Our family loves homemade bread – Miss Berry will only eat homemade bread. The problem with spending all that time kneading and leaving it to rise and kneading again is that it takes up a good portion of the morning. And when I do make bread, it gets eaten within a day or two and I have to repeat the process whereas store bought bread ends up in the freezer for almost a week.
The fact is that although I am trying to lead a simple life, our lives are still busy and lots of things need to be done on a daily basis and my gorgeous girl needs to entertained almost constantly (you can imagine how it is half way through the first knead and she suddenly goes quiet – that tends to be a concern).
So, I have taken the plunge and sourced a second hand bread maker (thanks Robyn). I wanted to find a second hand one to prevent it going to land fill and also to save some dosh.
The thing is, a bit of me feels like I have sold out – I am like an independent grunge band that has just signed to a major label. I have lost my roots and forgotten about the fans that made my success possible and am now writing songs to be played on a commercial radio station that is usually reserved for Top 40 songs.
So, will I now be shunned by the hard working, hand kneading bread makers of the world? I hope not. Using the bread maker is the best way for my family to have regular homemade bread and I can spend that time with Miss Berry; she is growing so quickly I don’t want to miss a moment. It will relieve some stress from me as it will be one less thing I need to do during the day and hopefully it will be a lot easier and quicker to clean.
I suppose I am saying that everyone’s situation is different and we all have to do things in the best way for our lifestyle and family. Perhaps when Miss Berry is older I can go back to hand making bread or perhaps I will have perfected my recipe in the bread maker and will use my time for something else.
For the time being though, this old grunger is going Top 40 all the way.
2 comments:
I felt the same way too, until I thought about other inventions like the printing press, the calculator, the lightbulb, and the computer. I bet if Colonial women could have plugged in a machine and lightened their load a little bit, AND still knew all of the ingredients they were putting into their children's bodies they would have given it up the kneading too. Not all technology is bad, and I think that you went about finding one in a responsible way. I love my bread machine, and its on everyday (4 kids here) as I try to focus on the quality of food going into their mouths. I can go green other places to make up for the electricty difference. Hang in there. Kelly in SC
Thanks Kelly.
You are right. Simple living is not about doing away with all technology just for the sake of it.
Emma
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