Kitchen

[SharkE]

No butter,  switch to Smart Balance heart healthy

[toja]

@eddyandme You are going to see the difference immediately, goldenlocks Homemade bread is so much better, not only taste wise!

I started to bake bread when I moved to US many years ago, just couldn't get used to flavor and texture of bread packed in plastic. Right now we have artisan bakeries everywhere and it's so much easier to get good quality bread, but I still keep my sourdough starter in the fridge and bake our favorite bread now and then

Just a quick reminder - never keep your bread in the refrigerator! Either keep it in a bread box or portion and freeze.

Happy breadmaking!

This is my freshly baked sourdough:

[KP2]

I got a double bread maker machine years ago from QVC by Cooks Essentials.  I have used this machine for a long time and I love it!

I make bread for friends' birthdays and for holiday gifts.

I use the recipes in the book that came with the machine and I "tweek" them to whatever specialty I feel like making.   So far I've made cranberry bread, pecan bread, herb bread, jerky bread, bacon/cheese bread, sesame bread, strawberry bread, and apricot bread.  My friends are my "guinea pigs", so they test out my weird recipes I make and let me know what needs to be adjusted in the recipe.  But once I get the recipe worked out, then I use those recipes to make my own specialty breads for gifts and treats.  

So far, nobody has ever complained!!!

I will say though, if you don't eat a lot of bread and you want tyour loaf to last a bit longer than usual, put extra oil in the mix.  I think the book recipes call for one or two tablespoons of oil, but I use 4-6 depending on what kind of bread I'm making.  These loaves seem to last longer than ones that don't have much oil in them.