Home-Made Bread

Wow it has been a while since I've posted!  Life has been busy and I have to confess, I don't think I've lived up to my goal of two good meals per week.  But I've been close I really have!  So I'm not giving up!!!

Let me tell you about my recent experience with home-made bread.  If anyone tells you bread is easy to make, they are lying!  It is so hard!  I've done it twice.  And both times have been somewhat disastrous.  However, I think I can safely say I know what I did wrong, so the next time I attempt to make bread, it's goin to be AWESOME!

First time I made it, well, look at the picture.

Yeah, I didn't let it rise even close to enough.  So it was all lumpy and thick and gross and took FOREVER to bake all the way through.  It tasted okay, but it dried out really fast and just was not fabulous.  Plus look at those lumps!!


So the second time, I let it rise longer.  And it grew huge!  And I basted some butter over the top of them to make the tops look smoother.  That helped.  However, I was in a hurry...  which is never good when you're cooking.  So I took the bread out of the oven when I thought it was done, and set it on the stove to cool.  I even cut off a corner piece to taste it, thought it was good, so I headed out the door.

When I got home a couple of hours later, the entire middle had caved in and it was total dough inside!  Oiiiiiii.  I was so frustrated.  So I just put it back in the oven!  Hahahaha I know that's a stupid move but at least it would make it not doughy anymore.  Anyway, you can guess how it turned out.  Crust like a crouton, hard, deformed, but kinda squishy on the inside.  It was kind of gross.  I still ate it :)

But I know what to do now!  Rise rise rise.  Rise a lot.  Put it in the pan.  Baste it with butter on the top and smooth it so it doesn't look lumpy and gross when it comes out.  Cook it lower heat for longer time.  Make sure it's done before you let it cool.


Next time I make bread, it's gonna be awesome! :-)