Bread

For a few years now, I've been hearing that a lot of my friends and family members make their own bread.  It often surprises me when someone I didn't think enjoyed being in the kitchen actually makes their own bread.

A couple of years ago, it kind of sounded like torture.  Especially when I would hear that they actually grind their own wheat and then make homemade bread.

But since life has slowed down, and I've changed my eating habits and am more conscious of what goes in my families' mouths, I've been baking my own bread lately.

At first, I made all white bread.

I was so proud of the two loaves I'd made.  They didn't look pretty, but boy were they delicious.  So delicious in fact, they were devoured in under two days.  That was a little disconcerting seeing as they were meant to last at least 4 or 5 days and we had no other bread in the house.  Without bread, the family plowed through food like crazy.  It was insane.

My Mom was of the opinion that if I used whole wheat flour, it might sustain my growing ones a little longer.  She mailed me her old wheat grinder and some wheat and right away I ground that wheat and the next day, armed with my Mom's recipe and some amazing tips, I made 4 loaves of half whole wheat bread (half white flour, half whole wheat flour).

My Mom's tip for rolling out the bread yielded the prettiest bread I've ever made!  I felt so proud, I texted her a picture.  And being the amazing Mom she is, she called me and praised my bread.

It was fun.  And Mom was right, it's definitely more filling.  I don't know that I'll make bread every single week, but it sure was satisfying.