2/27/11

The New Joy of Baking...Bread and Bread Puddin'

The Bread Machine Challenge

Do you have recollections of your first experience with homemade bread? 

I do!  My Grandma Minnie and my Aunt Elsie in a farm house kitchen in Iowa! It was summer and we were visiting all the way from Texas.  And although the highlight of the trip was seeing my cousins who laughed at our yep and ya'll Texas accent, the homemade bread has been the most enduring memory!

In moments of nostalga and memories of  that homemade bread, I've attempted to bake bread the old fashion way with a crockery bowl, an embroidered dish towel, loaf pans, a wooden spoon and an apron sprinkled with flour.  Funny how one remembers the little things, but mostly I wanted to experience the smell and the taste of that warm slice of bread sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon...and my Grandma Minnie shooing us out of the kitchen to sit on the back porch steps eating 'Sugared Homemade Bread". 

Okay, enough of the Old Fashion Way!  Good Grief, Sue, it's 2011. 
 Minnie and Elsie would be amazed at todays Bread Making Machine,
and would be hanging up their floured aprons and using that yellow crockery bowl for apples and oranges.

 Is She not a Thing of Beauty?  Crockery bowl, wooden spoon, floured kneading board and oven all in one!

My first attempt in the bread machine was not a Thing of Beauty, but it tasted good and set me up for the 'Challenge of Making and Baking Bread Pudding'.

I posted about that Challenge for Pink Saturday.  It's in the post below...
Bath Baking Bread Pudding.

If you have never used the Water Bath-Bain Marie Method, you'll want to see what that is all about.  I'm here to tell you....it's very cool hot easy method for baking puddings and custards.

Innovations for this Bread Pudding recipe...besides the Water Bath...were the additions of finely crumpled 'Flopped First Baked Bread', a couple of tablespoons of Texas Peach Jelly to reduce the amount of sugar, and low fat milk.

The Greatest Challenge in my Bread Making is the use of Wheat/Gluten Free Flour!
It's been a Trial and Error Old Fashion Baking Bread Series of Flops!
Until Now!  Thank-you to my New Oster Bread Machine and the Express Bake Setting!
Thank-you Thank-you to My Sister-In-Law Linda...she's a GlutenFree Bread Machine Baker!

And Now some of the Rewards.....


Bread Puddin'

Loaf of Bread

French Bread Sticks Breakfast

...and Memories of my Grandmother Minnie's Home Sweet Home.

Linking To
at The Little Red House
 

10 comments:

  1. I haven't used my bread machine in a long time. Your post makes me want to dig it out! hugs, Linda

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  2. Yummy! You'll have the entire continent smelling like a bakery after this post.

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  3. We got rid of our bread machine because we were eating way too much of it. I do miss it. I might have to watch to see if someone else is foolish like me and puts one out in their yard sale. I made sourdough bread and it was yummy. Lovely share today.

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  4. Yummy, one thing I miss as a celiac is bread. and the oh so yummy bread puddings.... I LOVE the smell of baking bread. I use to go by the frozen loaf well they come in 3 or 6 in a bag all you do is drop them in a loaf pan and let them rise and bake! I added cheeses and all kinds of things to them. I need a machine so I can make GF breads you have convinced me! MMmm uummm Texas peaches I would love to go get me some Fredricksburg Peaches!

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  5. A Home Sweet Home Memory is always the best kind. You have kindled sweet memories of my own mother baking 10 loaves of fresh bread every other day to feed us, 9 kids, most in school at the same time so, lots of lunches to pack, a hungry husband who worked 2 jobs, and who ever happened to drop in for a visit. Our home always smelled of fresh baked bread and still today, nothing is sweeter. Thanks for the memory.
    BlessYourHeart

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  6. I can't bare to look at those pictures anymore! OH my ...you make me so hungry, I just want to get up and go make some breakfast! I want to learn to make bread by hand. I had a bread machine once and it was only good for mixing the bread. Most of the bread baked in it came out raw in the middle. It was old.

    Hey, I ran across a bunch of old church recipe books (my favorite kind) and they must be getting more popular becasue they were $5 each and they were old! I used to could buy them for a quarter each.~Ames

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  7. I've been thinking about homemade bread today...you must have read my mind...I don't remember any grandmothers baking it but I used to make it myself...and my son loved it!!!
    Thanks for the memories and some beautiful photos!!!
    Having a beautiful week!!!

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  8. What a wonderful post. I made bread just 3 days ago, the old fashioned way. It was yummy. Yours looks so yummy, wonderful photos, thanks for sharing. Karie

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  9. I used to make bread all the time and not with a bread machine. I can almost smell the bread baking. I think I'll go to your house for breakfast!!!

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  10. You make me want to buy a bread making machine - it looks awesome. love, sandie

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