Homemade Bread

Two weeks ago while my brother was visiting, he took my son to the grocery store with him.  When they came back, my brother told me that he had a hard time finding several things in the store, but that my son was able to help him find them, everything but the bread.  My brother said that when he asked where the bread was, my son told him "Mama makes our bread."  Homemade bread is easy, how easy, well as easy as sliced bread!

 

First of all, I don't spend all day in the kitchen making bread.  I use a bread maker to do all  the mixing and kneading.  After adding my ingredients, the bread maker takes about 1 1/2 hours to do its thing.  I don't bake my bread in the maker, I take it out and divide the dough into two loaves then allow it to rise, depending on the heat and humidity in the house anywhere from 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  Then I bake up a couple of golden loaves that my family uses for everything from toast to sandwiches.

 

A bread machine is an easy find at most thrift stores; however many do not come with manuals.  But using the internet a person should be able to find the basic bread recipe for the machine they find.  I use my basic bread recipe and add what I want.  For the bread pictured, I used 3 cups of white flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour.  Sometimes I add oatmeal, flax or even cornmeal to the mixture to have a whole grain bread that the whole family will love.

 

Don't spend the whole day mixing and kneading to give your family a loaf of homemade bread.