Back then, I didn't buy any bread. As in any. We ate our sandwiches on homemade loaves of bread, which my husband absolutely loved. I used my KitchenAid mixer to do much of the work for me, but it still required a good bit of time and effort.
Eventually, I found a bread machine at an estate sale for $10, which reduced the time even further. But not too long into my pregnancy, I had to forgo the breadmaking in favor of naps and rest due to neverending morning sickness.
I've recently dusted off the bread machine once again. But this time, instead of fighting to keep up with our daily bread needs, I've opted to continue buying sandwich bread. I prefer to spend my breadmaking time on french bread, dinner rolls, and other bread items because it's a much better use of my time.
To clarify, I've never actually baked my bread in the machine. These days, most people who use bread machines use them to do the mixing and kneading. With this method, bread making becomes a pretty simple process. Just dump the ingredients, put the machine on the dough setting, and two hours later, you'll have perfect bread dough. This is really helpful in the winter because my house gets so cold that it takes a lot longer for the bread to rise, but in the machine, the temperature and other factors are all controlled for, so it's no longer a problem.
Perfect Dinner Rolls
I've been on a quest to find super yummy dinner rolls, and I think I finally found a recipe that I love. Click here for the recipe for Buttery Bread Machine Rolls. The other recipes I've tried were good, but not fabulous. We really enjoyed these. That said, if you've got a killer recipe for dinner rolls in the bread machine, share it in the comments section. I'm always up for trying something different.
Chocolate for breakfast? Yes please!
My other latest recipe find is for Chocolate Butterhorns, or as Isabelle calls them, "chocolate bread." I had no idea what a butterhorn was before I tried this recipe, but what's not to love about homemade bread stuffed with chocolate morsels?
In case you're like me, and you tend to jump ahead without fully reading the instructions, please know that these take five hours to rise. Plan accordingly! The first time I made these, the dough was ready for me to work with it at 10:00 pm. When I saw that it needed such a long amount of time to rise, I stuck the dough in the fridge and went to bed, with the plan of making the butterhorns in the morning. When I pulled the dough out, the texture wasn't right, so I had to add more flour, mix, etc. That batch ended up being just OK because again, homemade bread stuffed with chocolate is always going to taste good. But when I tried the recipe out again, and actually had time to work with the bread dough immediately, the results were soft, flaky, and delicious.
The latest breadmaking excitement around here has been a sourdough starter that someone is giving me today. I've never been so excited about making bread! I must admit that I'm a bit intimidated by the thought of using a starter. According to my sister, it's like having a pet: You have to feed it, let it breathe, take it for walks. Well, maybe not the last one.
I'm curious to see if I'll make bread more frequently or if it becomes more of a hassle with a starter. I'll let you know how it goes!
This post is part of the Homemaking Link-Up at Raising Homemakers.
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