The Joy of Bread Baking

The gratification one gets from creating a fresh, warm, comforting loaf of bread from scratch is one of indescribable measure. Amazingly hard working yeasts, fluffy flour, warm milk, rich butter, sweet honey, soothing oats, and a little salt of the earth are the basic ingredients in one of the culinary delights of man. Combine these with the raw element of hand mixing, kneading, and rolling the dough and one feels like a true creator. Slicing into the bread yields a gentle puff of steam and a whiff of that insanely delicious fresh bread smell. One taste makes your mind stop for a moment to enjoy this simple pleasure of life. Ahhh, and this is the end result of your love, patience, and hard work.

Today I baked my second ever loaf of yeast bread and it turned out fabulous. The first loaf I baked tasted wonderful but needed some tweaking, so I tried my hand again at an oatmeal bread which was a total success. Although I love baking and desserts, I have always been apprehensive about baking bread. I guess it was the fear of the unknown. Feeding the yeast, rising, falling, punching the dough, kneading, and waiting.... yikes! All these things that I really didn't know about are surprisingly fun, easy and a great stress relief. Bread is easy to make, but it just takes a little love and patience.

For this loaf of bread I simply followed the recipe written on the back of the King Arthur bread flour bag, or you can check out their website at http://www.kingarthurflour.com/. The first loaf I made had a wonderful sweet bread flavor which my taste testers really liked. This recipe was found on Allrecipes.com http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Simple-Whole-Wheat-Bread/Detail.aspx?strb=5 and received excellent reviews as well. Baking bread from scratch, and I mean no bread makers or Kitchen Aids, is something that everyone should try at least once. The main issues are to make sure your yeast is alive and fresh, that the water you use to dissolve the yeast in is the proper temperature, and that you have patience. After you mix the ingredients you have to knead the dough by hand for about 10 minutes, or until it becomes as smooth as a baby's bum. Then you let it rest and rise. Next you may have to punch it down and knead it again or simply shape it into a loaf and put it in your bread pan. Then you let it rest and rise. Once it has risen about two inches over your loaf pan it is ready to bake. Don't be scared of the dough. Just follow the directions, experiment, release some stress, and most of all have fun!