Make Your Own Bread

Making your own bread has lots going for it. It is less expensive than store bought, you can make it whenever you need it, or freeze it ahead of time. You avoid lots of nasty chemicals and preservatives that are in store bought breads. It tastes great, too!

But, my favorite part of making my own bread?

Hearing my 12 year old say, "Mom, you make the best bread in the world!" every time a loaf comes out of the oven! How priceless is that?

I started exclusively making our own bread right about the time I headed back to work. I know, I know, don't ask me why - but miraculously, the habit stuck and I think we are officially converted to homemade bread! The last time I purchased bread was probably over 2 months ago. I am still buying hamburger buns and hot dog buns and bagels, but we could make these ourselves, too, and I am looking forward to doing so soon. But, one thing at a time...

Here is our current recipe.

It is a fluffy, white bread. I wish it were a lovely, dense, whole grain bread, but my children and (worst of all), my husband don't like the whole grain variety. At least not yet. I am on a mission to convert them, but that mission is moving at a snail's pace I am afraid. Nothing like hearing your husband say, "This bread tastes like you swept up the road and put it in the bread - too crunchy!" when you put a freshly baked loaf of whole grain goodness in front of him! Try to get the kids to eat it then - good luck. Apparently, the leap from Wonder bread to whole grain bread is a big one. I guess I will have to be happy with eliminating some chemicals at least...

Buttermilk Honey Bread (p.430, The Bread Bible)

Makes one large loaf (use 9x5 baking pan):

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons water

3 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons butter (melted)

3 cups bread flour

5 teaspoons gluten

1/3 cup buttermilk powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 teaspoons bread machine or active dry yeast

Put the ingredients into the bread machine in the order recommended by your machine's instructions (generally wet ingredients first, then dry on top). Try not to have the salt and yeast touch, as salt inhibits the yeast growth - not a huge deal if you are making it right away, but if you are delaying the cycle, then this is more important. Set the machine and let it go. For my machine (quite a few years old), the setting is for a large loaf, and normal dough (not sweet). It takes my machine about 90 minutes to have the loaf ready. I always check as the dough is mixing, to make sure that it is not too dry or too wet and adjust the water or flour accordingly.

Once the dough cycle is done, I put the dough into a 9x5 loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray. (I do this because I don't like how the bread turns out when it bakes in the bread machine.) I glaze the loaf with an egg beat with some milk and brushed onto the top of the loaf. I find that the dough has risen so much in the bread machine, that it bakes really quicky, usually in about 20-30 minutes in an oven set at 375 degrees. When the house really smells like fresh bread, it is likely done, so check it. After about 5 minutes of cooling, I run a sharp knife around the sides of the bread and turn the loaf out onto a cooking rack to cool.

Finally, we usually cannot eat the whole loaf (it is large) before it goes bad (no preservatives in it, remember), so I cut the loaf in half, wrap it well in plastic wrap and then put it in a freezer bag. I put the half loaves in the freezer, to be used later in the week.

At first it seemed kind of like a pain to do, but I easily got into a routine of making 2 or 3 loaves in one day, and having them frozen for the whole week, or even two if we are not eating much bread that week. When I noticed how fast this bread goes bad, I shuddered to think about what kind of preservatives must be in store bought bread that one loaf could last us weeks. Ick.

That certainly motivates me to keep making my own!