Baking bread

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="280" caption="Look what I got for my birthday"][/caption]

For my birthday, my husband got me a KitchenAid Mixer. This is something I have wanted for a really, really long time. I didn't register for it because it was so expensive. Instead, I registered for a cheaper mixer that quite wasn't doing the job in the mixing department. When I saw that Costco had the mixer I wanted for $50 off, I begged and begged and swore I would make bread from scratch and never buy a loaf again. Brian said I didn't have to make bread from scratch but I had to use it.

Today, I christened my mixer and boy am I in love!  I've been dying to make and bake homemade bread but I didn't want to knead the dough for 10 minutes. ICK! I must say that I was truly inspired by former Bendite, Anna Sowa, who wrote a whole blog post about baking bread and how cheap and easy it was with her new KitchenAid Mixer.

I started off my bread baking with the white sandwich bread recipe

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="My first loaves rising"][/caption]

that comes with the mixer which was pretty straight forward. Do I really have to put sugar in it? I almost didn't add the sugar but I did, along with the little bit of salt. I mixed it up with the dough hook and let it rise for an hour. I kept checking and it kept growing and growing and growing. Then the directions said to divide, roll out and shape into loaves for the pans then cover for another hour while they rise some more. I checked a few times and it was growing and growing in size.  I squealed with delight. Woo hoo. I baked it in the oven for 30 mins on 400 degrees and PRESTO ... we had classic white bread!

So what did I make with it? I made my husband a grilled cheese sandwich and then my son a pb&j (which he didn't eat). I took a taste of both and was in HEAVEN!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="I made bread!"][/caption]

I can't wait to see what other adventures my new mixer brings me!