Sakura's Cooking Adventure Journal

Oh wow, those look delicious!

What will you try next? =)

Haha, that intermediate picture will do just fine. I've never had any apple cobbler, but I'm a big fan of apples.

Know of any way to improve it, seeing as you weren't fully satisfied?

Okay, so despite my hands hurting after kneading the bagels, I decided that I also wanted to try making homemade bread. This is the first time that I made bread, and I thought it ended up pretty good. My only complaint is that it was a little bit plain, so if I make it again, I am going to add some cinnamon or something. ^-^

Bread
I really like all sorts of breads, so I wanted to try to make one myself. This was my first attempt!

Ingredients

Yeast Packet
3/4 Cup Warm Water
Pinch of Salt
Tablespoon of Shortening
1/2 Cup of Milk
About 3 Cups of Flour

Baking bread was easier than I thought it would be! First I dissolved the yeast into the water. Then I added all of the ingredients except for the flour. I added in two cups of the flour and waited until it was consistent. Then I added more until the dough was firm and I could easily pick it up. I kneaded the dough, let it rise, kneaded it some more, and then let it rise again.

I cut lines in the loaf, and then I put it in the oven until it was brown. Here was the final product:

Overall, I am happy with the way it turned out. Next time I make bread though, I want to make a sweet bread like Friendship or Monkey bread. =]

Oh wow, that looks delicious (big bread fan here, hahaha)! What did it taste like? I'm full right now but my mouth is still watering at the site of it!

Well, like I said, my bread was a little bland too. I don't know what to do to make it more flavorful without making it sweet. It tasted really good when it was warm, and especially when it was fresh out of the oven, but I felt like it needed a little bit more flavor. ^^;

Shortening is basically fat. The brand of shortening that I use is Crisco (I don't even know if there is another brand, haha). It kind of looks like white butter in a way, but the texture is a little bit different.

quote Spiritual

Your bread loaf looks better than the ones you can buy in the stores and it looks really tasty. I think I might try this recipe some time. What temperature did you bake it at ?

I cooked it at 375, and it took almost 45 minutes for it to brown like that. If you make it, make sure you butter the pan too, so that it comes out well. =]

I've had meatloaf once (I liked it), and I don't like mashed potatoes. Still, I love cupcakes so without knowing what was in it at first that final picture looked really appetizing.

Let us know how your nephews like them. =)

Bread is kinda supposed to be bland tbqh, next time you should try adding stuff like a little grated orange peel and dried cranberries, or some cinnamon and raisins, or stuff like that. It's a fun twist on bread and it makes great breakfasts, especially if you warm it up in the microwave for about 10 seconds before eating it if it's not fresh. Also they're good for making bagels... if you want to make anything but plain bagels, right after boiling the bagels you can sprinkle the tops with toppings like dried onions or poppy seeds or whatever, also using dough like the cinnamon raisin kind works. Also using butter vs shortening and some other additives, like wheat germ can help with bread's flavor a bit.

Something else that's fun to make with bread dough - pretzels! Soft pretzels are the same as bread, you just coat the outsides with beaten egg and sprinkle with salt. Hard pretzels are the same as well, but you have to roll them out thinner.

Yeast-y dough is really versatile, and it's fun to make everything from loaves of bread to sub sandwich rolls. Also try putting dough in muffin cups - dinner rolls! You're doing really good with the dough though, it took me some time to figure out the right temperature for the water... I kept killing the yeast by accident.