First Loaf of Bread

As I mentioned in my last menu post, I try to make one homemade treat each week.  I didn't get around to it this week though.  Instead, I finally found the confidence to try making bread.  I've made plenty of quick breads - banana bread, apple cinnamon bread, zucchini bread...  But nothing that involves yeast.  Yeast is scary!  It requires proper temperatures and rising times, resting and kneading.  But after reading a few tutorials, I decided to give it a go.

And the result...

Looks like bread, and happily tastes way better than the "light wheat" bread that I buy for sandwiches.  

I used this recipe from King Arthur Flour.  Honey-Oat Pain de Mie.  Don't be overwhelmed by the name! Pain de Mie is a sandwich bread typically made in a pan with a lid (I had to look it up!).  I love oats, and I figured this was bread that we would actually eat; surprisingly, toddlers don't really care about artisan bread!  

The recipe was amazingly easy to put together - just 6 ingredients, plus water.  I used a bit of whole wheat flour (about 2/3 cup) in place of some of the white flour, but otherwise followed the instructions exactly.  I let Kat help with the kneading; who needs play-doh when you have bread dough!?  And while the whole process took several hours, the amount of hands-on time was probably only 20 minutes (less than I spend on a batch of chocolate chip cookies!). 

The bread was slightly denser than I was expecting, probably because of the bit of whole wheat flour that I used.  But it is chewy and tasty and is delicious as toast with jam or nutella (my breakfast at work on Thursday and Friday), as cinnamon sugar toast (whole family's breakfast on Saturday), and as the base for a peanut butter sandwich (NerdDad's snack on Saturday evening). 

So, I have gotten over my fear of yeast!  And I'm inspired to try more!!