Home Making

I decided to make bread from scratch for the first time ever on Wednesday evening. This was inspired by two events that were completely unrelated, yet coincided well. The first was that Noah and Cherry had invited us over for dinner one Sunday, and we made pizzas. They told us about their adventures in home making (which is more than just baking), and we though it was pretty cool. The second was that my mum had called shortly after our birthdays and told me she had a gift for us that was a gift "because she loves us, not a birthday gift, because she doesn't get birthday gifts for her adult children". It was a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. The mixer is a 4 1/2 quart capacity mixer with a lift-stand, rather than a tilting head.

So, armed with inspiration from our best friends and a new mixer than needed to do some mixing, we went out and bought some yeast, and then stole a recipe from our friend Nancy. We have a bunch of wheat flour, thanks to my brother Adam and his wife, Meredith, so we figured wheat bread would be a good start.

Our mixer didn't come with a dough hook, and the one we stole/borrowed from my parents is too small. So I had to use the standard flat beater to do the mixing. I persevered, though, and got started on the bread. The recipe was simple, and all seemed to go well. I set the dough to rise and made dinner while Gretch did the dishes.

An hour and forty-five minutes later, we punched down the dough, made the loaves, and left it to rise in the bread pans for another hour or so. Then it was time to put the bread in the over. We watched the Olympics while the bread baked. Soon the pleasant aroma of honey wheat bread was wafting through the air.

After letting it bake for about 25 minutes, I went to check on the bread and discovered, to my dismay, that the center rack was actually set too high (it is hard to set something in the middle when there are four slots available). As a result, the tops of the loaves of bread were burned. Fortunately, the bread itself was good. Still a little denser than we had hoped for, but I will experiment until I find the right consistency.

And thus we have joined in the ranks of those who wish to make at home.