Breadmaking

One of my goals of our version of compacting was to bake bread weekly. Well I made bread on the 11th of January, so technically not in the first 7 days of January, but it was in the first FULL week of the month :) Also, I decided to get better at planning when I was going to make bread, so a week or two wouldn't go by with my continually saying "oh, I can't do bread today, we are too busy". I went through the next two weeks and picked a day (or two) that would be available for baking bread. Then I wrote it in my handy-dandy planner, Family.Time.Mine. This planner has been the best thing for me. A little over a year ago my sister (AKA "E") brought it home for me, saying that she saw it and it just looked like me, she was right. I bought a new one a few months ago. I love it.

Ok, back to the bread making. I am completely old-fashioned when it comes to breadmaking. I have no fancy gadget, no Bosch or Kitchen-Aid. My supplies were literally, a stainless steel bowl, measuring cups and spoons, a wooden spoon, 2 bread pans, my countertop (hehe) and the ingredients for the bread. Start to finish was about 3 1/2 hours, most of that was spent letting the bread rise and letting it bake.

Everyone in the family enjoyed the homemade bread, in about 12 hours the first loaf was GONE. Nick was full of compliments when he came home from work to a home smelling of freshly baked bread. I did fall a little behind on laundry on Friday, but hey I made two loaves of bread.

The dough, rising.

Obviously I need a little help in splitting the dough into two equal parts ;)

Warm, homemade bread, plus butter = very happy children