If you've been frustrated by trying to bake bread at home, learning something about what is happening as a loaf cooks can be helpful. The following chart is from Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman, director of the Bakery and Baking Education Center at King Arthur Flour. (You can read my recommendation of the cookbook here.)

77˚ to 122˚F (25˚ to 50˚C):Rapid increase in yeast fermentation; increase in enzymatic activity; beginning of crust formation; starch swelling; accelerated gas production and expansion contributing to oven spring

122˚ to 140˚F (50˚ to 60˚C):Rye starch begins to gelatinize; bacteria die; enzymes in yeast are inactivated; yeast reaches thermal death point (at about 140˚F)

140˚ to 158˚F (60˚ to 70˚C):Wheat starch begins to gelatinize; loaf expansion slows; coagulation of gluten begins; amylase enzymes reach maximum activity

158˚ to 176˚F (70˚ to 80˚C): Gluten coagulation is complete and dough structure is formed; enzyme activity decreases; rye starch gelatinization ends

176˚ to 194˚F (80˚ to 90˚C):Wheat starch gelatinization is complete; enzyme activity ceases

194˚ to 212˚F (90˚ to 100˚C):Maximum internal loaf temperature is reached; crust coloration begins

212˚ to 350˚F (100˚ to 177˚C):Maillard reaction develops crust color; ketones and aldehydes form, eventually contributing to flavor and aroma

300˚ to 400˚F (149˚ to 204˚C):Further crust color and flavor development through caramelization

If you've ever been befuddled by the difficulty of baking, you owe yourself a trip to the bookstore. Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman (John Wiley & Sons, 2004) is an extraordinary text that manages to explain the complex science of baking without ever becoming dull. Hamelman's writing is as inspiring as it is educational. Be sure not to skip over the first couple of chapters that explain ingredients and their functions, and take you through the 12 basic steps of baking. You'll soon see that creating lovely loaves is more about technique than it is about recipes.

You won't be able to finish this book without a new-found confidence that you can become a successful home baker. And you'll likely have a new appreciation for one of the world's oldest foods and why it has always taken center stage. As Hamelman says, 'Bread, after all, holds its place with wine and cheese as one of the three great fermented foods of Western culture.'

I found this chart from Chapter 1: The Bread Making Process From Mixing Through Baking, to be extremely helpful in detailing what's going on in the oven as bread bakes.

For the last few weeks I've been on a local food feeding frenzy. Aside from the usual trips to the farmers market, I've been on a local farm tour (about 15 of the farms in our area had what was essentially an open house last weekend), attended an all local foods potluck, and read Barbara Kingsolver's new book about eating local, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

All of this has convinced me that I'm just a beginner when it comes to seeking out and enjoying local foods. Clearly, I'm not in the same league as the farmers who commit a lifetime of work to raising food for themselves and their neighbors. But it's also a real commitment to decide to eat local foods for a month, like the friends who attended the potluck. They were taking part in the 100-mile local diet challenge for the month of September (more about that here).

Barbara Kingsolver's latest book is about an even longer commitment to eating local foods. With very few exceptions, Kingsolver's family ate entirely local foods for a full year, including a lot of vegetables they grew in their garden, and eggs and meat from the poultry they raise. Apparently they enjoyed the experience, and it's not hard to understand why.

For a full year they committed to making many foods from scratch, eating fresh and homemade foods including fresh bread, homemade mozzarella cheese, and vegetables and herbs from their garden. What's not to love? (If that doesn't make you hungry enough, the book includes recipes, too.) It's a great book, and you can search for it at your local library, or read an excerpt here.

We've published many other articles related to local foods in Mother Earth News. Here are a few with more resources and ideas:

• Eat in Sync with the Seasons
• Enjoy Fresh Local Food All Year 
• How to Find the Best Food
• Suburban Foraging: Two Family Eat Only Local
• Join the Real Food Revival

Each summer, my family goes on a canoe trip near Van Buren, Mo., along the Current River. One of our camp site traditions is to make homemade Butterfinger ice cream the first night by the camp fire. It requires lugging a cooler full of heavy ingredients and an ice cream maker, but at first bite, we know it's worth it!

Homemade Butterfinger Ice Cream

4 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups peanut butter, melted
1 cup raw sugar
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
3 to 4 regular sized Butterfinger candy bars, frozen
1/8 tsp real vanilla extract
1 pint heavy whipping cream or half-and-half (if desired, for richer ice cream)
1 gallon milk (whole or 2 percent)

Crush candy bars in a plastic bag (a rolling pin does a great job). Mix all ingredients except whole milk in a bowl. Reserve some crushed candy for ice cream topping. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and add whole milk to the container's fill line.

Place the container into your ice cream bucket, adding layers of ice and rock salt around it. Prepare according to your ice cream freezer's instructions.

Yields about 1 1/2 gallons.

IMGCAP(3)

MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS:

In the recipe above, we used whole milk from the Jersey cows at Emrich Family Creamery in Wheaton, Kan. (785-396-4347). It's the richest, creamiest, most delicious milk we've ever tasted! If you have access to milk this good, you can definitely forgo the extra cream in the recipe.

We also used freshly ground peanut butter and raw sugar from the bulk department at People's Grocery Co-op in Manhattan, Kan. (785-539-4811).

Our farm-fresh eggs come from the freely roaming birds at Janulis Farmstead in Zeandale, Kan. You can find them at the Manhattan, Kan. farmers market in summertime. These eggs were tested by an independent nutrition lab, and were found to be nutrionally superior to conventional supermarket eggs. Learn more at the Mother Earth News Chicken & Egg Page.

We always use certified fair trade vanilla extract. The production of vanilla is extremely labor-intensive, and its industry has been notoriously hard on farm workers and fragile environments. Learn more about fairly traded vanilla.

To find superior dairy products in your area, search by ZIP code or city and state at Local Harvest or Eat Wild.

Though none were available at our local grocery co-op at the time of making this recipe, a Google search reveals that there are now organic brands of evaporated and sweetened condensed milk on the market. If you've tried these products and want to report on your experience with them, please use the comments section below.