Gone is the luxury of the slow cooking of the wood stove

Back, way back, when I was young wood stoves served more function than just heat. You could heat your water, raise your bread, slow cook meats (and beans). And the infamous pot of soup that was always on ...the back burner. Bread could be toasted on the top to a crispy brown and the house cooking aromas always filled the air. All for a chunk of wood.

Do any of that now with the cost of electricity and a wood stove you will need to get back.

They have come up with small electrical appliances that will do much but still rely on electricity although a considerably less than using the conventional electric stove. So with the change comes the need to change how and what we cook to get the best nutrition and the most economical fuel usage.

The microwave has helped considerably, although it tends to create a "living off the economy" type senario. Prepackaged frozen foods just pop into the microwave and within minutes a good meal. Minus the aroma of a sirloin roast roasting in the oven or a honey clove glazed ham. The mom in her apron preparing a meal for her family blending all the ingredients into a satisfying smorgisborg of scents that envoke childhood memories that last a lifetime. No time for that though, the electric bill must be paid.

So how do we find the time and resources to keep our families together and united in food?  Did you know that cancer of the blood has been steadily rising? Seems cells in our bodies are forgetting how to do things.   Trades were taught in home. A plumber father would teach his son the plumbing trade, electricians, cooks, etc. Children enately follow the path of the parent they identify with. Have you ever tried doing something while your child was present? At a very early age these things are being taught. What and where now are the kids learning? Both Mom and dad are out working. I remember going on trips with my grandfather while he was doing wiring jobs. And he would show me what he was doing. I was only little, but this was a man who taught his grandkids cards as soon as they could hold a hand, and thus started teaching simple math.

 These same games are being taught to grades 10 and 11 now. Go fish in my childhood is the Bingo game in taught in grade 10 Biology, a few many years in the difference.

Let's tackle one a time.  Homemade bread. At $3-4.00 a loaf, fresh bread would definitely be well worth the try. Yes, I am quite familiar with the arduous work that goes into fresh bread having made bread weekly for a number of years. But what if I could give you a solution that would have you see and smell fresh bread on your table daily?  Would you try it? Well I am going to start.

What we need: The basic of basic:
1 food grade plastic container with lid- you know the type that holds the bulk peanut butter  5 gallon (this is the only must have besides something to pan it and an apron) Bread doubles in size and will keep rising slowly
A cookie sheet, a pizza stone, a bread pan, ...
1 stirring utensil Potato masher coil kind (non bendable)                       } greased hand, and
                                                                                                                } to measure accurately you
                                                                                                                } use your hand as well

[ A woman always cut off the end of her roast prior to cooking and her daughter asked her why.  "It was the way my mom always did" was her reply. "I don't really know why."  The woman now curious went to her mother and asked her " Why do you cut off the a portion of the roast prior to cooking. "oh" the mom said, " so it would fit in the pan."]

Ingredients: 5 Main Ingredients:
1. Luke warm water @ about 100 degrees. Too hot and the yeast die, too cold and it will take longer for the yeast to stretch the gluten fibres
2.Yeast  Always check expiration date. Toxic if old.
3.Sugar  Yeast requires sugar to produce the carbon dioxide which produces bubbles which do the stretching and flavouring
4.Flour  All purpose is fine
5.Salt   Regulates the effectiveness of the yeast, but mainly for flavour.

Extras

Shortening  bread will be more tender and less chewy
Eggs "Man can not live by bread alone" one egg per person per loaf is satisfactory per day
Fruits and nuts
Spices and Herbs

[If you are a woodsman, you can use fresh berries. The natural yeasts that forms on the berries are enough to ferment and make a starter for bread. Perhaps you have heard of....hops and not the bunny, AKA known as Prospectors Bread, I will give recipe for this later. ds]

So lets gather our equipment and ingredient.


Slow cookers keep foods atcertain temperatures. Mine has three setting, kind of like the new  Sous -vide devices.