Give us this day our daily bread...

An actual update! Let's hope this is the beginning of wonderful things.

Today, we are going to talk about bread. Specifically, homemade bread.

Homemade bread: one of life's many joys. There are few things better than the smell of bread baking, and a slice of fresh bread spread with butter and perhaps some honey or jam. Mmmm....

Unfortunately, the art of making bread has been dying along with many other domestic arts. But there are those of us who are "bringing" homemaking back.

Hmm, maybe they should write a song about that, to the tune of Justin Timberlake's song that was popular five years ago...

I'm bringing homemaking back...

Never mind, I am not a songwriter. That was a terrible song anyway; I always turned it off whenever it came on the radio. I'll stick to blogging. Moving on.

I wasn't always interested in making my own bread, although I loved it when other people made it. But when I was a young newlywed with a *very* limited income, I decided that making bread could save us money! So, I decided to teach myself how to make it.

As you can imagine, it didn't turn out so well. I didn't know how to knead dough, and decided it was unnecessary. Whoops.

Go ahead, laugh at me. But still, it didn't taste *too* bad ;)

My mother-in-law called me later that day on an unrelated matter, and during the conversation, I remembered that she knew how to make bread and I knew that she would teach me if I asked. And being the new daughter-in-law, I was anxious to please her. So I asked.

Needless to say, she was overjoyed :) That Saturday, I learned how to make bread. Kneading dough wasn't so daunting anymore.

I now have a bread maker, so I don't have to knead my dough by hand anymore, but I am very grateful to have the skill in case the wall of water comes and we don't have electricity anymore. That's for you, Kathy (my lovely mother-in-law).

I now present...instructions for how to make bread. I'm including instructions for making by hand and in bread machine. Enjoy :)

One of my earlier loaves :)

Wheat Bread

1 tablespoon of yeast
1/3 teaspoon of sugar

Dissolve these into 1/3 cup of warm water

In a large bowl mix:

1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of oil
2 teaspoons of salt
1 1/4 cup of hot water
5 teaspoons of lemon juice or vinegar
2 cups of wheat flour

Add dissolved yeast to bread mixture and mix for 7-10 minutes to get gluten working. Add gradually up to another 2 cups of whole wheat flour. Knead by hand 10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Add enough flour to get past sticky point, but not too much.

Don't know how to knead dough? Watch this video.

After kneading, put in greased bowl in warm place and let raise. Then punch down and and place in greased bread pan (preferably metal). Rise until double. Cook at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Grease the top of the loaf with BUTTER!

If you are using a bread maker, the recipe is still the same. Just add four cups of flour to the machine rather than just two and adding more later. It makes things so much easier. And of course, follow manufacturer's instructions when loading all the ingredients. This makes a two-pound loaf. Select the wheat bread setting :)

When you are done, consume warm slices of bread with butter on them. It's good for you.