Bread!

Normally, I go up to Cleveland every other weekend. I go up to game. There are two games in Cleveland but due to my work schedule, unless I called off, requested off, or got someone to take my shift, I couldn't go to the Saturday game. Normally I would go up Saturday night and stay with Justin and hang out with a bunch of my friends at his place and we named the party "Afterdrank". Why "Afterdrank"? Because it's after the Saturday game and we drink. Why don't we call it "Afterdrink"? Because that sounds stupid of course!

Anyway. I don't normally bake on this weekend because I would have to think of something, like cookies, to make Saturday night that I would remember to bring up on Sunday morning. I've done that. Bring baked goods before. But because I generally travel after work to get up to Afterdrank, there just isn't any time.

Well, my character is in "time stop" that's where no one is allowed to interact with anyone else in the org until the scene is resolved. It was a mass combat (think a raid in WoW) and so now we have to deal with it.

Well, Justin hasn't been hosting Afterdrank because it's been "too hot" (pussies) and well I don't have a character to play up there - due to the time stop. So, I decided to what I do best to pass the time and that's make bread! Woo! I went shopping on Saturday for some basic stuff, that will last me a while and be pretty filling. My days are going to be filled with drinking water and carbs. My sister will hate it, but carbs are WAY cheaper than protein is - animal protein at least. Looks like I'll be looking at tofu recipes!

So anyway. One of the things that I don't normally buy, but can be handy for things, like casseroles, is bread.  I can also make sandwiches out of them. I also have a lot of ingredients to make bread as it is, and it's incredibly cheap.

I have a bread maker. It's awesome. I haven't used it since I moved into my place three years ago. So I decided to crack it out. And since I have nothing to do during the day, I thought I might do some blog posts about bread and all the different flavors that I will make.

All the recipes will be for a bread machine and so please, read your owner manual before following mine to make sure that the measurements are correct.

Here is the recipe:
3C Flour (they say bread flour I use all-purpose)
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Shortening
1 1/5 C Water
2 tsp Yeast*




I'm making a French bread. I don't like just plain white bread, and I'm an "artisinal" person myself. This is also a really simple recipe to just begin with. Most recipes will have this as the backbone.

Now, you add all the dry ingredients together. and you slowly pour in the water.

Make sure you press the right setting. There might also be a "Darkness" setting for your bread. I always choose the "darkest" on mine because it gets the crispier crust. You'll need to experiment when it comes to this.

Now, press start! And just leave it. Don't open your bread maker because that will just ruin things. Some recipes will call you to take out the bread after a certain time. If that is the case then please press "stop" or "off" or "clear". It's amazing what people just assume technology does.


So, lets discuss yeast! The yeast that I used was a "Fast Acting" yeast which means it's already been set up. My original recipe called for two more tablespoons of water, but this can be omitted when using this type of yeast. Also, if you are going to use this type of yeast instead of a "Dry yeast" then you'll need to subtract 25% of the yeast amount. The original called for 2 1/2 which would have left me with 1 7/8 tsp. Uh? What? No. I rounded up.


ProTip: Did you know that there are three teaspoons in a tablespoon? I know! So instead of using two measuring spoons, if you've got one of those 1/2 tablespoons laying around use that. It's awesome!

***Four Hours Later***

When your bread is done, it should look something like this:

However, remember when I said that I rounded up? Yeah... I should have rounded down. Like way down. To like 1 1/2 tsp. Because THIS is what happened.

It's okay! It's fixable. I simply cut off the top, turned the oven to 350 and popped it in for a few minutes. Get the top all nice and crunchy and we're ready to go! Bread really is one of the easiest things to make.

Does anyone remember the old Sesame Street or Square One bit where the chef makes a popover but instead of a teaspoon he uses a tablespoon and the thing comes out giant? Yeah. that's what this reminds me of.

Have any questions or tips you want to give me? Just reply and I'll do the best I can to answer!