Not everyone loves homemade bread. That’s what I’ve heard anyway! And, there are those who have allergies and can’t have homemade bread. Our family falls into that category that loves homemade bread and we have no allergies. I enjoy hand kneading bread dough . . except for whole wheat bread. That dough has to be sticky and I can hardly stand to touch it. Oiling my hands before dealing with it helps but I’m always real happy to get that dough in the pan. Thank goodness the mixer can do almost all the work. But when making white bread, the mixer never touches it. My white bread is stirred and kneaded completely by hand.
For those who want to make homemade bread but haven’t, or have and had a less than exemplary result, it’s so worth it to try again til you get it right. Making bread is really quite simple and doesn’t take nearly as long as we often think. Start to finish usually takes less than 3 hours and about 2 hours and 45 minutes of that time is just letting the dough sit and rise or bake. It certainly doesn’t take 3 hours of your time, though you need to be around the house for those 3 hours. It’s a bit different with a bread machine, though I don’t use a bread machine.
This morning I made white bread. Since the recipe makes 2 loaves, I decided to add some extra ingredients in one loaf. I added chopped garlic, chopped rosemary, fresh black pepper and grated asiago cheese.
Adding the garlic, rosemary, cheese and pepper made the whole house smell like a yummy restaurant!
Chad and Vince both commented that it tasted like the bread from Great Harvest Bread in Owensboro where we loved getting different breads. Chad said “Think how good this would be if you’d added it to whole wheat bread!” And, I thought they would appreciate some white bread.
I’m not so sure about Chad’s combination. One slice has jelly, one slice has cheese, he added a fried egg and bacon . . maybe it’s the jelly/rosemary/garlic combination . . maybe not. He said it was delicious though!
Sue H says
Oh, Judy, I want to live at your house! I can almost smell the fresly baked bread here in Minnesota. mmmmmmmm
Lisa says
It looks soooo good!
Pat says
I think weird sandwiches are a “guy” thing. DH has been known to take a cinnamon raisin bagel and use it to make a tuna sandwich. I can’t even be in the room to see him do that!!!
JudyL says
That almost makes me not like tuna! Sounds gross but I guess if he likes it . . that’s what matters!
Rebecca says
Erg…I’m not sure but what it’s that HE makes it that matters!
Jerzydeb says
Ok, perfectly sliced slices – do you have one of those guide thingy’s – or just a really steady hand?
If it smells as good as it looks – your house must smell so warm and inviting … wonder if Yankee Candle has a “Fresh Baked Bread” scent?
JudyL says
I slice by hand. Chad and I make almost perfect slices without even trying but Vince . . poor guy . . he cannot slice bread straight, no matter how hard he tries . . though I don’t think he tries very hard! 🙂
Suzanne says
I use to make alot of bread when the kids were all home. I made some orange knot rolls this last week that were disasterous! Back to whole wheat!
owlfan says
My son loves ham and cheese melted on a cinnamon raisin bagel – maybe slightly more appealing than tuna, but still not to my tastes.
I still haven’t found a whole wheat recipe that works well for me – any more than 1/3 whole wheat flour and I tend to get a very short, dense loaf. I am usually doing it in my bread machine, so maybe I should try letting it do the kneading and then take it out into my pan so I can let it rise longer…
JudyL says
You lost me with the raisins! 🙁
colleen formerly of South Africa says
Love bread making…. yours made me want to break out the machine. I love the blog…have just started your quilt by the hour…and my favorite designer, Jen absolutely adores you and I think I may be a groupie of yours too.
JudyL says
Thanks Colleen! Jen is a sweetheart!
Vicki H. says
Are there people who don’t like homemade bread???? I have to use a bread maker because I am challenged in the kitchen.
Kathy in FL says
I’ve been making Kaiser rolls based on the Perfect Loaf’s recipe for a couple of months now, because of your recommendation to visit that website. We used to live in NJ where Kaiser rolls are called “hard rolls” and we can’t get them here in Florida. Anyway, yesterday, I tried to make a whole wheat bread but it came out rather dry, even though it tastes great. So now I’m going to try different recipes for whole wheat bread until I find one that we like. Normally, I’d opt for white bread but my husband is diabetic, and his diet recommends whole wheat (or whole grain) breads whenever possible. BTW, I also love your quilts! That’s the real reason I follow your blog!
Susan Fields says
I tried making bread again this weekend with moderate success. Mine sure did not look like yours but at least it tasted better than the last several tries.
Is your recipe on line?
Rebecca says
My DH doesn’t like bread. Even if I bake my own, I’m the one who ends up eating most of it. (Yes, the man can pass up fresh, home-made bread). So although I surpassed my mother almost as soon as I started baking (many, many moons ago), I don’t often bake anymore. *sniff*
Trish says
I make all of our bread, but let the bread machine do the kneading for me (I only let it run through the initial kneading before removing it and letting it rise). The wheat bread dough comes out of the machine perfect, whereas the white bread dough is sometimes a bit sticky – maybe the humidity is different here, not sure, but I see you have the opposite problem with your dough…
I love, love, love homemade bread; it’s so much healthier (no preservatives) and less expensive than store bought. I doubt my guys (DH and DS) would ever want to go back; I know I sure don’t!