Fresh Bread!

I've been so darn busy I haven't even had time to throw together the half a dozen or so ingredients to bake anything in my trusty old bread machine for almost a week. You know, the one with which I tried to burn down the kitchen with that over-eager sourdough starter.

Catsinger recently got herself a breadmaker, and we've been going back and forth for a bit about flour and how-to hints, which got me to thinkin' it was high time I tried a new recipe. I do tend to get stuck in a rut when it comes to food; Mr. Greenthumb really likes light whole wheat bread, and I've now made that particular recipe so often I have all the ingredients memorized. Like, I can do it with half my brain tied behind my back. ;)

To me, baking bread is immensely gratifiying in more ways than one. First of all is the pleasure of making something out of practically "nothing," resulting in a product that is greater than its sum. And then there are the pleasures for your senses, even with machine-made bread: your sense of smell (ah, that heavenly yeasty aroma that permeates the kitchen for several hours); your tactile sense when handling and slicing the just barely cool enough fresh loaf; a renewed olfactory pleasure when the warm steam rises from that first slice; the crunch of the crust between your teeth contrasted with the soft, moist sponginess of the bread on your tongue; and finally, of course, the taste. Yum.

Even if it's the same old recipe day after day, fresh homemade bread is just so good that I never get tired of it. (Well, being German might have something to do with my love for bread, too.) However, today I was feeling adventurous and decided to go with something untried. So out came the trusty bread machine baking book; I flipped open a random page and found "Bran and Yogurt Bread." Oooh, now that sounded yummy! I had all the ingredients except for the wheat bran, so I substituted oat bran instead.

Machine baking couldn't be simpler, and while I used to be one of those snooty bakers who thought only truly "handmade" bread could possibly taste good, discovering the convenience of electric breadmakers was a real time saver for someone with a busy schedule like mine. These days machines are programmable, so you can put all the ingredients in the pan at night, set the timer when you want the bread to be ready, and go to bed. When you wake up: voila, a piping hot loaf of bread for breakfast.

What starts like this (20 seconds into the first kneading cycle):



...becomes this after ten minutes of kneading:

And then you have to wait... For the first rise, second knead, second rise, and finally the baking cycle. The anticipation is half the fun.

Bread baking is always a little bit like magic to me, whether I do it by hand (that's been ages...) or with the machine. Don't you ever wonder who first came up with the idea of mixing flour with other stuff, stuck it in an oven, and poof! out came this aromatic, warm, chewy and/or crunchy, spongy, delicious goodness? There's nothing quite like a freshly baked loaf of bread this side of heaven. Whoever it was, s/he deserves our undying gratitude! :)

After three hours, this is what I got:

The top is slightly collapsed from too much liquid (I probably didn't let the yogurt drain enough); a mere cosmetic flaw that doesn't interfere with flavor one bit!


Yep, it's goooooood. :)
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