Ode to BREAD!!!

(Re-posted from January 2009)

I decided a few days ago to take up the wonderful art of bread making, again. (Someday I hope to get to make bread all by hand. I think that I will enjoy it. Find it relaxing or something in that direction, but for now my bread machine is awesome!!!) Over the summer I made so many loaves of bread it was ridiculous! I think I went through 5 bags of flour (five pounders). But before you get the wrong idea, I was making bread for the rest of the camp staff. (While I was working at UT's debate camp.) I came up with some gems of flavours...

I started with classics like Country White, Whole Wheat, then got into a little fancy with Sun-dried tomato/Italian herb/Parmesan cheese and then once I got the hang of the whole process I started getting creative.

PB&J - Meaning peanut butter flavored bread with a raspberry jam swirl. I saw some recipes where everything is mixed together, but that didn't seem as fun.
Tiffee Special - Named for my suite-mate Sean. He was a great suite-mate and that's not because he mostly stayed at his own place and not at the dorm. Anyway this bread started my trend of naming the breads after my friends. This was peanut butter flavored bread with chocolate chips in it. YUM!
Nacho Savage - Named for Alex. This had cheddar and salsa and while it was baking it smelled like hot nachos and he seemed to really enjoy it to. He ate a lot so I named it for him.

Caramel Apple Heaven - This is by far my favorite that I made. It has such a GREAT smell! I used apple juice instead of the normal water, cider drink mix and a little fresh apple and then I added in caramel squares. It tastes as good as it sounds. It's also probably as bad for you as it sounds.

I made some others like jalapeno-cheddar which I did not like making but it was a special request. There were also the somewhat failed attempts of chocolate flavored varieties. They kept coming out doughy. One was with a raspberry swirl and one called Last Night at Camp was choc full of candy. Very unhealthy, but I'm sure it would have been good, but it was very under-cooked, so I had to throw it out.

Why all this talk of bread?!? I decided a few days ago to get back to making bread because I'm trying to get healthier by eating more quality foods with better ingredients and more specifically with fresh natural and identifiable ones. I read two books a few days ago about all the random crap that's put it food as fillers and whatnot. And though I think everyone knows there's tons of random garbage in American food, I just kind of accepted it and I just choose the least bad kinds of foods out there, but now I'm going to put in more effort to make sure that what I eat is good for me.

Also, I think everyone should make their own bread for the smell (this was the real impetus for me). It is so warm and cozy...awesome!!! You can find them cheap too. Just go to a resale shop. I heard that they're one of the most frequently returned wedding gifts. I don't understand why since they're so easy to use, but I'm happy to have picked mine up that way. I snagged mine for $10...that's it. I think I maybe spent $40 for everything to get started...flour, yeast, sugar, salt, butter, dry milk, cutting board, bread knife, storage container and some extras for the fancier flavors...everything.

Anyway, bread is awesome.