Our New Breadmaker

I used to have a breadmaker.  My mother sent it to me (with recipes) when I was a stay-at-home mom of two growing boys.  I made a lot of bread over the years. 

Eventually my sons moved out and I didn’t have a need to bake a lot of bread, so I gave my machine and the books to my oldest son’s girlfriend (she’s no longer among the sane so I have no access to the books I gave her).

Recently, my husband told me someone he knows was buying a group of breadmakers and was going to give us one. 

I felt put out.

I had no need for it.  I had no time for it.  I had no money for expensive ingredients and I had no room to store the machine. 

Sorry for the negativity, but I’m just keeping it real.

The machine arrived and I put it in a pile of other things I don’t have a place to store.  Weeks went by.  The box started to gather dust. 

A few things changed.  We currently cannot use Walmart grocery to purchase our groceries.  My sister-in-law is shopping for us once a month.  My two nephews spend four days a week at my house and both have good appetites.  I’m using a lot more bread. 

I ran out of bread, so I pulled the machine out.  A few things are different.  The loaves are now rectangular instead of round.  The instructions state the liquids go first, then the dry ingredients with the yeast last.  My last machine recommended putting the yeast and sugar in first and the salt last. 

I’d been craving Crusty Hearth Bread, Oatmeal Dinner Rolls, potato bread, raisin bread and a bread which includes almond extract and butter flavoring in the ingredients. 

The first day I made Crusty Hearth Bread, ingredients in the machine for the dough stage, then transfer to a cookie sheet and bake in a circular shape.  Yummy!  The next day, I made Linda’s Easy Potato Bread.  Yummy even though it fell while baking.  The third day, I made Oatmeal Dinner Rolls.  Phenomenal!  Sixteen delicious, generous, slightly sweet rolls. 

Problem!  No more yeast (I only had 3 packets) and no more flour. 

We purchased a container of bread yeast and 10 pounds of flour as soon as we felt well enough to try to shop. 

I made a two pound loaf of raisin bread and I’ve made French toast with it.  It was okay but I’d prefer more raisins and a bread that’s not so dense.  My mother loves raisin bread, so I sent most of the loaf home with her. 

I made another loaf of Linda’s Easy Potato Bread and thought I’d solved the reason the first loaf fell (I peeked while it was rising or baking).  It still fell and I didn’t peek. 

For the life of me, I cannot find the recipe for the bread which includes almond extract and butter flavoring.  Okay, I figured out it was a poppy seed bread (most likely).  I also tracked down the recipe book I previously owned (it’s a series of six now with the first one updated and republished). 

I can’t wait to try making sweet rolls, hamburger buns, cranberry orange bread, banana bread, zucchini bread, pumpkin bread……. 

Many, many thanks to the generous donor of our breadmaker!