Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Bread "Baked" in a Microwave? Yes or No


            Today I decided to try to microwave bread. I think my biggest challenge toward being self-sufficient is doing anything that requires an oven. I have none. I do own a physical oven. However, it currently doesn’t work and I lack the funds to fix it in the near future. That means I have to get creative. I am not the only person without a working oven who wanted to make fresh bread. I would like to take a second to give a lot of credit to those who leapt from the box before me.
            I found a recipe for simple microwave bread which can be found here. It came out just as advertised. I followed the instructions and was greeted with very simple bread for breakfast. I did throw in cinnamon and sugar hoping to produce something like the cinnamon bread they sell at the store. It was did yield good tasting bread. It probably would have tasted better had I not over cooked it. The instructions say it cooks over five minutes, but mine was done in two. I let it go for three and a half just to be safe. I am sure I also had the power on to high. The directions were not very detailed, but my experiment was a success.
            I am sure that I can find a way to make great bread without an oven so that is my next challenge. There will probably be many posts on different bread recipes and the unique ways I try to “bake” them. Some will work and some will flounder. None will include flounder. While I take some time to figure out what works I have some great raw vegan recipes to share over the next few days including an almond/date loaf. Be sure to keep reading and if anyone has any advice comment or message me. This is all about how to survive in the economy for the new generation.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Is bread worth $3.49 of your time?


            Going down to only one part time job I have found myself with a lot of free time to spend with friends, family, and experimenting with food. I began toying with the idea today of making my own bread. It is a long process depending on the bread and most of my friends are not supportive of the concept. Their argument is that my time is worth more than the three dollars I save by baking my own bread. I sat and thought about this concept. The $3.49 that I would pay for a small loaf of Pepperidge Farm bread includes the product cost and the cost of labor. I have seen the labor of making a great loaf of bread. It can take hours. During much of that time though you are able to do other activities. So how much of your time is spent to make a great loaf of bread?
            Making the starter for the ciabatta can take hours or days. It is not labor intensive though. The ciabatta starter starts with active dry yeast, water, and bread flour. You stir it together and let it sit for twelve hours expand. Yeast is a bacteria that feeds off the flour and water, it is alive. This means your bread is alive. Bread expands, jiggles, and moves. Yes, bread literally moves. Do not be surprised it your bread changes sides of the tray. Your starter sits for anywhere from twelve hours to a day, it can last for three in a fridge, during this sitting time you can go about your normal life.
            Once you have your starter its time to mix your ingredients. This part does involve labor, but after everything is mixed… more waiting. Ciabatta is a bread that rises in a warm room over a few hours before you bake it. It will expand in size giving it those lovely air bubbles. You can go in and deflate it once or twice during this period. That means you go in stretch and wrap or move the dough, then cover it again with plastic wrap and wait. In the time it took for the dough to rise I could make four batches of muffins, three batches of cookies, get the front ready for the day, and bake off everything for tomorrow. By the time I finished it was time to put in the loaves to bake.
            This is the reason it is worth my time, because it doesn’t take up much time at all. It is a long process, no doubt about that, but a lot of it can be spent doing other things. The end result of fresh baked bread that doesn’t set off my gluten intolerance (that’s right, people with gluten intolerances can handle fresh baked goods better than the processed store kind) is more than worth everyone’s time.

Monday, July 29, 2013

Raw Vegan Brownies

      I woke up this morning with the idea to experiment. Raw vegan brownie dough ice cream. The challenge is obviously that you can't use dairy products. There are way of making raw vegan vanilla extract and raw almond milk, but for this experiment I didn't go so far as to make then myself since I already had both in the fridge. My favorite low cost ingrediants are steel cut oats and buckwheat grouts. The short answer of can you eat both raw is yes.
      I started with a cup of oats and scared the cats as I threw on my food processor to grind it into flour. When it got to that nice powdery stage it was time for 2 tspns of agave and a splash of coconut oil. I don't like using to much of either since too much agave can have negative health effects and too much coconut oil can make anything you make with chocolate taste like a samoa girl scout cookie. I like girl scout cookies, but that simply wasn't the taste I was going for.
     I used almond milk to help stick it together, about an eighth of a cup, until it started to look creamy. Since the base of my mixture was oats it absorbed the liquid almond milk and started to look almost like peanut butter. At this point you want to place in some cocoa powder. Start with a spoonful. Raw cocoa powder is very bitter and you may need to adjust sweetner/ milk to taste. A few minutes in the food processor and I was left with two dough balls of raw vegan brownies to become brownie bites. This whole experiment cost me maybe a dollar and a half in ingrediants. Although a high initial expense all the ingrediants have lasted through ten experiments with at least ten more in them. I was not as happy with the ice cream. I think for my next trial I will branch for the all natural vanilla extract as opposed to the alcohol based extract from the store. For now back to the drawing board! Enjoy your brownies and don't be afraid to experiment. Vive la raw revolution!

Sustainable Living

     This will be my first blog as I start the journey of figuring put how to live in this new economy. I graduated with honors from Purchase College three years ago and it has been a long road since. Purchase College is a very good school. I was shocked at the end to find I was only eligible to work in the retail industry. The industry I went to school and placed myself in debt over four years to escape.
     Fast forward three years later. I decided to take a leap of faith and fell flat on my face. I left a job as a Manager in Kohl's department store to be a baker's assistant. I began work at 4 am and would work until noon then go home and nap and go to my night job as a barista. I was following both my passions that would help me to my ultimate goal, opening a cafe. I wanted a cafe where I could make my own baked goods, then I saw what was in it.
     Not everything in all baked goods are bad and of course always eat in moderation. After a month of working in the restaurant I realized it wouldn't work out. The hours were hell and my boss constantly spoke of leaving which meant I couldn't leave Starbucks and dedicate myself the way she needed me too. It also meant going to a part time income and looking for a means of more sustainable living.
     The one thing I found in my month long trial was a better understanding of food cost at the grocery store. I could make my own bread three times over for the cost of a few loaves and it would be healthier than the ones found in the store. Naturally this make sense if you take out labor cost. Then I started experimenting with recipes that yeilded high volumes of healthy food with low cost overhead. Of course the lowest cost I've found yet is raw veganism. I have yet to see a blog say raw veganism is cheap. It's true that a lot of raw things can be expensive, but it depends on what and where you find what your looking for. This blog will contain a lot of raw vegan recipes as well as my own recipes as I try to cut food costs to navigate my way to paying my bills now that I only have one job. Sit back, enjoy the ride, and let the experimentation begin.