Is there anything better than fresh bread?

To me, it shows my family I love them enough to make something they ALL appreciate.  The fall is a great time to make a few loaves while the kids are at school to have with soup for dinner.  The more I’ve made bread, the easier it gets. Here are a few of my tips for better bread making:

Be sure to check out my first breadmaking post!

Tips For Making Better Bread

1.  Grab your ingredients while it’s mixing.  My recipe calls for mixing the flour, yeast, gluten and water together for a few minutes before I add the other stuff.  To save time, and also make sure I don’t forget something I put them all next to me on the counter so I can add them when it’s time (I am the queen of forgetting to add an ingredient while I’m talking on the phone).

**Btw, don’t miss my comparison Bosch Universal Vs Kitchenaid Vs Nutrimill Artiste post.

Tuck in the bottom to make an easy loaf.

2.  To make quick loaves I take the tops and just kind of tuck it into the bottom.  That makes the top fairly smooth.  I know a lot of people roll it out and then roll it up cinnamon-roll style but this is much eaiser and it works just fine.

Use your knuckles to smooth down the loaf into the pain.

3.  Smooth down the tops of the loaves so you’re not left with REALLY tall bread in the middle, and really tiny bread on the side.  Leads to less fighting over the deliciousness you made. 🙂  Also, if you’re making sandwiches, it’s hard to have a REALLY tall area — they don’t always fit into sandwich bags for school lunch.

I make my bread like the one on the right — smoothed out, it makes a more even loaf.

4.  Use a plastic knife and slide it between the bread and the edge of the pan to loosen it all before turning it out.  You don’t want to loes any chunks of bread by it sticking to the sides of the pain (breasks in the crust will also make your bread dry out faster).

5.  I make 4 loaves at a time.  I keep one out, and freeze the others.  I don’t slice it until we eat it.  I think that helps it stay more fresh.

And… {drumroll please} the delicious finished product.  You can se the loaf I didn’t flatten in the background mounding up.  It’s not a catstrophic failure, but this way cooks more evenly and makes better sandwiches.

Be sure to check out my Favorite Kitchen Tools!

Be sure to check out all my bread recipes!

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