My family goes through a crazy amount of bread. I have a small family, and still they can get
through three to four loaves of bread in a week. I am talking about the long sandwich
loaves. I found it frustrating because
we are living off of a single income in our house, so I like to save as much
money as possible – but the bread kept disappearing. So I began hunting for a cheap way to make my
own bread.
I was not real sure how I would do, as I had never made bread
before. I also do not own a fancy bread
maker or a stand mixer, so I needed something I could make fairly easily with
out all of these bells and whistles.
After a search on Google I found a Simple Bread
Recipe blog post by The Simple
Homemaker. This is a wonderfully
easy recipe with very few ingredients. I
was desperately looking for a recipe that did not include milk, as that would
have made the recipe not worth it as a money saver for our home. I can buy a loaf of bread for about $0.90,
but milk can cost me $2.99-3.75, with flour, yeast, etc. I would have made the
recipe non-economical by comparison.
This recipe solved that problem.
I made the bread, and the verdict … my family loves it! My husband does not like the mess it makes on
the table, which he sometimes helps me clean, but I am learning to make that
less of an issue as well.
So now I want to make more! I want to play with this recipe and use wheat flour instead of all purpose, or even gluten free. I have been toying with the idea of setting up a ‘Mel’s Homemade Goods’ booth at the flea market (or swap meet as it is called in some areas of the country) And good bread is the perfect start to creating the ideal booth (along with muffins and cookies, of course). Here are some recipes I am looking to try:
- Mountain White Bread
- Amish White Bread:This is similar to the one above, so I will see if there is a big difference in texture/taste and then pick my favorite
- Homemade Multigrain Recipe:This is more complicated, but I love multigrain bread so I would like to try it
Then some fun breads that are not necessarily for sandwiches, but would make great additions to any breakfast:
Of course these are not going to be made all in one day, and to be honest – I would like to get a stand mixer first. But that is my plan! Do you know of any great bread recipes that are not for a bread machine? (still see no reason to get one of those) I would love to hear about them!
