Homemade Bread

As most of you know we have really been watching what we eat. It has become a LIFESTYLE change out our house. We are very cautious of what we put in our bodies and what we let our girls put in theirs. A few months ago we took a look at the bread we were eating and what was in it. (We mainly did this to see how much fat was in it but wow were we surprised what was in the bread we were eating! Which for the record was the Harris Teeter white) So I started investigating every loaf we bought before be put it in the buggy. Lets just say I am shocked what bread makers are allowed to put in the bread people eat. Just to give you an idea here is the ingredient list off of a loaf of HT white sandwich bread (cost $.97):

Enriched wheat flour (flour, malted barley for reduced iron, niocin, thiamin mononitrate Vit. B1, riboflavin vit. B2, folic acid)
water
high frutose corn syrup
yeast
soybean oil
salt
mono and diglycerides
calcium propinate
monocalcium phosphate
datem
grain vinegar
wheat gluten
clacium sulfate
soy lecithin
azodicarbonamide

Okay I don't know about you all but that is a lot of ingredients that I had no clue what they are or what they did. So I looked them up and oh my goodness what I found is shocking.

monoglyceride- fatty acid chain-used to hlep mix ingredients such as oil and water
diclycerides- 2 fatty acid chains-again used to blend oil and water
calcium propionate- used in baked goods and processed meat to prevent mold
monocalcium phosphate- leavening agent to cause rising (also used to make fertilizer)
datem-emulsifier used to strengthen the dough (and emulsifier stabilizes a substance)
gluten- found in wheat, barley and rye
calicum sulfate- commonly a laboratory and industral chemical used as a desiccant (desiccant-a substance that induces or sustains dryness)
azodicarbonamide- organic chemical, is used as a food additive, a flour bleaching agent to stablize (most commonly used to make foamed plastics)

Okay can we eeeeewwwww! I kept seeing the word chemical and laboratory and the phase to stablize. I was a little shocked that their were this many "additives" in the bread I was eating. After seeing all this we really started looking for bread that didn't have all these additives or high frutose corn syrup. The only one we found on grocery store shelves was Nature's Pride (which is a great tasting bread but expensive $1.97) Here is what it is made with:

whole weat flour
yeast
wheat gluten
brown sugar
Contains 2% or less of the following:
soybean oil
molasses
cultured wheat flour
salt
vinegar
natural flavor
soy flour
whey
soy lecithin
cultured corn solids

Well this one had natural ingredients in it but I still was not satisified with all the soy this and lecithin that. (and honestly I don't know what corn solids are) And for the cost I decided to see what it would cost me to make my own.

I found hundreds of recipes for homemade bread. It was hard to decide which one to use but I wanted a basic recipe that would be moist and taste good. Here are the ingredients in what I made:

flour (all purpose)
1% milk
sugar (prefer cane)
salt
butter
yeast
water

I don't know about you all but those are all NATURAL ingredients. It took 3 hours total to make from mixing to rising to it coming out of the oven. Cost of making homemade bread $1.02. Needless to say I will be making bread for us from now on. (the best thing is I can add a few ingredients to change the bread up)

I hope that as you read this you will consider what is in your bread. (what is in the food you eat period) There is something to be said for homemade anything. It is all made with LOVE!