Gen Y in the breadline: could I have the semolina with the salmon spread, and a latte half-caf?

[zazen]

A friend and I were just exploring the SNL skit-like shock of our globalized, yuppified tastes encountering Wonderbread and other WIC-like items with which the lowest quintile has been familiar for quite some time. You know, I grew up in NC and I had never had a bagel or an avocado until 1982 (once I was in Chapel Hill.) As Peak Oilers know so well, we've gotten way too accustomed to a drive-through global cuisine that is completely unsustainable.

I'm actually, I'm embarrassed to say, just learning how to make bread at the ripe young age of 42 (and I'm "Gen X"). The first loaf wasn't exactly what I'd take to a neighbor. Pathetic.

[Betsy Ross]

1. There is an art to making bread.

Many DUers can give you advice if you are looking for any.

One tip: If you are making whole grain bread, use about 1/2 cup gluten flour if you are not avoiding gluten. It gives the bread elasticity which keeps whole wheat from being too crumbly.

[Warpy]

3. Gluten flour is expensive and unnecessary

The only trick with whole grain bread is making a sponge the night before so the bran will soak up all the water it needs to.

The next day, add just enough white flour to shape the loaves. The crust and crumb will both be fine.

[zazen]

4. thanks--since I'm too "overqualified" to get a job now, I'll have plenty of time learn n/t

[Betsy Ross]

8. I use about 1/2 cup gluten when all the other

flour is whole grain. If you are adding white flour to a sponge, you would not need the gluten.

[Warpy]

9. I only use the white flour to dust the board

and shape the loaves.

Perhaps you misunderstood.

It is possible to make 100% whole wheat bread without gluten flour. The trick is giving it enough time to absorb all the water.

[Betsy Ross]

12. I did misunderstand.

I thought a sponge would be a more liquid mix, like a starter which would still require the addition of considerable flour. PM me with your recipe for whole grain bread.

[Warpy]

2. I was in Charlotte in the 60s and I found a place

that sold not only bagels but bialys. My mother discovered avocados there in the early 60s, although she didn't really know what to do with them besides slice them on top of salads.

It's possible to be cosmopolitan there but it takes a lot of research and running around to do it.

Gen X is going to find itself on the steep end of the learning curve we old boomers were forced to negotiate in the late 60s and early 70s.

Bread is easy, BTW. Once you get the hang of it, you'll wonder how you ever managed to screw it up.

[zazen]

5. we lived in Concord circa '72--Dad taught at UNCC design school

and we had lots of his hippy students hanging around. I don't know if they ever found the bialys, but they sure had a lot of hashish and acid.

[htuttle]

6. My side of Gen X (the ones who invented punk rock) will be fine

We still remember the late 1980's.

It's the Alex Keaton side of my bipolar generation that will have some learning to do...

"Greed is Good..." except when you're on the debit side of the equation.

[XemaSab]

7. If you have the Vegetarian Epicure cookbook

there's a no-knead bread in there with onions and rosemary that is a CINCH to make and tastes SOOOO good. :9

I think our so-called global cuisine IS sustainable considering that the "fancy" ingredients are mostly spices, which are cheap to ship and go a long ways.

And at least here in California, we can grow avocadoes, citrus, kiwifruit, and some other fruits with pretty good success.

Bananas and pineapples, however... :(

[Ms. Toad]

10. Here's my secret...

Bread machine.

Used to make it from scratch when I was feeding farm hands as a wee one back in the 60s. Didn't make any for years, except for special occasions. Took too much time for me to tend it when I wasn't hanging out in the kitchen playing chief cook and bottle washer.

Now I make 1-2 loaves a week - about 5 minutes of work, and 3 hours 40 minutes of waiting to pop the top...

Darn. Now you made me hungry and my bread is a 45 minute drive away.

If you're making bread by hand, a sponge is definitely the way to go - as several others have mentioned.

Incidentally, my daughter who is gen ?? (just started college) would be looking for beans and rice (and frappuchino) in the bread line.

[Donnachaidh]

13. we do it too

I actually have two machines, one older one that has seen us through alot, and I cannot bear to part with. And the newer 2 pounder, that makes the 'bread' breaddough. The other is used for roll dough. I make dough batches ahead of time and freeze it, so the guys can yank it out of the freezer to defrost when we're running low.

I'd suggest folks learn to can if they have the time. I've done it for years.

[Ms. Toad]

14. Yep to canning.

Although it's gotten a lot more complicated these days with all of the precautions.

Good case of botulism never killed anyone...well, maybe it did. But seriously, even if you goof up on following the letter of the canning rules (like I do a lot - since I learned to can at my mother's knees before there were such rules), as long as you follow the spirit of the rules, leave an air gap at the top of the canning jar, generally follow acidity guidelines, use either pressure canning or a water bath for the length of time recommended, check for a good seal when cooled, THEN bring the canned goods to rolling boil for 10 minutes when you use them there is virtually no chance of harm from botulism.

My old bread machine has a dangerously frayed cord, so I had to treat myself to a new one this winter. My favorite bread recipe is the one on 7 grains flour blend bag from here: http://www.greatrivermilling.com/downloads/Organic_Flour_Blends_Great_River.pdf I substitute an egg for an equivalent amount of liquid, and add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of fresh ground nutmeg. (When I made my first batch of bread I discovered too late that I had no dry powdered milk. Quickly scouring the refrigerator, I discovered I had some eggnog that my grocery store was giving away since it was January and the bottle had a Santa picture on it. It was a tasty accident, so I have continued it using the ingredients that are generally used to make eggnog.) Unfortunately, the flour blend is pretty expensive - it's one of my vices.

[NashVegas]

11. Keep Practicing

And keep a water spray bottle for the first 5-10 minutes, every 3-4 minutes or so.