Baking Time: White Bread Baked In The Oven, Not In The Bread Machine!

Today, I had my first experience of baking two loaves of white bread in the oven (see left photo). It was good. It turned out right! The crust was crunchy while the texture of the bread inside was soft plus the size doubled. The only *mistake* I made was during the cooling time, I decided to slightly cover them with foil. When I realized what I did it was too late! The crunchiness was gone after a while and the texture of the top of the bread changed (it looked wrinkled). The one in picture here was still in perfect condition when I sliced several pieces of it for lunch today. It was perfect with butter and the fried shrimp I served today. Anyhow, husband was consoling when I expressed my disappointment with the fate of my bread and said that bread crust is always crunchy after it was freshly baked then gets soft after a while when packed (like what happened to my bread today *cry*). Hm...that made me feel better!

Last year, we bought a small bread machine (see photos below) that enables me to bake a loaf of bread with a yield good for two people. But after baking for some time, ultimately I thought that using it was not challenging anymore since all it needed was for me to dump the ingredients in it, et voila, in 45-minutes' time, the bread is baked! After months of baking bread in it, I experimented time and again~ and would add different herbs in season (i.e. dill, thyme, parsley, Italian seasoning, etc.) to taste. It's good! Where I grew up, we didn't put herbs in bread but living here has exposed me to a lot of herbs and spices. And for someone who had lived overseas for most of her career life, discovering new recipes and spices in the countries where I was posted really amused me and made sure I got those recipes and learned to do them. I have the passion for baking and cooking!

Living here in the USA makes baking to be affordable as cost of ingredients here is not as much as how it is marked up in the Philippines (where imported items such as baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, thyme, marjoram, etc. are multiplied each by 54). Since the arrival of my stand mixer late last year, I have been privilaged to experiment with baking by using a variety of recipes~ to my joy and disappointment~ at times. Some recipes for cakes are dry; others seems like someone just made up a recipe and put them online as a joke. So beware! I had to do a lot of catching up with baking since my last baking experience was 23 years ago. Now I have to re-educate myself about baking jargon and techniques. So far, I am doing fairly well.

I used to browse online at www.foodnetwork.com and other websites for recipes I needed at the moment but soon enough, I realized they are not quite reliable (and does not taste as good) as the ones available in the real recipe books. One must pay a price for it so I decided once I see the right one I'd get it.

Two months ago while I was in Costco with husband, I chanced upon seeing the new version of Better Homes and Garden's New Cook Book Limited Edition. As soon as I saw it, I browsed it, knew it was a good one and decided I was going to buy it. Of course, I did. It is a bit costly but worth it. The cakes and pies plus the bread recipes that I used and taken from this book were far were delicious and easy to bake than those available online. Husband could only say, "Yum! Yum!" This book has basic step-by-step instruction (with photos) on how to bake bread, cakes and pastries so this is quite functional to have this for someone like me who is up to baking again. This book has a portion as well on healthy eating which is dedicated to women with breast cancer. It has a lot of health information on eating well and knowing the right nutrition that works for each individual. All recipes in this book are marked as follows: low fat, fast and best loved. Surely, this is a must-have- book for baking enthusiasts like me! Ciao!