10 Reasons to bake bread

[RecipeRiver]

The line from the Lord’s Prayer stating “Give us this day our daily bread” shows how integral bread is to the lives of people since ancient times. For thousands of years, bread baking was an activity done in most households around the world, but now many people have no idea how to bake bread even though they still eat it.

If you are interested in expanding your bread options beyond a factory produced blob of preservatives in a plastic bag, the good news is that bread baking is simple. Yes, there are a couple basic skills to learn and principles to understand, but mostly baking bread is as easy as falling off a barstool and more fun.


Why you will like to bake bread:

1. Homemade bread is much more nutritious and satisfying than most varieties of mass-produced bread. When you compare the two types, you’ll see that most of the stuff at the grocery store is just air.

2. It is hard to buy the taste of fresh hot bread straight out of the oven with butter melting on it. The experience is something that happens at home in your kitchen.

3. As long as you have flour, salt, and yeast at home, you have access to fresh bread. All of these ingredients are cheap to stock up on too. Think about how many times you go grocery shopping when mostly all you need is a loaf of bread.

4. Kneading the bread dough with your hands is a meditative activity that lets the world slip away for a few minutes. Many people juggle a lot of details all day as they rush through busy lives. Making some bread is a great way to disconnect and focus on one simple and essential thing.

5. When you hold the warm dough in your hands and know that the yeast is alive and breathing inside it, you will feel endowed with creative energy. You are working with the living world to make something good to eat.

6. People will be so impressed with you for baking bread.

7. Your sandwiches will taste better when you use homemade bread, and they will fill you up more too.

8. You will gain a sense of independence knowing that you don’t have to always rely on a bread factory for every slice.

9. Baking bread can be a fun activity to do with family members, and it costs very little to do.

10. You can explore recipes from different cultures or become more connected to your own ethnic traditions because many cultures around the world have distinctive types of bread.

Few people have time to bake all their bread, but learning how to do it and making time for the activity every couple weeks are both possible. Baking bread is a great way to slow down and deepen your understanding of the food you eat.

To read more about the bread recipes I use, see my online list of bread recipes (http://recipes.falbepublishing.com/bread_recipes.html).

[mcnerd]

Why I prefer NOT to bake bread:

1. Mass-produced bread is consistently the same with the perfect crust and airy texture, is pre-sliced for use, and has enough preservatives so its lasts longer than 2 days.

2. My doctor threatened me with cardiac arrest if I put any more butter on my bread and eating the whole loaf at once since that is the only time the bread was hot to melt the butter.

3. Flour is full of bugs, yeast is stale, and there's no salt in the house by doctor's orders. And who goes grocery shopping for just a loaf of bread. Oh yah, I'm supposed to get flour, salt and yeast to go home and make the bread and heat up the kitchen instead of just buying a loaf of bread.

4. Can't knead the bread due to arthritis. Meditation is the last thing I can do in a kitchen. My time for meditation and disconnect is when I'm in rush hour traffic and going nowhere.

5. Working warm dough would make me think of having my hands around someone's throat, that is temporarily alive and breathing between my fingers. Gawd, I love those action movies.

6. People impressed with me baking bread? They're ROFL!

7. Never could make a light and airy sandwich bread myself, not the way those commercial bakeries do it with their expensive machines. Where's my Wonder Bread.

8. I'm in the kitchen slaving away at making bread and don't have the time to do what needs to be done. Mass-produced food was created to get us out of the kitchen and be independent. I rely on my bread company to keep me independent!

9. Family members want nothing to do with anything in the kitchen and flour in their hands is meant only for throwing. Cleaning up their messes is not cheap.

10. The extent of my 'exploring' is visiting the Artisan bread section. I get plenty of ethnic traditions from the neighbors when they cook with their windows open. I yell (aka swear) to close their windows and they throw their ethnic bread at me, along with other things that make meals more interesting.

Yes, daily bread making has a great value to some, mostly the friendly bread maker. :D:D

[Drama Queen]

With the exception of the aroma of bread baking in the oven, I have to go along with McNerd. I used to bake my own bread til I discovered the artisan bread bakers and now I never make my own.
I usually buy the bread frozen and partially baked, then finish baking it myself when I want it. The bread I serve is warm and because it's artisan bread and not the store-bought Wonder Bread type, the bread comes out of the oven tasting just as it would if I had baked it from scratch. I keep at least 2 loaves in my freezer as well as artisan dinner rolls. AND I have the added bonus of smelling that great aroma while the bread is baking.

My favorite is from La Brea bakery (http://www.labreabakery.com/index.aspx)in Los Angeles, distrubuted to our local supermarkets.

[Liketobake]

I like your post reciperiver.

At our house we bake some bread and we buy other bread. It depends on what we are wanting it for and how much time we have.

Nothing beats fresh out of the oven bread. Even fresh from the bakery does not beat fresh out of the oven bread.

Making bread also allows you to make certain varieties that you may not find at the bakery.

:):p

[AnthonyStanley11]

I havent baked my own bread in years, but after reading this thread, I may start back up!

[Dough Boy]

Baking bread is not for everyone, but it should be a skill that every cook has in their back pocket. I bake bread weekly (or more often) and it consists of white sandwich bread, Italian bread and sandwich rolls. I also make rye, pumpernickel, challah and a variety of artisan breads with no knead dough and cold proofed sourdough.

Once cooled (2-3 hours) I slice the loaves, bag them and put them in the freezer. We then just take out what we need and nuke them for a few seconds and it's as fresh as the day it was made.

Artisan breads are the only breads that have a very short shelf life, because they are not enriched with things like milk, oil or eggs, which give a longer life. My artisan baking is mainly done on a daily basis as needed, using cold proofed dough from the fridge.

Baking is my hobby so I bake when I have time, like most hobbies, and I find it relaxing. I also like the idea of not having all the chemical preservatives in my bread. If I cannot pronounce it, I don't want it in my body. But that's just me...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v664/flyfishohio/Breads/P1010479.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v664/flyfishohio/Breads/19Rolls-2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v664/flyfishohio/Food/P1010012.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v664/flyfishohio/Food/P1010192.jpg

[RecipeRiver]

Wow, dough boy, you are the MAN. I could learn a few things from you. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

I baked bread tonight. Just some sandwich bread so I could delay going to the store. My boys and I were eating warm slices and the cut loaf was on the counter. My 2-year-old reached up when no one was looking and mined a couple inches of the center out with his bare hands, leaving only crust behind. I'm glad I caught him before he turned the whole loaf into a mail box shape.

[Liketobake]

Dough Boy nice photos:)

You may have inspired me to make bread more often:)

[Dough Boy]

Thanks for the kind words. Here is a giant loaf of Challah (http://flyfishohio.us/Reinhart Challah Bread.htm) I made last night for a luncheon today, and my dinner last night...homemade pizza using my no-knead pizza dough (http://flyfishohio.us/No Knead Pizza Dough.pdf). It was delicious, and yes, I ate the whole thing!:eek:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v664/flyfishohio/Breads/P1010496.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v664/flyfishohio/Breads/P1010495.jpg

[DidSomeoneSayChocolate]

hi I'm new.
is this where you post a bread recipe?
I made a Irish Soda Bread with a twist for St. Pats day.
It was very good

[Atomizer]

Thank you so much for your website. I checked it out and love the recipes you posted. Looking forward to trying some, nothing better then homemade bread. Thanks again

[Catlady]

I enjoy bread baking , like to experiment different flavors in the bread.

[Big Daddy's House]

Dough Boy;

Looks and sounds like you like to do a ton of baking yeast breads.

I see your lovely K'Aid Stand Mixer in the corner of those pics. Looks like you've got a wonderful talent in making nomemade breads!

I once had all that talent, still do! I LOVE making Parkerhouse dinner rolls!

[awesomeapril]

I love this post. Bread is easy fun and relatively quick when you fill up your rising and baking time with other things.
McNerd-
I found your post very pessimistic and think that living off of hot pockets would make you content. There are many ways to work around some of your cons of bread baking.
Doughboy,
You should have saved me a piece! jk. Looks great.

[Hang0ver]

Wow, I like Dough Boy's photo very much. That's Very Nice and Make Me Hungry :eek:

[Big Daddy's House]

Wow, I like Dough Boy's photo very much. That's Very Nice and Make Me Hungry :eek:




Looks like he does that for a living! If not, he should. Great money in it!! :cool:

[Whoopie Pie]

great pics doughboy. I know that bread baking isn't for everyone, but for me it is very rewarding, especially since I have gotten good at it. I Have a good recipe for an Italian bread made with semolina and I enjoy making the no knead bread in a cast iron dutch oven, it comes out looking and tasting like a true artisan loaf.