Bread making and the student

Success in making homemade bread, again! I don't want to jinx myself, so I won't get too high n' mighty. I know those of you who have had unsuccessful loafs of bread know the feeling; carefully mixing a yeast mixture, waiting with anticipation as your yeast rises only to find that no reaction what so ever has happened. Yeah, that was my familiar experience with bread, too.

I'm blaming some of my success on my new KitchenAid mixer. The dough hook is ammmaaazing! When I read through a bread recipe and it says 'knead for X amount of time', I just let the hook do the work! How easy is that?

Kneading dough in the KitchenAid

I followed a whole wheat recipe and added flax seeds to it. The loaf came out light, fluffy and quite nutritious. I was just so tickled to see my loaf rise and actually become bread! Eventually, I want to play around with gluten-free loafs.

Dough after kneading and resting

Dough punched down and ready to be rolled to place into the pan

Dough rolled and placed into the pan - my first attempt was a lil' sloppy...

Bread making is perfect for the student. Since there is an hour or so of rising time, it is a great opportunity to hit the books. When the timer goes off, work on the bread, toss it into the oven, get back to the books, etc. In the end, school work is underway and there is a beautiful loaf of bread waiting to feed a hungry brain! How smart is that?

Bread cooling out of the oven

So, if you're like me and need to take breaks when you study and enjoy baking- try to make a loaf! It will help keep your brain and belly in check when you are studying hard!

Bread sliced and ready to be snacked!