Homemade Bread

Generally, I do the grocery shopping for the family. Shortly before Christmas, my husband was running errands and offered to stop at the store for me. I thought this would help me save time, so I was more than willing. I made a list and off he went. One of the things on my list was flour for cookie baking. Of course, I wanted all purpose flour, but when my husband arrived home, he had bread flour. I knew that if we returned it to the store, there was a chance that the product would be thrown out, so I decided to keep it. And thus began my bread baking experiment.

I tried a couple off different recipes over the past few months. There were some that were good and some that were average at best. We tried one using cream cheese that wasn't too bad, but it seemed heavy for regular use. Last weekend I tried a new recipe that I really liked. I have already made a second loaf.


White Bread
1 c warm water (110 F)
1/3 c white sugar
3/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp canola oil
3 c bread flour
1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast

Layer the ingredients in your bread maker according to the instructions.

The first time, I made the bread in my bread maker. I used the 1.5# loaf settings.

The second time, I used the dough setting on my bread maker. Then, I pulled out the dough, kneaded it and shaped into a loaf. I placed it in my loaf pan and let it rise for about 30 minutes. Then, baked at 350F for 30 minutes.

I think I liked it a little bit better out of the oven. I felt like the crust was a bit more crusty than it had been from the bread maker. The crust is the best part of any bread.

Turns out that even when I made it in a bread pan in the oven, my typical slice is still about 2 oz, which is about 4 PointsPlus values when I entered the recipe in on the eTools Recipe Builder.

This week's theme over at the Ultimate Recipe Swap on Life As Mom is Cozy Supper, this may not be a full supper, but pair it with some Chicken and Dumplins or a nice pot roast and you have a mighty fine cozy supper!

This post shared at the GCC Recipe Swap and Frugal Food Thursday.