Worth the Dough

There are few things in the world that are worth celebrating more than warm, fresh baked bread. I love all foods and I'm a very adventurous eater, but good 'ol fashioned bread may be my favorite. I have never had much luck making my own bread by hand. It always turns out too tough, or doesn't rise correctly. About a year ago I stumbled on one of my best Goodwill finds ever: a bread maker. My husband and I were really trying to watch our money, and cutting costs however we could imagine. The bread maker was only $7, so we plugged it in to make sure it lit up, and took it home.

I looked up directions for the bread machine online and we tried a couple recipes. I quickly fell in love. Soon I was making all kinds of breads: herbed focaccia, sweet biscotti, french bread, and more! The homemade bread  was only pennies to make, and it tasted as good as a bakery loaf. My favorite feature is the "dough" setting because you can still shape your own bread and bake it, but without all the timing required when you knead your own dough.

After several happy months of fresh bread, we slowed down on the bread machine because I hit a few snags. Sometimes the bread wouldn't properly knead and it just turned into a mucky, smelly mess. We forgot to put the paddle in, or didn't check that it was properly pushed down far enough to knead the dough. There's nothing more disappointing than thinking you'll be coming home to fresh bread, and instead finding a big mess to clean up.

The bread machine was stored away in our cupboard for several months before we got the courage to try to use it again. When we brought it out, it worked just fine. The biggest tip I've learned for bread machine success is to make sure the beginning of the cycle goes well. As long as the dough is kneaded well on the first step, the rest of the process is almost guaranteed to go smoothly.

I certainly am no bread maker salesman. I have no recommendations on which bread maker to buy, and I speak only from my limited experience on the matter. In our household, however, we certainly think our bread maker is the greatest thing since sliced bread!