My first loaf of bread

I made my first loaf of homemade bread this weekend. Last week, I asked my friends on facebook if anyone had a bread machine I could borrow. I thought I might enjoy breadmaking, but I didn't want to buy an expensive machine only to find that I hated it. (And I am too lazy and impatient to make bread the old-fashioned way, by hand!) I lucked up and one of my good friends and neighbors had one she was willing to let me borrow.

I finally got a chance to try it this weekend, and wow! I'm hooked. I'm a huge bread eater, anyway - I mean, I could seriously live off of bread alone, I think - but my homemade bread was so GOOD! I just made plain white bread. Didn't think I should get too crazy my first go-round. It couldn't have been easier, either. You just dump all the ingredients in the bread machine, hit the start button, and you're done! C and I enjoyed watching the dough being mixed, and it was neat to keep checking on it and seeing it rise.

After one loaf of bread, I can see that this will be something I enjoy. I don't know if it will save me money, but I love the idea of making more of what we consume. I can see myself making bread every week, and even making extra to freeze.

My next goal is to find a better way to store the loaves I make. Right now, its in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag. Which is not a problem, except I'm worried that plastic is not the best way to store homemade bread. I also hate using disposable bags, even though I can rinse it out and reuse it for the next loaf. Sooooo....I've been looking at cloth bread bags! There are a ton of them out there - who knew? Of course, I LOVE the idea of a cloth bread bag!! ( :

This image is from Google images. I'll have my own bread bag soon and I'll take a picture! ( :

Updated to add the recipie I used!

White Bread for the Bread Machine

1 cup warm water



3 tablespoons white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 cups bread flower

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 package)

Just add everything to the bread machine in that order, and it'll work perfectly! I didn't have any bread flour, so I used all purpose flour, and it was fine. I will be buying bread flour for my next loaf, though, because bread flour is supposed to make for a "sturdier" bread. My loaf was kinda flimsy. I'm also gonna reduce the amount of salt in the next loaf, I think 1 1/2 teaspoons is a bit too much.