i make my own bread, been doing that for 2-3 years, now i realy can't eat store bread.
the bakery whole wheat or multi grain is $4+, and we cant afford that, we eat lots of bread.
i make my own (bread machine mostly)and i realy like it, it 2c white and 1c wheat, i add 3/4 wheat bran ($.69/lb at the poppies gourmet market), 1/4 csunflower seed, 2 T caraway seed. also you can add 1/4 c ground flaxseed.
when you get used to it, it is very easy to do, like loading a washing machine
sometimes we crave french bread, so i make (again the bread machine makes) dough all white and bake it in french bread pan i got from amazon( i love amazon.com),
i make sesame bread sticks also. after you get a hold of it, you will experiment and have fun with making bread.
my granny always made her bread still does, when i was little she looked after me while my mom was at work, and when she baked bread (2 inch thick flat round ethnic bread) she made a small one for me. and i got to play with dough. of course there were no bread machines back then. now she is almost 80 years old and still makes her own bread, but she has a dough machine.
my great granny (her mom) was famous in her town for delecious bread. she had a wood stove room, which was a room few yards away from the house in the backyard, there was a deep "stove" built from mud and cured with something (don't know what) , and it burned wood. there was a "bench" also made of mud for the bakers to sit while their bread is baking. many women from that town used to come there(specific day of the week) and bake their bread and chat.
when i make bread i think of all these people and that makes me happy.
sorry for the blabbering.
