Homemade bread

Four and a half years ago I decided I was going to venture off into the world of bread making. Jeff's mom had always done it for them, I knew it was suppose to be healthier, and one of my goals in life (as silly as this may sound) is to have "good music, and good smells in my home". So this is one of the ways I thought I could incorporate a few good ideas together. Well that was November 2004 - the month that JJ, my third, was born and AnnaLisa was diagnosed with autism. The next six months my world spun out of control - Andrew, then 2, was also diagnosed with autism. We were having great difficulties with AnnaLisa in general and especially with her being able to sleep at night. Well, I can honestly say that was the most challenging time to be a mom, wife, and person. So the bread making went by the way side.

Flash back to the present - about a month ago I finally tried my hand at making bread. My mom was in town and she was spending the day with me. We pulled out a recipe my girlfriend had given me, bought what I still needed and borrowed a wheat grinder (yes, we ground it from wheat - I feel like the Little Red Hen"). I made it with my mom's help and when those 5 loaves were ready to go in the oven, I have never been prouder of my "homemaking skills" (which I have always known are one of my weaker areas as a woman). I should have taken a picture. It will always be a memory to recall for me. Well, we over-cooked it, realized that the rack was too low and got the bread a lot crisper and darker than it should have been, but Jeff was thrilled and delighted.

Well, that was last month (two days before we found out we were having twins), and my world has just been really busy. We went through the bread real quickly and had to fall back on store bought bread I had in the freezer. We were down to our final loaf and yesterday I tried it all on my own. Again I wish I had taken a picture of the loaves right before we cooked them, but here is an aftershot once they had cooled and been bagged up.

So what is left after this you might ask, well, I went to the store to get me a bread knife. I did not know how important this is, but once I cut a couple of thin slices for lunch, I realized that my "steak knives" were really not very good at cutting homemade bread.

It amazes me that it only takes about half hour to mix the bread (it would take less time, but my Kitchen Aid can't handle the full recipe, so I have to cut it in half and do two batches). I let the bread raise for about an hour and it takes a half hour to cook. So inside of two hours I can have 5 fresh loaves of bread.

An additional perk - with using whole wheat (I add a dough enhancer which makes full wheat bread lighter almost as light as white store bought bread) which has fiber. My kids need additional fiber in their diets. I am hoping that simply changing their bread to a healthier option will benefit them. Oh, and they love it. They ate it crust and all!