Make my own bread (Yikes!)

[Mouseless2Long]

Despite being "afraid" of yeast, I've decided to take the plunge and start making my own bread. I've hesitated up until now because I'm afraid I won't get the yeast right and will end up wasting the ingredients. But I figure it has to be less expensive to bake bread in large batches and then freeze it. Plus it has to taste better than store bought bread. I find store bought bread to be pretty tasteless and they all seem to have high fructose corn syrup.

I'm interested in any and all information, tips, etc. for making bread.

 

[worm761]

Here are two good websites for bread recipes:
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/category/recipes
http://eatathomecooks.com/2009/03/depression-era-homemade-bread.html

When I first started making my own bread, I was doing it by hand and used the HillbillyHousewife's recipe. She explains everything in terms even I could understand. I loved that. Getting the water the right temp was hard but then she says "baby bath" temp. As a mom, I got that right away. And it is good bread.

 

[bearzabout]

I premix the dry ingredients except for the yeast in plastic storage containters so they are ready to use in my bread machine. It saves a lot of cleanup. I'll use up a 5 lb bag of bread flour (we like King Arthur) at one time. I just add the butter, water and yeast whenever I want to make a new loaf.

By the way, bread machines are fantastic. Just dump in the ingredients and the bread is done in 4 hours. It is so good when it hot and smells fabulous. Mine has a timer so we can set it so the bread is done in time for breakfast.

 

[TiffanyK]

I've made several kinds of homemade bread. The Depression Era bread is linked above (thanks, Angela!). It is very easy because there are so few ingredients. It's also cheap and it makes a lot.

Other bread recipes include butter or some other type of oil, sugar or honey or some sweetener, maybe whole wheat flour. These do various things to the bread and do make for good loaves.

Experiment with several recipes. Don't be afraid of yeast! It's fun to use. Have you ever done homemade pizza crust? That's a good way to get used to using yeast too.

 

[Justsyd2]

My DH uses the bread machine to make fresh bread every Sunday. He uses the recipes that come with the machine. He hasn't had any problem with the yeast, ect..he just follows the directions. The bread is delicious!