Baking Bread

I have not bought bread for the last three weeks. I've been baking all of the bread we eat instead. Last year we built up our 3 months of food storage which we have rotated through and replaced frequently. This year we have started building our one year supply which means I now own a lot of wheat. I decided it was time for me to learn how to bake bread so I can rotate through it.

I have put off making bread for years. I always convinced myself I didn't have enough time and that it took too long. The funny thing is, I was wrong! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually think it's lot of FUN! If you have a stand mixer it doesn't take long at all. It takes me about five minutes to throw all the ingredients in and start mixing. Then the mixer kneads it for me, it rises in the bowl while I do other things around the house, then I form the dough into a couple loaves which takes about 2 mintues or less. The loaves rise while I do some more things around the house, I pop them in the oven, and thirty minutes later I have fresh bread! If you do the math, you can figure I spent about seven minutes making bread--the rest of the time was just rising time and baking time. Not so bad, right? I have been baking two or three loaves (one batch, depending on the recipe) every two days or so. That's only about 20 minutes a week.

If you're feeling up to it, give it a try. You might be surprised and have fun with it like I have. If you need a bread recipe to get started, let me know and I'll e-mail one to you.