For the book contest, please see the February 15, 2012 post.  Thank you!

When I was a young bride, Daniel & I attended the same lovely little church where we were married.  As Easter grew closer, I was approached by one of the sweet little blue hair Jesus ladies (as Dave Ramsey would call them).  She inquired if I would be interested in assisting with the blessing of breads service.  Having grown up in another denomination of faith, I had no idea what that entailed, but being passionate about serving the Lord, I agreed.  What came next was a copy of a recipe followed by precious and loving instructions on how to make unleavened bread.  The idea was that women of the church would make enough bread for each family in the church to take home a loaf to have for their Easter celebrations. 

The recipe wasn’t that challenging other than the fact that it made loaves and loaves . . . and loaves of bread.  At one point, I began to think that it was some type of miraculous fish and loaves recipe.  Every once in a while, we make this bread as a family, and it always brings me back to that rite of passage of being “grown up” enough to be asked to cook for my church family. 

Wow!  I have come a long way since then.  And many loaves of bread later, I am struck by how this one cooked food is chronicled through the ages. Bread is the one food that every culture on the globe seems to have in common.  Despite all of our differences which are numerous, there seems to be one commonality that binds us all together. 

Similarly, I recently made a comment about paint colors for my house that got some notice.  I am the large box of crayolas kind of girl while my husband might be okay with the 8 crayola primer.  Isn’t it amazing that we were all created uniquely but yet one coloring page, bread recipe, or planet is large enough for us all? I stand in awe!

The recipe below is not the Easter loaf (I will post that closer to the glorious holiday), but is the one that I have been tweaking for awhile.  For my facebook group  Kan-Do! A Cooking Community to Meal Plan, Share Recipes and Feed Our Kids, this is the recipe for bread in the crockpot.  If you are interested in joining that group and have facebook, just reply to this post and I will add you.

Finally my bread “experiment” is ready to share! 

(Caveat: For my gluten-free or gluten-sensitive, I do limit gluten in my own diet, but do not do so for my family.)

Healthy Whole Wheat Bread (Recipe credited to Esther Becker of Gordonville, PA in the Fix-it and Forget-it Cookbook)

2 cups warm reconstituted powdered milk (I LOVE powdered milk)

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey or brown sugar (I used honey)

3/4 tsp. salt

1 pkg yeast

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cups white flour

1. Mix together milk, oil, honey or brown sugar, salt, yeast, and half the flour in electric mixer bowl.  Beat with mixer for 2 minutes.  Add remaining flour.  Mix well. 

 

 

2. Place dough in a well-greased bread or cake pan that will fit into your slow cooker.  This was my problem before.  My pan was too large and I had to lean it and the dough spilled out the side.  So I finally found a pan that fit.  This isn’t an advertisement for that store, but I had to go to Sioux Falls to find a bread pan to fit in my crockpot.

 

 

Cover with greased tin foil. Let stand for 5 minutes.  Place in the slow cooker.

 

 

 

3. Cover cooker and bake on High 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  Remove from pan and uncover. 

 

 

 

Let stand for 5 minutes. Serve warm.  (I served with honey butter.) For those that know me well, I never can follow a recipe exactly.  Hence, I added 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds to this recipe with the second half of the flours.  It made the perfect textural addition of just a bit of crunch. This smelled so good when we arrived home after church! Enjoy!!!