Bread Baby

A Great Harvest Bread Co. recently opened in our area. The nearest one to us before the newest opening was over 20 minutes away, and in no particular area that we frequented. When I was in that area, I would stop and buy bread. At one point, Peter and I thought we could really use one in our part of town. We contacted the company, and went through some preliminary screening to open our own store, however, timing is everything, and it just wasn't the time for us to be bread dealers.

Our dream was shattered when we saw the storefront go up, but at least our dream of fresh bread was being answered. I have tried to bake bread in the past, and I have to admit, rolls were more my forte. The bread I made was OK, but just not something I would hand out to the neighbors. It was dry, or dense, or just, not awesome.

I stopped by the store, and picked up some honey wheat bread. It was sooooooooo good. We had toast, and made grilled cheese sandwiches, and I went back the next week to get some more, and noticed the price! $4 for a loaf of bread! To be honest, I have no idea how much bread is in the store. I usually get it at Costco, and I am pretty sure I am getting two loafs for around that same price. And these are super mondo loafs, that have far more servings that the little tinsy loafs at Great Harvest.

I started to wonder why it was I couldn't make great bread, and decided it was the recipes I have. I started to look through my stacks of cook books, and decided to try one out of my red and white check cookbook. I gave their traditional Whole Wheat Bread Recipe a whirl, and guess what??? I no longer have to visit Great Harvest Bread Co. for a fix of fresh bread! This recipe was great.

The SECRET? I found THAT in my Cooking Light cookbook. Hint: if you are using a glass bread dish (or dark metal), lower the oven temp by 25 degrees. HELLO! Could ANY OTHER COOKBOOK HAVE MENTIONED THAT AND HELPED ME OUT??? Now I have to go back and try those other recipes and make sure they weren't so bad!

One other tip: Undercook it. I under cooked my bread by about 10-15 mins according to the recipe. It was just the right amount of soft.....