Morning All,
Sometimes people suck! No I haven't woken up on the wrong side of the bed but sometimes people are so rude when you might not fit the 2.4 kid average. If you choose to have one like some of my friends, you'll get the never ending "when are you having the next one?" or if you have a whole bunch like me, strangers and barely known acquaintances feel free to make judgement or ask questions like "how on earth can you afford to feed all those kids?" Sometimes it's curiosity, other times it's just a bit catty.
Sometimes I'm nice but more often I will respond in my usual smart alec way, a favorite response is "We only feed three of them each day but keep it on rotation so no one goes more than two days without food!" By the way, my Mum hates it when I talk like this when she is around, sorry Mum!
But for those of you who are just curious or are interested in some thrifty ways to feed a large group, I make a lot of diy mixes. I'm starting with my favorite and probably most versatile mix, the bread maker mix.
Recipe:
26 cups of Plain Flour
1 cup of Sugar
1 cup of Nonfat Dry Milk Powder
4 Tbs of Salt.
To make the dough
3&1/2 cups of Bread Mix
2 tsp of active Dried Yeast
1&1/2 tbs of Olive Oil
1&1/4 cups of warm water (make sure the water is just warm to the touch, if it's too hot you will kill the yeast and your dough won't rise.)
This has a shelf life of around 6-8 months I've never had it go bad but the only time I don't bake is over Summer.
Place it in the bread maker and set to dough or if you want a loaf, white bread loaf. When making dough once you shape it it must be covered in plastic wrap and left to rise to about double in size before baking.
If your making dough the average cook time is 20 mins or until golden brown, in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius or 350F
And you can make a multitude of things like
Pizza, please give Julian's fresh vegetables from the garden a round of applause, each batch will make 2 deep dish crusts or 3 thin.
Scrolls, I fill these with whatever is on hand, just flatten it out to a rectangle add filling roll up and cut.
Suggestions:
Cream cheese & sweet chili sauce
Cheese and spinach
Left over pizza toppings
Ham and Chutney
Apple and sultana for a sweet version.
Not pictured but I also add 3/4 of a cup of Dried fruit cinnamon and make buns, add garlic or herbs and shape into a french roll or chocolate chips as a fun afternoon snack. Really it's up to you.
DIY Delight or Disaster? Oh this is a true delight, it saves me heaps. I generally don't make plain bread because, let's be honest, it's cheap enough but all the specialty loaves are usually very expensive and these loaves end up costing less than a dollar to make. Also while most of us love the idea of making and baking our own breads, it's a lot of work using this in the bead maker is as simple as set it and forget method. DELIGHT!
Thanks for reading,
Mel xo
Be Delighted Every Day, Follow Mellywood's Mansion!
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