The smell of fresh bread...

Ahh, the joy of a loaf of homemade bread... It's a special kind of simple pleasure that I'm just now experiencing. Why did it take me so long to get into this? Well, because its so easy to pick up a loaf in the store. But, dang it, this is just so much better. =)

And the smell of fresh baked bread is heavenly. I love to walk in from outside and be hit in the face with it...

Loading up the bread maker takes less and less time now that I've made the recipe a few times. All it really takes is my time, and at this point, it does seem like just a little time well spent. The bread is fresher and healthier than anything I could buy in the store, and David and Seth enjoy it so much. And so do I...

I had a friend from Sunday School class over after story time at the library this Wednesday. Since we live so close to the library, I try to make it a point to invite over friends I run into there. I made her a peanut butter and jelly on homemade bread. She said, "This is gourmet!" I smiled.

And it feels good to have a new skill under my belt. It took a couple of tries, but I like that I am not totally dependent on the local store for sandwich bread anymore. I think I've got the texture and consistency down now.

So here is Terri's recipe for Homemade Wheat Sandwich bread...

3 1/2 c. white whole wheat flour (you can get the King Arthur brand at Walmart)
1 1/3 c. half water, half milk
3 T. oil
3 T. honey
1 1/4 t. salt
2 1/2 t. yeast
2 T. vital wheat gluten (you can probably get this at a health food store- I get mine from a mill)

(Ok, now ya need a bread maker. You can get one for about $30 on Craigslist. See, the trick with the bread maker is not to use it to actually bake the loaf. They usually make dry, heavy loaves. You just use the dough cycle, then shape and rise, and then bake in the oven. It's just doing the kneading for you.)

Put all the wet ingredients into the bread maker pan. Then put in the dry. Make a little well with a spoon in the dry ingredients for the yeast to sit in. Then start the dough cycle. Once its doing the first knead, add a couple of tablespoons of flour if it looks sticky. It probably will. Once the dough cycle is complete, dump dough into a well floured bowl. Knead to get out the air bubbles. Shape and put in greased loaf pan, then let rise in an oven with the light on for 45 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Slice, and enjoy the fresh goodness. It's going to get snarfed up fast. The major down side to the fresh bread thing is that we're eating more bread. =)