On bread

I absolutely adore making homemade bread. No, I'm not a disciple of the truly authentic, labor-intense methods - although I have immense respect (and envy) for those who are. I'm more a bread machine, set-it-and-forget-it type of baker.

Ever since my cherished bread machine landed here about a year ago (via a $10 bill at a garage sale), I haven't bought a single loaf of store-bought bread. Now that I can make a custom loaf of any size and ingredients for roughly 25 cents a loaf, paying $3.00 for the premium loaves at Trader Joe's just seems like a waste of, well, dough. (OK, everybody laugh.)

Using my trusty old Breadman machine, I've made everything from spicy herbal breads, cheese breads, hearty rye, Amish sweet loaves, and cinnamon raisin. The best thing is that I only have to fill that little machine up with ingredients in the morning, and while I'm out doing my chores, the bread machine fills up with dough and the house fills up with the wonderful aroma of a bakery. It adds about 10 minutes to my morning, and since we don't eat a ton of bread here, I can get by with making a loaf every 3 days or so.

But, there are some jobs that the ol' Breadman just can't handle - namely, artisan loaves, with their distinctive cracked, bubbly, golden crusts and dense, chewy centers. I long thought that these breads were out of my league, until I picked up a copy of the book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day". The title honestly reminds me of watching late-night infomercials, so at first I was very skeptical. But, after a couple of loaves, I am hooked. With a big tupperware, a baking stone, and a shallow pan of water - plus the required five minutes - I'm shocked at the quality of loaves that can be produced. Plus, it's fun to experiment with the free-form dough and various criss-cross patterns cut into the crust.

Since I couldn't possibly eat a whole, freshly-baked loaf at once (although I've definitely been tempted), one of the big hurdles I had to navigate was how to store my homemade bread. Unlike most storebought "breads" (Wonder Bread and equivalents), homemade bread doesn't have all the preservatives that keep those infamous, floppy thin slices from molding up or going stale quickly. At first, this was really hard to get used to - and I lost many good loaves to improper storage.

I wanted a bread box, but really couldn't justify the cost for a well-built wooden one, large enough to hold the quantity of bread I bake in a week. So, I had to explore alternative methods.

At first, I was advised to store the bread in my fridge. Sounds great in theory, but in practice, who really wants to eat their bread cold? The space required for a loaf of bread in the fridge is also a problem for those who have very little storage, or a lot of other bulky items already that must stay cold (bagged greens, fresh fruit, big tubs of yogurt and juice). I also found that despite experimenting, the bread always dried out on top and in the middle, with a soggy bottom crust. Not appetizing at all.

Next I tried storing the bread just out at room temperature, hidden inside a cabinet where the bugs (hopefully) wouldn't get to it. Of course, depending on how persistent (and numerous) the bugs are in the household, they could still get to the bread, which wasn't a problem for us, but could be a problem for other homes. Still, the bread dried out within a day, and became stale in less than a week. Once sliced it was, obviously, even worse.

So, I tried the exact opposite - a plastic Ziplock bag. This was a rapid disaster - within 24 hours the bag had condensation on the inside, and within 2 - 3 days mold was starting to appear. Bad, bad idea. Never again. Yuck.

Finally, I stumbled onto the best method for bread storage I've seen - it's one of those "so simple I should have known this already" things - the homely brown paper bag. Not only is it environmentally-friendly, but it also allows just the right amount of air to circulate and give the bread room to "breathe". It also absorbs excess oils from the bread, keeping it moist but not soggy. Choose a bag that's just a little big larger than the loaf itself, shake the loaf down completely into the bag, and roll the end closed. Store flat in a cool, dry place. If you notice some oil on the bag, just replace the bag to keep the bread fresh. As it gets eaten up, you can just roll the bag back tighter to continually keep storage space to a minimum.

Whew! It's a long post but I've been meaning to discuss bread-baking for awhile now. The most important thing is just to experiment - homemade bread is unbelievably cheap, so don't be afraid to try new recipes, baking times and storage methods. Before you know it, it might be one less thing you are shelling out for at the supermarket.