The Story of the Breadman May 06
Well, it's been a little over a week since we made the purchase of our breadmaker and let me just say that it has been a divine purchase. Nothing is better than walking into the house when the aroma of freshly baked bread hits you and makes you all warm (and definitely Donna Reed"ish") inside . Seriously, it's divine. I would suggest to you to purchase a bread machine just for that purpose, even if you never get good at making bread...I think even "bad" bread from a bread machine will still smell good.
Okay, so here's the scoop on the machine: The first time I made the bread, I was so careful in all my measuring that I about went crazy. I had heard that you have to get the temperature of the water just right. So I got our not so good working themometer out and tried for 30 minutes to get the temperature to 80 degrees farenheit, to no avail. I finally just gave up and put the water into the bread maker at what I thought to be the right temp. So that's the first kicker of making bread: from what the directions say and what people tell me, you have to be pretty near perfect for the bread to turn out right. That drove me crazy because naturally I'm a perfectionist and it really drives me nuts when I feel compelled to be one or else. Here's the summary with pictures:
The first loaf: so it definitely was a bit lumpy but tasted pretty good for the first try.
The second loaf: no picture (sorry). It didn't look as lumpy and I'm not real sure how it tasted because I was brave and took dinner to a friend that night and included the freshly baked bread in the menu. Oh well, I figure if it didn't taste good, just the concept of home-made bread was good enough.
The third loaf: not as lumpy, just a bit uneven. And the taste of it had definitely improved from the first.
The fourth loaf: simply divine all around~the look and the taste. And guess what? I even used store-brand yeast with this one!
Let me just say that sandwiches take on a whole new meaning on home-made bread. Let me also say that the concept of exact measuring gets progressively easier over tries and you can definitely "throw" the ingredients in the bread maker in less than 10 minutes. It's definitely a keeper for the Boevings.
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4 Comments
I am in awe of you having time to cook, teach,and take such good care of Savannah. You amaze me!! Shh..don't tell Brent about the homemade bread. He would definitely be jealous!
So I went and borrowed my mom's bread machine and tried to do a loaf last week. It didn't turn-out so well. What kind of flour did you use, bread flour? I bought whole-wheat, and there's not many recipes out there that don't use bread flour. Post your recipes!
So my wife just got be a breadman today, and I am super excited. Going to the store to get me some ingredients, and work my way to that fourth loaf in your picture.
I'm just excited to make my own bread for toast in the mornings. Gooooooo breadman!
mmm... looks delish! i can't wait to taste! :)
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