10 Years of Bread Baking

Back in 2010 when my wife and I decided to bake all our own bread for a year, neither of us knew we would continue the practice. It has now been 10 years since we’ve bought a loaf of bread, other than when we are traveling. Back then my wife was on a roll (no pun intended) baking bread from the no-knead recipes in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day books. One of our favorite things she made was crunchy grissini breadsticks using the dough. These are great with soup or a salad, and for dipping into things like hummus or other dips.

Grissini Breadsticks

In addition to breads, we also baked our own buns and rolls that year. Homemade buns are so good, we’ve been making them ever since! My version of the King Arthur Flour recipe for Moomie’s Famous Burger Buns is something I bake quite often, and it is my go-to recipe for buns. I like them with a seed topping that includes black and white sesame seeds plus poppy seeds. Lately I’ve been using my USA Pan Mini Cake and Hamburger Bun pans to get perfectly round buns every time.

Moomies Burger Buns

My other go-to recipe for buns is my Dark Rye Potato Rolls and Buns. I adapted this recipe from the King Arthur Flour Potato-Onion Rye Rolls. I skipped the onions and tweaked the other ingredients for my version, and I bake these buns all the time and put them in the freezer for later use. The dark color comes from a bit of cocoa powder added to the dough, as well as a bit of molasses. Once again, the USA Pans Hamburger Bun pan makes for a great shaped bun, and I find them easier to slice as well.

Dark Rye Potato Buns

These days I am the chief bread baker, and the last few years I’ve gotten into using naturally leavened sourdough breads. I am especially fond of no-knead recipes, and the No Knead Sourdough Bread recipe at Breadtopia is one of my favorites. I scale it up by 50% to fit their Batard Clay Baker, which makes for a bread with a tasty crust and a moist interior.

sourdough bread in the clay baker

no-knead sourdough bread

But I still make a lot of breads using commercial yeast too. My Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread is sturdy but still has a soft crumb and is great for all kinds of sandwiches. I baked a loaf of this a couple of days ago, and it was my first bake of 2020.

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

And my Rye and Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaf is a very similar bread that combines whole grain rye and wheat flours with molasses and a bit of caraway seed. It’s my favorite for a meatless reuben sandwich we make quite often using our homemade sauerkraut.

Rye and Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaf

Dinner rolls also wind up on the menu here a lot, and my Multi-Grain Seeded Dinner Rolls recipe is an original recipe I developed several years ago. It’s a hit whenever I take it to a carry in dinner, and has a mix of millet, sunflower and sesame seeds both inside and out along with whole wheat flour and oats.

Multi-Grain Seeded Dinner Rolls

We also make several different flat breads including pita bread and pizza crusts. Lately I’ve been making corn tortillas. I make these using a tortilla press and cook them on an electric griddle. With only three ingredients – masa harina, salt and water, they have a wonderful flavor and make a good base for soft fish tacos or enchiladas.

corn tortillas

I hope you have enjoyed this recap of a some of the favorite breads we have baked here in the last 10 years. I have no plans to start buying bread anytime soon, so I predict more baking adventures in the years to come. You can see most of my bread recipes on my recipe pages. I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres.