Let There Be Bread!

Last time Kevin and I were in Canada, we stayed with my Auntie Sheryl and Uncle Dan. I should clarify that my Aunt is amazing in the kitchen. Home-made doughnuts, AND the woman bakes their bread for the week every Monday? I was inspired to say the least. I mean, I feel like I can bake, but baking bread? Getting involved with yeast? Yikes. Sounded like an excellent way to waste a bunch of flour and making a big sticky disappointing mess all over my kitchen counter.

But I was intrigued. I had to try it. So I got up the nerve to ask my aunt to email me her recipe (which I should clarify she probably had to think about, because she just knows it off the top of her head, and I'm sure it's not something she ever has to look up.)

It started out a sloppy mess of shortening, oats, brown sugar, and flour, and progressed into a stickier mess once I added the yeast mixture and flour. Not good. Nothing is more terrifying/disappointing than standing in the middle of your kitchen with flour all over the front of your shirt and jeans, with your hands covered in sticky dough that just won't WORK.

This is a picture of me with my Aunt. I had it on the kitchen counter the whole time I was making the bread! It just felt good to peek over at it when I was all covered in sticky dough...

And THEN it started to come together....before I knew it, I had three lovely little kneaded loaves happily rising in my warm kitchen under a towel. I popped them into the oven, said a little prayer, and 40 minutes later, I opened the oven to the delicious smell of three beautiful golden loaves of bread - the first bread I ever made! It's not perfect. It's a little dense, and the crust is a little crustier than what my Auntie makes, but I think with a little more work, I could be turning out perfectly crusty fluffy golden loaves of bread!

Want a slice?