Adventures in bread making

I have not forgotten this place.  I have just been cooking a lot of the same things.  Tacos.  Meatloaf.  Nothing exciting.

However I DID get an EXCELLENT birthday gift. A bread maker!!!

This one to be exact.

I am so excited about it. 

To go with my new breadmaker I also received from friends:

A HUGE book of breadmaker recipes
A new bread knife
A bread slicer (you put the bread on it and cut between the slats
A new flour container
A new set of measuring spoons from an 1/8 to 2 cups.
A recipe book stand!!

I'm SOOOO ready.

I have made three loaves of bread.

Loaf 1.
White bread.  From the book that came with the machine.  Tasted great, but collapsed.  I think I did not measure the salt very well. 

Loaf 2.
White bread. From the King Arthur Flour website, used olive oil instead of butter.  Turned out perfect. 

Loaf 3.
Sour cream bread.  From my Breadmaker book.
1/2 cup +1 tablespoon of water
1/1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/3 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoons of lilght brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1 tablespoon yeast

Mine rose a little too high, and collapsed just a bit.  I think next time I will make sure the sourcream is room temp, and NOT try to slice it before it's cool (like the recipe says).  Either way.  The taste is delicious.  It has just a hint of sweet but it's moist and delicious.  The kids used it for their lunches today and they both loved it. 

Tonight I'm making banana bread.  Very excited about that!!!!! 

And I'm going to also make dough tonight for rolls tomorrow to go with spaghetti.  The excitement is killing me.

I sort of look at making bread with the same respect as I produced breast milk.  Stay with me.....  It's such a basic staple of life.  Bread.  And I can make it.  There's a weird pride for me in that. 

Ok, stop laughing.