**Warning - this is a long post**
Normally, I'm not one to stray very far from a recipe - I might add or remove various spices, but I don't venture out too far. But today I was making bread and thought I would try using butter instead of vegetable oil. I happened to look on the back of the oil bottle the last time I was at the store and was disgusted to find out it was made from solely soy beans. UGH!!
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, do some research on soy beans grown in "good ol' USA". They are genetically engineered to withstand the weed-killing product known as Round-Up. So the farmers plant these soy beans, then they can spray Round-Up and not kill their crop. Makes sense but the soy plant is still absorbing those harmful chemicals, which goes to the bean, which is mass produced and processed into just about everything we eat. The company that makes Round-Up is the one that genetically engineered the soy bean and their primary board members are also the heads of USDA, FDA, and the like. They have also just come out with an alfalfa that is resistant to Round-Up. Alfalfa is fed to animals, which then become or produce our food (milk, meat, eggs, etc). Sorry, I have a tendency to get off topic.Anyhow, the bread recipe (found here) I have been using for a few years now is fairly simple. But today I tried using 1/4 cup of melted butter instead of 1/4 cup of oil. The result - EXCELLENT!!! Yea!! Now, when I get my cow, I have another reason to make butter (like I really need another reason....YUMMY). Especially since I make bread just about every other day!
* 6/11/2011 - I have recently been substituting 1 TBSP bread (or all -purpose) flour with 1 TBSP of potato flour and the results are a softer bread. This makes an excellent sandwich bread but needs to be toasted a little longer to hold up to firm butter or refrigerated peanut butter.
