Fresh Bread

I come from a long line of breadbakers. Even after my immigrant ancestors had settled down to modern life in the suburbs, my grandmother and then my mother continued to bake their own bread. My mother, now on a potassium-free diet, still bakes every other week.

My mother, however, was determined to mold her girls into career women who would have no need of typical domestic skills. Like bread baking. In her world, there was no Hidden Art, only drudgery and dependence (in her opinion) on men. And thus, not one of us ever learned how to bake bread.

Eventually I read the label on a loaf of store-bought bread and the desire to learn this mystery for myself was born. Fortuitously, at the same time this desire was kindling, there appeared in a national women's magazine an interview with Martha Stewart making, you guessed it, homemade white bread. It was a very basic white bread recipe with four ingredients: flour, water, yeast, and olive oil. Within no time, I had the basics down pat. Fast forward several years and I started experimenting with whole grain recipes. I found one (very complicated) recipe that worked perfectly in my Philadelphia kitchen, but flopped horrifically in my Arkansas and Kentucky kitchens. After several lousy loaves, I gave up baking and only ground soft wheat for cookies and quick breads in my Nutrimill.

Until today.

Returning to that basic white bread recipe, I was able to make two perfect loaves of bread. Beautiful and tasty. And I can't even begin to describe the joy I feel at renewing this long lost passion!

BASIC WHITE BREAD

3 cups hard red wheat, freshly ground

2 1/2 cups warm milk

1 Tbs yeast

1 stick butter, melted

Mix together these ingredients and let stand for one hour. (Note: I measure the 3 cups of grains and then grind them into flour.)

3 cups white bread flour

Mix into above dough and knead until soft and supple.

I used my Kitchen-aid to knead and had to add about a tablespoon of olive oil because my dough was too dry.

I let it rise twice before shaping and placing into the loaf pans. After the final rise in the pans, I baked them for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Rubbing a stick of butter over the top of the loaves while they're still hot will gave them the shine you see in the picture.

I can't believe how easy this was! I can't believe that I wasted THREE years of my life eating yucky store-bought bread!