Making Homemade Bread - A Country Pastime

in Home Cooking

Whole wheat, sourdough, oatmeal, potato -- the list goes on. All are delicious fresh from the oven, kneaded with love and patiently awaited as the loaves rise and bake. No matter what your favorite, the key to a diverse bread-making skill is practice.

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Pro Bread Secrets eBook

Pro Bread Secrets - The Secret Recipes of A Successful Bread Baker. Download this tutorial and recipe book today (PC only).

Worried that bread-making is an art - something that eludes you? Let me assure you that anyone can bake great bread by following the tutorial on bread-baking -- Anyone can do it in 8 steps!...buy the book, you'll find the tutorial as well as ingredient substitutions and 23 delicious multi-cook-and-kitchen tested recipes.

Start Small When You're Learning to Make Homemade Bread

Start small (easy) with white bread. Use store-bought yeast and a two loaf recipe. Far too many of my friends tried to make bread, failed and then gave up forever. Well at least until I walked into their kitchens, spent a few hours with them, mixing, kneading, waiting and baking - and they learned that they could make delicious homemade bread after all.

Why did they fail the first time? Generally they chose a complicated recipe (like my favorite Muesli bread) and/or they used far too much flour!

So let me get you started. I can't actually visit and hang out in your kitchen, but I can give you a recipe that never fails to turn out two delicious loaves of bread, there's very little kneading required, and it will give you the courage to keep going, trying more types of homemade bread that your family is going to love!

Here's What Counts In Making Bread

• Fresh ingredients, patience and kneading (the more difficult the recipe, the more kneading required).

• The age and quality of yeast accounts for much of your bread-making success.

• Patience is required -- you must wait for at least two non-forced and complete risings.

• Kneading commonly occurs twice; once after the first mixing, then again after the first rising.

White Bread Variations

While mixing a 2-loaf recipe add 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes (to make a hearty and super moist loaf), or peanut butter (gives your bread a slight nutty flavor), try an egg or two. Added herbs have turned out some delicious loaves as well as grated cheddar (roll it in, mix it in or just load it on top of the loaf 1/2 way through baking).

Quality Supplies Ensure Success

• In Search of the Perfect Bread Bowl
• Loaf Pans - where to get them and why you need so many...
• Cooling Racks and why they are essential to success

Delicious Bread Recipes

Excellent bread-baking cannot be properly explained in a multi-purpose cookbook. Nor is it likely you'll get a great recipe off a website that allows anyone and everyone to post their recipes.

Each type of bread, each recipe has a unique style of preparation. You need a recipe book that is specific to bread and that explains and teaches the preparation within its covers.