Homemade Bread

Not my homemade bread. 

When I was younger, I had this romantic vision of being the kind of person that grew bountiful, lush gardens that I could eat and can in the Fall to tide us through the Winter. I also had dreams of making all my own bread, pastries, and various other goodies, like soap. Then, I got real with myself.

I realized that I hated doing any of these things. And, I'll be the first to admit, that I'm much more the kind of gal that prefers living in the city and buying homemade goods from someone else. It's a lot of work to grow a garden, can vegetables & fruits, and make homemade baked goods.

I mean, I still kinda want to do them, but only in a much easier way that fits better within my lifestyle. This is how I fell in love with bread machines.

Bread machines, simply put, are incredibly awesome. All you have to do is put the ingredients into the machine and touch a button. That's it. The hardest part is waiting for the five-hour process to complete while delicious aromas waft through the air. I had wanted a bread machine for years - but was limited on funds - so several years ago I hit up my local thrift store and found an old Welbilt bread machine from the 1970s. It even had the original recipe book with it...a steal at $4.99!*

Fast forward several years and a friend of mine mentioned in passing that she had a new, nice bread machine that she never used and wanted to get rid of. Well, there was no way I was going to let that opportunity pass me by, so I told her I would take it off her hands. Now, I can make two loaves at the same time, which is great for those times when my friend's husband is begging me for a loaf of homemade bread. My Welbilt machine makes tall, round loaves, while my Cuisinart makes a short, rectangle loaf. Case in point, my Basic White Bread:

My actual homemade bread: Basic White Bread.

There's nothing like a fresh loaf straight from the machine. Put some Earth Balance on that and eat while it's warm and the butter is melty. Mmm mmm!

Another homemade loaf, this time from a box: Rosemary Sage.

Recently, Nature Girl and I were at the grocery store and I scoured the clearance section for deals - practically an art form for me. I found some bread mixes for $0.75. One was Honey Wheat (not suitable for vegans) and the other was Rosemary Sage. Inside the boxes are packets of yeast and bags of all the other ingredients to make bread. Upon reading the instructions, you still had to do all the mixing, kneading, rising, and baking, but it would be 'easier' as everything was all measured out. Granted, having everything all measured out is easier so I bit. I mean, I figured I could just throw it all in my bread machine and if it didn't work out, I'd only be out $0.75. Well, it turned out amazing (see above photo). My family devoured the first loaf so I made the other one as well. Fortunately, I was able to score four more boxes the next time I went to the store as they still had some.

So, if you want to make homemade bread but are uninterested in making it from scratch like me, invest in a bread machine. You can also scour garage sales and thrift shops to find one cheap to see if you will use it enough.


Have a great weekend, friends! I have a Web Shop now where you can purchase cool merchandise I designed. I have my logo design goodies as well as some for The Box and The Station. You can either click "The Shop" page here on my website or follow this link.