I made bread! Technically this isn’t my first encounter with home made bread. Looking back, I’m fairly certain my mom planted Christmas present ideas in my head, presents we could both use. That’s the only explanation I can think of for me asking for and Santa actually bringing a bread machine at age TEN!
I vaguely remember using the bread machine, but clearly remember thinking the machine bread was disgusting. It’s because of the vague memories that I considered tonight to be my first bread making experience.
I googled “Best breads to make with a Kitchen Aid”, which led me to this recipe.
(I used Earth Balance in lieu of the butter and egg white.)
The Kitchen Aid Dough Hook worked like a dream.
The real reason I chose this recipe is that it only required two 1-hour dough rising sessions rather than days of waiting. One day… one day I’ll have the patience for really super awesome bread.
But today, I’m sticking with two hour total wait time bread.
I imagined “punching the dough” to be a lot more fun.
My engineerness came out in full force as I rolled the dough to be exactly 12″x15″.
Ehhh… Close enough?
The dough followed the steps the recipe called out quite nicely.
And then it was taste time! When I cut the first slice, my first thought was that it seemed a little on the dense side. This bread was most definitely not in the same league as the crusty, squishy, West coast sourdoughs that I dream of making some day. But my bread, my two hour total wait time bread, had a nice hard crust, a decently squishy inside, and was perfect for sopping up the remaining scalloppini sauce on my dinner plate.
Now that I have a starter bread under my belt, I’m ready for the next loaf level!