There are manyso many reasons to bake your own bread.  I could go on and on and on.  Here are just a few…

1. Have you ever read the ingredients on the bag of bread you buy at the grocery?  Ugh!  It is truly nasty.  And to think I feed this to my children every day!  Go look at the ingredients on your bag right now.  I was appalled when I did.  Who knew you could put so many chemicals into a loaf of bread?  Succinylated monogylcerides, sodium stearoyl lactylate, azodicarbonamide (and, no,  I did not make those names up)….

2.  It’s not nearly as hard/tedious/confusing as you think.  It’s actually quite easy once you get the feel for it. And it is quite possible to make bread yourself and never have to buy another chemical filled loaf (see recipe below that makes 4 loaves at a time).

3.  There is no better smell than a loaf of bread in the oven… well, maybe chocolate chip cookies in the oven but I digress.

4. Homemade bread tastes so much better than the store bought variety.

5. It’s another excuse to buy a new cookbook.   There are some great bread baking cookbooks out there to add to your collection.  Here is one I am going to add to my next Amazon purchase: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking

Bread Dough after kneading

Bread Dough after first rising

Dough in pans and wrapped to freeze

Baked and ready to cool

Sliced and Ready to be Consumed!

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

adapted from recipe found at RecipeZaar

Makes 4 loaves

2 envelopes of yeast (or 4 1/2 teaspoons)

4 cups water

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 cup honey

2 teaspoons salt

6 cups whole wheat flour

4 cups white flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water.  In a very large bowl, combine butter, molasses, honey and salt.  Mix well.  Add yeast mixture and then gradually add in flours.  Turn entire bowl  onto a floured surface and knead until smooth.  Place in a greased bowl and turn once to coat.  Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size.  Punch down and divide into four parts.  Shape into loaves.  Dough can go into freezer at this point if desired (wrap in loaf form).  Place dough in greased pans and let rise for about an hour.  Bake at 375 for about 35 minutes.

To bake frozen loaves, take out of freezer and unwrap.  Place in greased loaf pan.  Let thaw and then let rise.  Bake as directed.  I will take the loaves out when I get up in the morning and they are ready to bake in the afternoon.