10/20, 3:59 AM  
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Debra Eliotseats 4/10/20, 8:39 AM  

I need to make bread today. I think I have everything for this recipe (flax seeds in the freezer). We are trying to go through our freezers and pantry. So far, so good. Stay safe!

Life Diet Health 4/11/20, 5:39 AM  

Hello! I hope you find yeast soon - we've just had 500g delivered by post (hooray... should last a while!) I've used mine this week to make hot cross buns (so good & easy too - check my blog for recipe). I love frozen veg roasted and often find it tastes much better this way - have you roasted sweetcorn yet? Have a great weekend!

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