Adventures in bread making.

A couple of months ago I was very fortunate to find an automatic bread maker sitting next to a dumpster next to a mattress and a few old TVs. I decided to take the brad maker home and was thrilled to see that it worked great! I had made pies and cakes before so making bread seemed like a good idea.

I found a bread machine recipe book at the library and started to make various types of bread and dough. I started simple by making a loaf of whole wheat bread. It turned out pretty good, but a little short. Some other loaves I tried can out really short, heavy/dense. I learned that I needed to adjust the recipes to account for the levels of elevation and humidity which affects how well the yeast will work. Edmonton is a fairly dry area and an elevation of 668 m above sea level. I solved my problem by adding more water and slightly more yeast than what the recipe called for. Some loaves had too much yeast and exploded out of the machine, but eventually I found the right balance.

I found the bread maker easy to use. Most recipes just needed me to add the ingredients in a certain order (ususally liquids then solids, then yeast last) turn the machine on with the right settings and wait, or even forget, for a few hours.

Bread loaves were OK but I wanted more. So I started to make crescent rolls. They took the same amount of time but more effort on my part. I made the dough in the machine then let it rise a bit, shape it, rise some more and bake them. More work, but they tasted amazing! Next batch I made, I added a layer of Alfredo pesto that my roommate had made for a pasta dish and had leftovers of. Yum yum yum.

The next step for me was to make bread without the machine using a recipe I got from a friend. It's allot more enjoyable because of all the mixing that kneads to be done (pun totally intended!) and also getting the yeast just right. I love the shapes of the loaves handmade bread can produce. Bread is not meant to have a hole in the bottom of it! My first attempt produced two short loaves, but I am excited to keep trying, and see what I can make.