The Joy of Baking Bread

Fresh Baked Bread

Mixing the Dough in my Bosch Mixer

      My favorite passion in life is baking bread.  I love it,. I love the process of mixing the dough, forming the loaves, letting it rise, baking it, and especially the smell as it bakes in the oven.  I think I might even enjoy the smell more than the taste. Although I love the taste of warm bread dripping in butter, the smell is the most comforting smell on earth.

     It, to me, smells like home, and I feel safe and happy when I smell fresh baked bread. Every child should grow up with that smell in the home.  It is like an anchor to home, and mom or dad, whoever is the baker.  It really does not matter who bakes the bread, as long as it happens.  

     Let me share with you something I learned a long time ago.  Bread making can be fast and easy and anyone can bake wonderful bread with the right ingredients and the right equipment. In fact with the right equipment, a person can have 5 loaves out of the oven in one hour and 15 minutes from start to finish.  Amazing.  And that is only a few minutes of hands on, the rest of the time is rising and baking time.  So the excuse we don't have the time, no longer flies.  

      The right equipment of course would be the Bosch Kitchen Machine.  I  remember well my pre Bosch days, bread making was an all day experience for me. I made great bread, even whole wheat bread by hand, but it took the entire day.  Three risings to get the perfect dough, and it still didn't compare to what the Bosch does in 6 minutes.

You can make any kind of bread in a Bosch Mixer,  Braided Egg Bread

Cracked Wheat Feather Bread

      I still remember when I bought my first Bosch. My grandfather had given me some money, and I was terrified that I had made a mistake.  It was almost $500.00 back then which was a lot of money.  They assured me that I would not have to let the bread rise three times.  I was cautious, to say the least.  My bread was great and I knew that to have great bread you had to let it rise three time.  I told the sales person I would try it once.

      So home I went, worried that I had just made a huge mistake in spending so much money on a mixer. I mixed the dough as instructed and to my great amazement and wonder, it was the best bread I had ever made.  I have never gone back.  I love all my Bosch machines.  Yes I have six in all.  I've grow so attached I cannot part with them.  I use all of them from the compact to my Stainless steel version, oh I forgot,  I have a built in one in the closet that I will set up some day.

     I don't know what I love more,  my mixers or the bread it makes.  I guess it's an equal love.  The mixer allows me to make the great bread quickly, and the great bread makes me love my mixers even more.

     Life is great, especially when there is fresh baked bread, and when we have the tools to make bread that creates "Fond Food Memories" in the lives of our family and friends.

Happy baking.