Adventures in Breadmaking

A loaf of beer bread. It's one of our favorites. You can use any beer and it always comes out tasty and easy to slice. 

It's been over a year ... 365+ days ... since my breadmaker arrived at my front door. I had considered buying one for a while, but didn't give it serious thought . . . until, while switching the channel on TV, I saw one advertised on a shopping channel. That's all it took and I was on the hunt. With my husband's help, I narrowed down my choices to a few and then we comparison shopped features and price. The Hamilton Beach 2 lb Digital Breadmaker, Model 29881, won out with good reviews and a super price at Walmart.

There's something you probably don't know about me. How could you? Here's my little secret: I am reluctant to use, possibly even fearful of, new appliances. (I'll write about my new mixer another time! 😉) Huh? Yes. You read that correctly. I'm not sure why, but it's the truth. Whenever we've needed to buy a new kitchen appliance, washer, dryer, sewing machine, computer or even a car, I opt for the simplest model that doesn't have lots of fancy features. It's less stressful for me to learn how to use it . . . and I've convinced myself that I really don't need all the bells and whistles anyway! I guess you could say ignorance is bliss . . . and I don't know what I'm missing. 

However, I was determined not to fall prey to my fears with my new breadmaker, and while the machine was on it's way, I spent hours and hours pouring over bread machine blogs and recipes on the internet. I researched cookbooks on Amazon and settled on two that weren't too intimidating.

One of the two cookbooks I ordered from Amazon: The Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook

The second of the two cookbooks I ordered from Amazon: The No-Fuss Bread Machine Cookbook

When the machine arrived, I let it sit in it's box for a day. I needed to be in the right mood to open it and unpack it. It was simple and straightforward looking. There was a little booklet enclosed with instructions and quite a few recipes to try. I ordered some baking supplies from the grocery store and picked them up the same day . . . bread flour, eggs, butter and yeast. I had all.the other ingredients on hand. I'm proud to say I jumped into making my first loaf of bread with confidence and it came out perfect. It was even tasty. 🍞 For once, my tendency to over research things paid off. And ever since that day, I've been using my breadmaker two or three times a week. I've tried many recipes and have had only two total failures plus a few loaves that we just didn't care for the taste or texture. I make small loaves because there's just the two of us and I also make dough for sandwich rolls and pizza that I bake in the oven. 

Here she is!
My favorite kitchen appliance. Well, maybe it's a tie with my coffee maker. ♡

Making bread in the breadmaker has been a learning experience for me. Knowing that the breads we eat are fresh and healthy, without preservatives makes me happy and having such a variety of choice is fun and makes mealtimes more interesting. I freeze the ends of the bread and any slices that are a few days old. I use them to make croutons for our soups and salads. 🥗

My breadmaking station. My inner home ecomomist is in her glory. 

These challah sandwich rolls are a staple in our house. I have made them with an egg wash, as seen here, as well as sprinkled with kosher salt and caraway seeds for beef on weck.

So far, I've made calzones just once, but they were a hit with the hubs. ♡

I need more practice, but the calzones turned out okay for my first try. 😋

This is probably our favorite thing to make at home. The dough is a very simple recipe that I found on the internet. It's been fun to experiment with different sauces, cheeses and toppings.

Did I mention that we haven't had a single loaf of store-bought bread since I started using my breadmaker? And the convenience of frozen pizzas is a thing of the past.

So, there you have it, as promised . . . with some photos. You can click on the photos to enlarge them for a closer look. 👁👁

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to read this post. As always, your questions and comments are welcome. And, if you have bread machine experiences or recipes to share, please add them in the comments below or on my Facebook page under this post. 

I hope this finds you and those you love happy and healthy. And until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Emmy