Sunday, Feb. 19 Day Off + Homemade Bread

Making homemade bread could be considered the opposite of a day off.  But, not for this practical cook.  First, the day off part....I was fortunate this weekend to have my daughter visit from college (great to see her) and to have my wife organize a service activity with the young women in our church and to have that activity be making two yummy wild rice chicken casseroles and to have the recipients of said casseroles to be a family who is moving and a former young women visiting from college, my daughter.  We had the casserole Sunday and it was yummy as advertised.  It is definitely on the list for a future Sunday dinner.

Since I knew that the dinner was covered, I decided to make homemade bread.  Earlier in the week, I cut out an article in the paper about a lady who, as a child, would bake bread every Saturday with her Mom after playing penny poker with her grandfather.  Her article included a recipe for Italian bread.  As I was thinking about the recipe and the mixing, kneading, letting rise, etc. related to making bread, I noticed the Sunbeam Model 5891 Breadmaker sitting on the counter.  (Hard to miss since it takes up a good portion of counter although it is dormant for most of the year.)  After a quick mental pro/con analysis of down-to-earth, hands-in-the-flour bread making vs. throwing a few ingredients in the Sunbeam 5891, the practical cook in me said, "Go for the Sunbeam 5891."  So, I did.  The most complex part was putting the ingredients in order so I could make a well in the flour at the top to keep the yeast away from the water.

A neat feature of Sunbeam 5891 bread is that the machine tells you exactly how long the process will take.  So, I timed the pressing of the start button to result in a two-pound loaf of fresh bread to be done minutes before we would arrive back from church.  Worked like a charm.  We came home from church, walked in the door and the whole house smelled like fresh baked bread!  Wonderful!  For few fleeting seconds, the squabbles about "No texting in church", "Don't irritate your brother", and my favorite, "when you are old enough to drive, you can correct your sister", are all forgotten because Dad is the MAN!!!  Being a practical cook does have its advantages.  Thanks, Sunbeam 5891.