Fresh bread.



Nothing like it.

I've been baking all of our bread for a while now, trying to avoid the "stuff" you find in regular sandwich bread, and the expense of buying healthier options.

I was using my bread machine, which is really good and easy, but it wasn't something Evan liked very much, because the recipe I use was making a very dense, heavy loaf of wheat bread. Chewy and tasty, but hard to eat in a sandwich.

I heard rave reviews about this book and decided to give it a try. So far I have been really happy.
I wound up finding a flat Rubbermaid container that holds 24 cups to use as my dough bucket at Walmart for about $7, for now it will do. I also didn't pack my baking stones to bring to Chicago so I ordered one for CHEAP from Food Service Warehouse. It was less than $10, $16 with shipping. Much better than what I could find anywhere else. I'm talking $30-$50 everywhere else I looked. It works. It was cheap. And that's what counts.

Then I got down to business. While it is *easy*, the 5 min. is a bit deceiving because you do have to shape the bread, let it sit out to rise a bit, and preheat the oven. So you do need about an hour and a half to two hours, but you don't have to do anything, it's just the time requirement.

But the bread is fantastic. I've made one batch so far, and we have used about 2/3 of the dough. I made a two pound sandwich loaf for Evan and he has no complaints. It's really yummy, and using the bread pan gave it a nice soft crust that is perfect for sandwich making.

I'm not ready to give up on the bread machine just yet. I will see how it plays out when I'm not home all the time, but for now it is not a problem at all. 

And the smell in your house? HEAVEN. You will not regret it.

4 comments:

Teresa said...

How is the calorie content in it? I love home baked bread but bread in general is really evil for a diet. I haven't baked any in a long time because I'll want to eat the whole loaf :)

Unknown said...

Ok, so I know I was mocking you on FB about this...but it does look really yummy! Is it easy? Or would someone like me just be better off buying bread. Because if I burn it 50 times the expensive loaf at the store would be cheaper in the end! LOL.... And you should cheat and tell me the recipe because I don't want to buy the book.

Heidi said...

Teresa, I'm not sure of the calories, but it is whole grain bread, with no sugar. It is flour, salt, yeast, water. So I don't think it is that bad, and it is one of those things that the first few loaves we were eating tons of it, but now it is just bread, you know?

Katie, I think you could make it work, it only takes 25-30 min to bake. Truly the time spent is just letting it rest. It takes about 5 min. to make the dough and it can freeze and also one batch can be stored two WEEKS in the fridge. I have just started making two small loaves at a time and then baking every 3 days or so. You can try it (I will email you) and if you don't like it I can always pass the breadmachine your way. ;)

Unknown said...

Yeah, send it to me. I'll give it a shot. Maybe my family will eat it if it's homemade. Otherwise they hate whole grain (or Terry does and Collin just goes along with it). I guess if only I like it then I don't have to share :)