We got a bread machine recently, and this was our first loaf - a large white bread which turned out great! It had a very nice crust and a lovely soft texture. It was a tad salty but that was probably due to my over-generous hand.

I’ve since baked a few more loaves, the most recent being a semi-wholemeal with multi-grains (melon, sunflower, poppy and sesame seeds) which I baked this morning. They’ve all been very good - especially when it first comes out of the machine. That first bite of freshly baked bread is heavenly, when the crust is nice and crunchy and the “meat” is warm and moist. Yum!

I love the smell of baking, especially when it’s about done. The warm, delicious smell emanating from the oven is very reassuring. It promises goodness and satisfaction - something to fill your stomach and senses. It reminds me of happy times and special times: we normally bake on special occassions and only when we’re in good humour. Christmas, birthdays, tea-parties or afternoon treats, home baking is something we do to celebrate life in our own special way.

Baking is really not all that difficult. I can never fanthom why some people have a fear of it. If you can follow instructions, you can bake. At its most basic, there’s very little creativity involved. Just read the recipes and follow them step-by-step. If you can follow them faithfully and precisely, you’d be alright.

Of all things you can bake, bread is probably one of the easiest. There are three essential basic ingredients: flour, yeast and water. That’s it! Anything else you find in bread recipes enhances the taste but is not essential. Mix the ingredients up and knead the dough. Then leave it alone for a few hours, shape it and chuck it into the oven. Before long, you’d have a delicious smelling fresh loaf of bread!

This page has some advice on bread-making. For advice on baking in general, try here. For recipes, this is the place!

Note: The Kenwood bread machine retails for about MYR450 in Malaysia but we got ours by redeeming some credit card points which had been accumulating for a while. I also recently saw another bread machine by a Japanese brand (Tadaka??) in Best Denki retailing for MYR299 - I don’t know if it’s any good. If you want to bake bread the traditional way, make your life easier by using a machine to knead the dough!

Posted on December 27th, 2003 by jl
Filed under: lost blah blah