Love My New Bread Maker

A few months ago I finally made up my mind to get a bread machine after all these years.  I have never attempted to bake bread, but I felt that a machine that would do everything for me seemed ideal.

I used some of my reward e-cards and did not pay a single penny toward the bread maker.  That way, if it didn't work I had nothing to lose since those reward cards didn't cost me anything.

And so I made my first loaf of bread.  I decided to use a boxed bread mix to be safe ~ that way if anything went wrong it wasn't my fault and I could blame it on the machine.

This was my first masterpiece:

It doesn't have to be pretty to taste good.  

My next foray into bread making was a boxed quick bread (pumpkin) which also turned out beyond my expectations.  I used to make those in the big oven a lot but eventually stopped when energy costs started soaring.  I rarely use my big oven these days since I have all kinds of small appliances that do the job.

I decided to tackle French bread using a recipe from the manual.  Success!  I began to feel a lot better after that.  Using a boxed cake mix I again approached the machine with great apprehension but I shouldn't have worried.  It was a white cake mix and eggs had to be added making it a different color but my taste buds don't know that.  Once I frosted it, it looked quite tasty...and it was.

Since then I made a garlic-herb bread using my own ingredients and last week I made cornbread.

My new favorite toy not only gives me something to get excited about these days, it also fills the house with an old-time feeling of homeyness from the aroma of fresh bread wafting throughout.  And it doesn't heat the house like the big oven would.

I have a lot of recipes to try, like honey-oatmeal bread, carrot bread, garlic bread, and on and on...