Breaking Bread Together...

Bread, in it's many forms, is a common tie for people all around the world. Since Biblical times bread has been considered so essential to the maintenance of human life that there was no act more social than sharing one's bread with others. 

It is comfort food, rounds out a simple meal paired with soup, salad, cheese. And even featured in a famous poem of love by Edward Fitzgerald.

"A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, & thou"

While I used to bake weekly when our children were growing up, since they left home I am not often inspired to spend the energy for a single loaf. We purchased a bread machine (which works great on our off-grid power) and much of our bread is baked there.
Then I discovered this incredibly easy method...

I am in love all over again! 
I had heard of this recipe it for some time. Our friend, Rose, made one & shared the recipe, which she found on the internet, a year or so ago (which I have here somewhere...). I found it again in M. Bittman's 'How to Cook Everything'. It requires almost NO effort & is SO good. 

NO WORK ARTISAN BREAD
Recipe: 
ingredients:
4 cups flour
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. yeast
2 cups lukewarm water

The night before:
In a large bowl mix all ingredients. Stir until blended completely for a sticky dough. Cover (I use a hotel issue shower cap) and let sit in a warm place at least 14 hours. 
It will form a bubbly sponge and can acquire almost a sourdough tang.

Next day:
Around 3-1/2 hours before you want to eat it, scrape the sponge onto a lightly floured surface & fold 3 or 4 times. Use only enough flour to keep it from sticking to you. Cover & let sit 15 minutes. 
Form into a ball using flour sparingly, as previously noted. Place ball, squished together side down, on an untextured dishtowel with a dusting of cornmeal on it, sprinkle a bit more cornmeal on top, cover with towel & let rise until double or finger pressure leaves an indentation. 
About 1/2 hour before it's done rising set an ungreased covered baking dish/dutch oven in oven & turn oven to 450 degrees. 
After 1/2 hour has passed take HOT pan out, flip dough into pan, squished together side now up, & cover with hot lid, return to oven & bake, covered at 450! after 1/2 hour remove lid & bake another 20 to 30 min. Until golden brown.
Cool at least 15 min before eating

This artisan style bread has the best crust EVER! I always add a couple Tbsp. ground flax. I have made it 100% white, 1c. whole wheat & 3c. white, 50/50, & 100% whole wheat. 
The combos were the best, & the whole wheat has an unbelievable flavor and makes the best toast ever. Try it!!

Soap is part of our life

I suppose you could call it wholistic business.
How we make our soaps and run our business is truly a direct extension of our life as a whole.
Here is a short  slideshow that gives you a glimpse into our business, our power system & life.
 


As always, find our soaps at SimmonsNaturalBodycare.com

Who we are... Simmons Naturals

What our soap shop looks like today, 2/29/12

Somehow life's whirlwind  has kept me preoccupied & I've neglected this blog.
In the spirit of a new beginning, I wish to start here with the story of our business, as that is pretty much the story of my life right now...

Here at Simmons Natural Bodycare it is our mission to provide for the basic needs of our skin and bodies in the best possible way. We strive to create luscious soaps and basic skin care that will Make EveryDay Special.

Since 1979, when we first began crafting soaps for our own family, we have always chosen the purest, highest quality oils & other botanical ingredients for their simple natural benefits. The basic care we provide works by assisting the natural processes of renewal and protection that keep us healthy and beautiful; care for everyday needs as well as for special needs such as dry, chapped skin, skin irritation, allergies, or congestion.

However, at Simmons Natural Bodycare, what we make is only half of the story.

We believe, practice, and promote a philosophy of sustainiblility. This encompasses the use of renewable energy sources and ingredients to create our products, and doing it in a way which does not degrade the environment or cause harm to us and its other inhabitants.
It is not so much the idea of 'doing the right thing', but simply that it is the right thing to do.

Our soaps

This is why we use minimal packaging incorporating as much recycled and recyclable materials as possible.. Even the beautiful handmade Thai papers that wrap our soaps are from trees harvested in a sustainable manner, limbed, so the tree keeps growing. And this is why our ingredients are biodegradable, renewable, and mostly organic, and why we do not test on animals.

Simmons Natural Bodycare is part of a self-sufficient family homestead in the rural mountains of far northern California.

The electricity for our home and business is self generated using solar (PV) panels, a 1kw wind turbine, and a small hydro-power system. Our goal is to live and run our business with as little impact on the planet as possible. The business began by crafting natural, nontoxic, soaps & body care products to ensure the mildness needed for our own family's sensitive skin. It now provides for our family as part of a working homestead in conjunction with our large organic vegetable garden, orchard, and poultry.

Our Solar PV Array

We contribute to our local community and the world community through volunteer work and donations. We have donated 2% of the sales of our bars soaps to Heifer International since 2004 and support other small businesses through our website. Since 2006 we have been 100% Carbon Neutral as we planted enough trees worldwide to offset our carbon emissions through Trees for the Future. In addition, we double our offsets annually by donating to CarbonFund.org to support renewable energy and energy conservation projects, and we continue to plant trees, 1 for every 12 of our 4 oz. bar soaps sold, over 4500 to date.

Please visit our online store and see what we have. 
You can take a short photo tour of our soap shop here.

And Now it Begins...

2012, A New Year, an election year and, some would believe, the last year.

Grist for the Mill...

Bale's Mill

 We were recently down in the Napa - Sonoma area of California, and driving from Calistoga to St. Helena spotted this enormous wooden waterwheel through the trees. I've driven this route many time and never seen this before! We just HAD to investigate.

It turned out to be the Old Bale Mill, a grain mill powered by a 36 foot tall overshot water wheel, newly restored and functioning. Amazing and beautiful to a fan of old technology, such as myself.

I don't know, maybe I'm weird, but I find incredible visual beauty in old machinery. Rugged and utilitarian, but always with a great deal of craftsmanship, the peak of the technology of its time.

Here is a short pictorial of that visit.

Built in the 1840's, when these lush valleys were full of wheat fields, the mill is now the centerpiece of a small State Historic Park. Restoration began in the 1980's and was only finished this year. They run the mill on weekends, and you can purchase milled grains at the gift shop after watching how they were ground at the site. You can read the about the history of Bale's Mill here.

Belt driven power

One can appreciate the incredible engineering to develop this machinery. Belt driven grain elevators and wonderful, wonderful gears.

In the day when the mill ran full time, the air would be full of flammable grain dust - so no light other than what came through the windows was permissible, being as electric light did not exist here then, and a lantern flame would prove disastrous. The same would be true of any sparks, therefore metal to metal gears were too dangerous. The solution? The cogs on one set of any two meeting gears had to be made of wood.

Water power - the source for much pre-industrial revolution machinery. The simple energy of moving, or falling, water amplified by gears to do large jobs.

At its peak this mill could turn out 100's of pounds of flour an hour!

Gears, metal to wood

gears turning

This separates dirt from the grain

The little cups on the belt are to carry grain up

within the vat are the mill stones, delicately balanced

How does a grist mill work?
Here is an animation of the technique.

grain hopper

If you want to visit, information & directions can be found here.

Some of the old millstones. The grooves funneled the flour out to the edges

The wheel. The power comes from falling water turning this massive wheel

Farmers brought grain to the mill where it was placed into the boot of an elevator to be mechanically transported upstairs where it was cleaned by various types of equipment. The slow turning of the old grind stones and the dampness of the mill's site gave the meal a special quality for making cornbread, yellowbread, shortening bread and spoon bread.
As old timers put it, "When meal comes to you that way, like the heated underside of a settin' hen, it bakes bread that makes city bread taste like cardboard."

I believe it. If you are ever in the Calistoga area, be sure to check it out.