I'm on a Breadmaking Kick

I go through them once every few years. I get all fired up about making bread, and do it on a regular basis for a while. Then for some reason, I quit. But every time I make bread, I wonder why I don't do it more often.

Early in my marriage I made a couple of attempts at it, without much success. Not having the luxury of the electric workhorses I have today, I was doing it by hand. Looking back, I'm sure I wasn't kneading it long enough, though I remember if feeling like forever.

I have a great appreciation for women who made bread before heavy-duty mixers and automatic all-in-one bread machines . My poor family would have never eaten bread if it were up to me to make it with no technological help.

Now, I can make three loaves at once if I use both the breadmaker and the mixer at the same time, and when it's all over, I've hardly done any work. I dump in my ingredients, push a button on the breadmaker, let the mixer knead the dough while I clean up, and transfer the dough to a rising bowl, and then to pans when it's time.

I love how the kitchen smells all yeasty when the dough is rising, and how the whole place smells like a bakery when it's in the oven.

Today I made two loaves and a batch of rolls, using half whole-wheat flour and half white. The bread was good, and Keith and the kids loved the rolls. I thought they were too heavy. I would love to have a recipe for those airy, melt-in-your-mouth rolls they serve in some restaurants.

The only bad thing about breadmaking is, it makes you eat more bread. You can't help it. You can't be surrounded by this smell, and NOT eat more bread than is really good for you.