Bread....all about Bread

Ok...so, i've always said that wanted to bake bread.  or at least i wanted to learn how to bake bread.  frankly, i'm sort of afraid of working with yeast.  i'm not exactly sure how to work with something that 've only seen in petri dishes and test tubes.  so....when my parents aksed what gift i would like (there was three choice....and this was the least "domestic" choice) i said a bread maker.  we went on amazon.com and got us a Zojirushi BB-HAC10 Home Bakery 1-Pound-Loaf Programmable Mini Breadmaker.  Cute little thing.    punches out a one pounder....okay it had to be said.  In theory, it's not that hard, right?  that's what a bread maker is for....to make fresh bread without a whole lot of effort.

Well, with that said, it's becoming more like a science experiment....unlike our other wedding gift, a stand mixer.  with the stand mixer, i punched out some pumpkin cupcakes and maple syrup creamed cheese frosting in short order.  that was the easy part.  now, back to the bread.....

living at over 5000t, i knew baking would be different.  my first two attempts at using the bread maker came out to be almost disasters like.  Ed called them softballs.  am i not understanding the different functions?  or does this have something to do with rising time, moisture, and pooped out yeast?  we'll see.  

the softball and the machine....

After a little reading....

http://www.highaltitudelife.com/baking.htm
and some others, i think that i may need to try another setting and/or add more gluten.  thank goodness we're not allergic to gluten.  goodness!.  well, we're almost done with this current softball.  i'm going to try again, but this time use a different setting.....  we'll see if we get another softball or not!

As of October 9th, 2010.....

You can call me "Mrs."


:D  Photos and Links to photos to come!

Photo by Sara Jenkins