Bread Machine

I bought a bread machine about a month ago with the intention of making a loaf of bread occasionally for us to have.  Bread is the arch enemy and anti-christ to anyone who is dieting, so I'm not sure what my reasoning was for buying it.  "Well, so and so has one!  My sister has one!  I WANT ONE!!!"  Who needs more reason than that?

So, I bought a bread machine and realized that I didn't have all the ingredients that I needed.  I tried my first loaf with some bread flour that I had and the loaf didn't rise AT ALL.  My bread flour was very old.  I think I bought it when we lived in PA, which was about 20 months ago.

So, I bought all new flour and yeast and tried again.  This time, I tried a whole wheat bread.  I like whole wheat bread and I want my children to like it, too.  Dad is gone to Afghanistan, so he won't have to eat any of it.  :)  It turned out better, but it just wasn't what I was expecting.  I need to try to make it again and give the wheat another chance.

This bread machine does it all.  Makes a loaf in 58 minutes, for heaven's sake.  I've not tried that yet. I have tried the dough/pasta setting and have thoroughly enjoyed the pizza dough that this machine cranks out.  The softest dough I've ever felt.   Let's stop for a moment and thank God for pizza.

Moment's up.

Then I discovered this recipe in my book: Oatmeal Date Bread.  It can be made in 80 minutes.  How hard can that be?  And it's got Oatmeal in it - it has to be healthy.

However, I didn't have dates.  Who keeps dates in their pantry?  I did however, have a bag of cranberries, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Oh my good heavens...is this good bread or what?  Dense, with a touch of sweetness from the cranberries and the 1/4 cup brown sugar.  Beautiful loaf of bread, thank you for baking.

Here's the final product...

It's a good thing this loaf of bread is a gift, or you might not have seen it in this perfect state.  You'd have seen about 1/2 of it gone and half a stick of butter gone. 

 Now, go and run 20 laps because you gained about 15 pounds just by looking at this load of bread.

Blessings,

Missy