Without fail, when we sit down to eat a meal, one of us will say “Remember when we ate store bought bread?” or “Don’t you hope we never have to eat store bought bread again?” and it makes me wonder why everyone doesn’t make bread.  I know there are many reasons . . you can buy good quality bread.  We had a Great Harvest Bread in Owensboro and their bread was as good as my own home baked bread, probably better if I wanted to be really honest.  They ground their wheat daily and used quality ingredients but it was expensive.  I think homemade bread costs less.  Maybe you have no desire to bake bread.  I can see that.  There are some things I’d rather not do myself . . like change the oil in the car.  Vince could do that but we always have it done by our mechanic or the dealership if we are in Joplin at the time the oil needs changing.  Maybe you don’t eat bread.  That would be a real good reason not to bake bread.  But, the reason I want us to talk about is . . you don’t have time! You do!  When I made bread this week, I timed it.  Ready?  I’m not going to count grinding the wheat because you’re probably not going to be doing that . . at least not at first.  But it took me 14 minutes to grind the wheat. I use the Family Grain Mill and I grind it coarsely at first, then grind it finely on a second grind.  I don’t have to do that but I kinda like to!  I love putting the wheat berries in and getting flour out.  I have to watch myself or I’d grind a lot more wheat than I need . . it’s really intriguing!

10 minutes – dump the ingredients in the mixer, mix and let the mixer knead for 8 minutes.
2 minutes – shape into loaves, oil pan and put dough into pans.  This could probably be done in 1 minute but my recipe makes 2 loaves and I weigh them so they’re both exactly the same weight (22 ounces) and it takes some borrowing from one ball to the next to get them exactly equal.  What would happen if they weren’t exactly equal?  For some . . nothing; for me . . I’d pull my hair out!
30 minutes to rise – that’s what the recipe says but most kitchens are warmer than mine so I usually let it rise 45 minutes.
45 – 50 minutes to bake and . . that’s it!

Other than the mixing, kneading (in the mixer) and shaping, the rest of the time I’m off doing something else so it actually takes 12 minutes of my time to make two loaves of bread.  Granted, I have to be home and paying attention to the timer during the remaining 1 to 1-1/2 hour but . . can you spare 12 minutes once a week?  Then you can have 2 loaves of homemade bread!  Sounds pretty simple, huh?

I made Norm’s Onion Rolls over the weekend too.  Those things are so good!  And here’s a secret!  Keep out some of the dough  .. put it in the fridge til you need it.  Cut off some chunks, roll it out, put it in a heated skillet with a bit of melted butter and make it kinda like fry bread.  This dough makes really good fry bread!

Speaking of wholesome goodness, look at those eggs up there with the loaves of bread!  They’re from a quilting friend who has chickens.  I buy them from her.

Above are my eggs cooking.

Here’s Vince’s eggs cooking.  Now . . why would our eggs be cooking in separate pans?  Any ideas?  Vince was raised in the north; I was raised in the south.  These relationships from such diverse backgrounds are so difficult!    Vince will not have his eggs fried in bacon grease.  I will have mine only fried in bacon grease.  So, Vince’s eggs are fried in butter; my eggs are fried in the bacon grease.

Do not give me a speech about my non-healthy eating!  I eat fried eggs once a week! And, really . . what’s the difference in bacon grease vs. butter?  Don’t tell me . . it don’t matter.

And, there was a pot of grits to go along with those fried eggs and bacon.  I’m glad to be a southern girl!