Having a family of six means we often run out of things before the next store run. Sometimes we get creative and find a substitute but this time it was bread.
I decided to bust out the good ole, trusty bread machine and my recipe book and threw in all the ingredients for a basic white bread. Can I just say that now my family is addicted to homemade bread?
“Hey, Mom, don’t ever buy that nasty store bought bread anymore. We will never eat it again.” You probably think I was happy to hear that. My kids actually preferred something that is better for them than what we were buying. You would be kind of wrong!
Yes, I am happy they preferred the healthier option but that healthier option comes with a price. I now have to make sure we always have those ingredients readily available and I have to take the time to make it. The bread machine makes it way easier because I can measure out all the ingredients and hit start. I then do other stuff for three hours and pull the bread out of the machine when it beeps and place it on a cooling rack. Then bag it when it is cool. Sounds easy, right? It is, but still, yet another mommy commitment.
I will be experimenting with the other recipes in my bread book and see if they like a little flavor too. I would highly recommend a bread machine. They are fairly inexpensive (I have seen them for $10-15 at Goodwill) and well worth the money if you are wanting fresh bread. Nothing replaces the flavor and crispness of fresh bread.
One downside to the bread machine is it only makes half loaves. For a family of six, that means I have to make two loaves of bread a day on average. That takes a total of six hours. Makes mapping out my day a little more tricky. It also means I may end up with an occasional 1am bread machine beep that needs to be pulled to the cooling rack. Is it worth it, yes. Will I do it, yes. For how long? That I cannot answer at this moment.
Have you ever made fresh, homemade bread? If you haven’t, you should definitely give it a try. It is delicious! Post your favorite bread flavor in the comments, can’t wait to hear from you.