When life feels chaotic I find myself veering to the familiar and comfortable. And what is more reassuring than my dining table, homemade bread and God's truths. A comfortable place to sit, my favorite comfort-food and God giving me my daily dose of needed comfort from Scripture.
Like everyone else we are trying to eat less carbs...well, and eat less in general. This recipe was given to me by a missionary friend who got it from her missionary friend. Since we are now a family of 2 in Japan (instead of 5) I have had to half or quarter recipes (instead of double to fill 3 big, hungry boys) so I have played around with this recipe to make a 2-person-mini-loaf of wheat bread.
(I have to special order the brown flower and I am still using the chia and flax seeds tucked in my fridge that a friend sent in a care package at the beginning of this term. Since this doesn't have any preservatives, it doesn't keep well, so store it in the fridge or slice it up to freeze for yummy toast. It's the best though, and most comforting, still warm and right out of the oven!)
Easy No-Knead Brown Bread mini loaf
1 teaspoon yeast
1/2 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup of warm water (about 110 degree F or about 1/4 cup cold tap and 1/4 cup boiling water)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup fine brown flour (or 1/4 cup fine brown and 1/4 cup bran or course brown flour)
1/2 cup regular white flour
about 1 teaspoon chia and flax seeds (about 1/2 teaspoon of each or whatever you'd like)
about 1/8 cup sunflower seeds (pumpkin seeds are also a yummy addition if you like extra nutty bread...Me!! Me!! But I can't usually find them here in Japan.)
Whisk yeast, warm water and sugar. Then add well-sifted together dry ingredients and oil.
If it is too wet add just a touch of flour so you can barely mold it with her hands. (No need to knead.) Cover and let sit for about 20 minutes in a warm spot to rise. Mix down and shape into loaf shape with wet hands, place in well-buttered small bread loaf pan. Let rise in warm area for about 20 minutes. Bake at about 370 F (190 C) for about 20 minutes.
So today you can find me pulling up my Ikea chair (with its ¥100 store cushions) and sitting at my dining room table (covered in an un-hemmed 2 meter fabric "tablecloth" recently purchased at a little fabric shop near the train station). You will find me opening God's Word (as I continue reading through the Bible which I started during COVID stay-home).
A comfortable spot to sit with some comfort-carbs, and best of all, the God of all Comfort's presence to lift and enable. His comfort comes up right off the printed page and pours down from heaven into my comfort-hungry heart.
