A Month of Homemade Bread

Monday was pickup day for our food coop. I usually spend a few hours over the days that following putting the 25 pound bags of beans, flour, etc into manageable, airtight containers. This month I decided to try something new.

As you may know, I bake my own bread. I use an old fashioned bread bucket to mix it. I can mix 9 loaves of bread at one time, although I usually do 6 because that's how much bread we use in a week. This time of year things are hectic and my spare time seems harder to come by than ever. I've been doing some readin about cooking for the month and decided this might be something I could incorporate into my bread baking.

So at 1:00pm yesterday, I began my bread making extravaganza. I baked four loaves of whole wheat bread, three loaves of Cornell Bread (a heartier, more filling bread that makes toast in the morning something nutritious) and 24 baked donuts. I mixed and froze 23 loaves of whole wheat bread, 3 loaves of Cornell bread, and 12 donuts to be baked as needed.

In theory all I have to do next week is defrost, let rise and bake the bread for the week. If I'm smart enough to do the same thing in four weeks, I'll always have some bread in reserve. The best part? I only had to wash the bread bucket one time!