My Way of Baking Bread at Home

I love to bake bread. However, I use a bread maker. I know, I know, I can hear you scoffing as I type. I dislike actual baking. I just don't have time for it. I dislike being trapped by the time it takes to bake. Cookies, they are my nemesis. Raising a family with 5 children, required the baking of no less than 6 doz at a time. I felt trapped by having to wait and wait and wait, between each sheet. Bread requires more time than I am willing to give up. I taught my daughters (and willing sons) to bake as soon as safely possible and they love to bake cookies, cakes, pies, scones and yes, bread. I fell in love with bread machines when they came up with one that makes a 2 lb loaf. I can put in the ingredients and go on about my day. Oh, we still make Irish Brown Bread in a conventional oven, and I bake cakes for birthdays and special occasions, but for the bread we eat for daily consumption, it's the bread maker for me! Why bake when I can knit? I perused many bread machine cookbooks for recipes that were simple, yet delicious. They proved harder that necessary. So, I came up with my own.

White Bread

1 1/3 cup of water microwaved for 1 minute

2 tablespoons of butter, cubed up

4 cups of unbleached flour

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

2 teaspoons of yeast

Place first 5 ingredients in bread maker in order as listed on recipe. Make well in center and add yeast. Select white bread and your preferred crust. Start bread maker and leave! Yields a 2 lb loaf. It takes my bread maker 3 hours and 10 minutes to complete a loaf.

This girl is moving on to other things! I can hear the needles clicking now!