It is fine to say that we are getting back to the basics: The basics of growing food organically, the basics of preserving that food and the basics of cooking our food “from scratch” without additives. But we are missing an important niche in the concept-our young people, the ones that we must teach in order to have them take up this cause after we are gone.

When we tell the young folks that they must garden or cook or learn to can or make bread, they rebel, the same way we did when we were their age. What we must do is to teach them how much fun it can be and by healthy eating, how they can live a more healthy, slimmer life.

There are not many processes more basic than baking bread but some recipes can be complicated enough to scare off the novice. However, making bread is really an easy, simple thing to do requiring only basic ingredients. These basic ingredients are flour, yeast, a liquid and a sweetener. The flour is made from wheat and to a lesser degree rye because they are the only grains that contain enough gluten or protein to allow the dough to rise.

Yeast, a living organism, feeds on the carbohydrates in the dough, producing carbon dioxide and alcohol. During the baking however, the alcohol is evaporated, while the carbon dioxide is trapped by the elastic gluten to form tiny spaces in the dough, which causes the dough to rise.

The sugar added to bread is necessary for the yeast and thus artificial sweetener may not be used as the yeast is not able to use it as food. The liquid in a loaf of bread can vary from plain water to milk to just about anything that you feel would give the bread an interesting taste. I find that bread without salt added will not rise properly thus one teaspoon of salt per loaf is mandatory.

My readers know that I am a staunch proponent of getting back to the basics in both our gardens and our kitchens. By my definition, this would mean that we go back to eating and preparing our food organically just as our grandparents did. This would mean baking our own bread from scratch which includes hand mixing, kneading and baking. To be realistic, in this day and age when time is short, we just don’t have the time to bake from scratch. Enter the bread machine, the best time-saving gadget in our kitchen.

A bread machine is a particularly good method to encourage children to learn to bake. It is easy to use, very safe, and permits your children to participate in every function. It will teach children how their daily bread actually gets on the dinner table and in their PB & J sandwich. They will also be able to enjoy one of the best aromas that can come from the kitchen.

Because we are interested in ease of preparation to interest young bakers, this bread recipe is nearly fool-proof.

Whole Wheat Bread

Add ingredients to the bread pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Machine setting: Whole wheat, 1 1/2 pound loaf, light crust (optional).

1/3 cup warm water

1 jumbo egg

3 tablespoons oleo

2 tablespoons molasses

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup wheat flour

1/2 cups bread flour

1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten (optional)

2 1/2 teaspoons (1 packet) bread machine yeast

When all ingredients are in the bread pan, place pan in machine, close cover and set machine as instructed in the recipe. Press start. Allow machine to run for about 5 minutes, then open top and wipe down sides of pan with a soft spatula. Close cover as quickly as possible as the machine is building up heat for the rising process. Unless you must add an ingredient when the machine “beeps”, do not open the cover again until the loaf is completely baked. When you wish to view the progress of the loaf, use a flashlight through the viewing window.

Now you might think that baking bread is a daunting chore that you don’t wish to undertake but once you smell the aroma of baking bread and taste how good your own fresh bread can be, you and your family will be hooked. Plus you get to do a worthwhile project with your children.

Pat Biggerstaff is Middlesboro’s own organic gardener, columnist and author. Have a question or comment for her? Call her at (606) 242.2906.