Fresh Baked bread and Christmas…

I know this isn’t stamping related, but I couldn’t help post my beautiful loaf of home made bread. It was SOOO easy!!

How many of you make fresh baked bread?? There’s nothing like the smell of fresh baked bread wafting through the house… Well, this week I was out of bread, and didn’t feel like going out in the cold to the store. I have a bread machine, but more times than not, the recipe somehow messes up and the bread doesn’t quite turn out how I like it. I decided to try something new. I took a basic bread recipe, mixed the dry ingred, then added all the wet, and just barely mixed it to hold together then threw the dough ball into the bread machine to let it do all the kneading and baking.. WOW did I hit on something wonderful!!! Here’s the NICE huge 1 1/2 lb loaf that came out!!

Bread loaf with 2 slices "gone"

Of course we had to taste it….. can I say YUMMO!!!

Here’s the recipe if you’d like to try a loaf yourself. I am making another this today..since Amy is coming over to try some of that wonderful honey glazed ham!!

Basic white bread: I used UNBLEACHED flour

3 1/2 c. UB flour

1 Tb. salt  (mix these two in a lg bowl)

Liquid: mix the liquids plus sugar and add the yeast to bloom

1/4 c. evap milk

3/4 c warm water

2 Tb veg. oil or melted butter

1 Tb sugar

1 pkg dry yeast

After the yeast dissolves and blooms, just add to the four/salt bowl and mix together into a dougball. Toss in the bread machine and set for 1P (that was the basic setting for mine a Sunbeam) . Let it go and do all the work and take the bread out when it starts beeping it’s done!!  This is easy enough to teach a child to do!! If you don’t have a bread machine, you can always knead it by hand (til elastic), let rise, punch down, shape into a loaf and bake.  Enjoy!!