For many, many years, baking was NOT my thing! I didn't understand why you had to separate the "wet" and "dry" ingredients and why you couldn't just put it all in together and mix it. I also hated how precise the measurements had to be....so....needless to say, my baking never quite turned out how it was supposed to! My mother NEVER measures anything and her food is AMAZING and I think I sort of took after that. I love to cook, but I usually just eyeball and use a recipe as a guide, but don't necessarily use the exact measurements. When I got married, I decided to register for a Kitchen Aid mixer (because that's what you do when you get married!) and I began to bake!
I realized that you HAVE to follow the measurements and the directions on how and when to mix the wet and dry ingredients. Ever since this "realization"...LOL...my baking actually turns out good! The Kitchen Aid mixer actually comes with a little recipe book and my husband and I wanted to bake bread and decided to give the recipe a try. On a side note, for as long as I've known my husband, he has always liked to bake his own bread whenever he can. He's great and kneading and rolling out the dough and then folding it to put in the pan. He has the patience to let the dough rise and wait the right amount of time - these are qualities that I don't have when it comes to cooking. I like to experiment and throw a little of this and a little of that, I like to be very efficient in my cooking and do lots of things at the same time, turn the heat up a little higher than it should, etc. - my husband does NOT do these things! LOL
That being said, we decided to try the recipe in the Kitchen Aid recipe book one time and realized it was super easy and tasted FABULOUS! So yesterday, I decided to make it again. My husband was out with my eldest and his cousin at a birthday party and when I put my little one down for a nap, I decided to bake bread. I LOVE the smell of fresh baked bread in the house! This smell usually starts with the smell of the yeast rising! I want to say that I always tweak what the packages of yeast say a bit by adding a teaspoon of sugar to the yeast before adding the warm water to it. I've had yeast that doesn't rise WAY too often and have decided to always add the sugar to it! Other than that, I follow this recipe to a T. It's quick and easy and is all done in the Kitchen Aid mixer.
Here's the recipe from the Kitchen Aid recipe book that we use for a basic white bread:
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| Bread fresh out of the oven |
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| Bread fresh out of the oven! |
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| My husband rolling out the dough |
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| My husband fitting the dough into the pan |
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| Here's the dough after it's been left to rise for an hour |
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