Onion Slices

Woo!

Last weekend, I decided that I was interested in getting back into the cooking swing of things. I dug around in boxes and found my copy of the “Good Book” and away I went! I decided to make the American Sandwich Bread, since I had made it before and it turned out well. On Saturday I made a list and got the ingredients and on Sunday I doughed it up! Here are some pictures of the process.

Everything ready to start!

Kneading, kneading, kneading and more.

Some hand-shaping to get it ready for the first rising.

Mmmm.. Exchange 2010 and bread!

Doubled in size, ready to be placed in the loaf pan.

“Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational loaf of bread!”

Some additional thoughts:

I had some “Active Dry Yeast” that I upgraded to instant yeast in accordance with the recipe. Even so, I don’t feel that the bread is as light and risen as it was in the past. I think I made the liquid mixture too warm. The book warned against this, but the thermometers that I have aren’t “instant” enough. Next time I think I’m going to let the milk get to room temp, add the warm water, and not heat it up at all.

I think the next time I make this, I might add some cinnamon or something when putting the dough into the loaf pan. Not much, but just something to give it a little distinction.

I’m planning on making something this weekend, as well, but I’ll be leaving to go to Winnipeg on Monday, so I might not do another whole loaf of bread. The shelf life isn’t great on home-made foods, so maybe I’ll freeze it (: