Beautiful Bread

I never really thought much about bread. I mean, I love bread. Good break can make or break a meal. It is the foundation of a sandwich and a necessary accompanyment to good sauce.
But making it? That seemed like a lot of work and a lot of time.
But then, why not? Isn't that part of the fun? The challenge of making something kinda difficult, or at the very least, something that takes some time is really kind of the point.
So, I did a quick web search for a bread book and came up with:
Bread Made Easy by Beth Hensperger. It's a step by step guide starting with the basics of bread making, and then progressing from simple breads to more complex and difficult ones.
It starts out with a simple batter bread. It's made with evaporated milk, and doesn't require kneeding. My first experience: the bread didn't rise! I actually ended up cooking it, and it tasted fine, but something wasn't quite right.
The solution was quite easy: I had old yeast. The second time, the bread rose perfectly and tasted great.
Variety #2 was challah, the wonderful egg bread. This recipe was slightly more complicated: it required kneeding and three rising sessions.
The thing is, none of the steps are very difficult, it was more a matter of time.
When I was done, this beautiful golden brown braided bread came out of the oven.
It was gorgeous, and tasted perfectly.
The best part was that I made it with my own hands.
I have illusions of cooking a loaf every weekend and eliminating the need to buy bread altogether, but I doubt it will happen.
I suppose that is why many go to bread machines. At this point though, it's the hand-making that I like.
So now I will move on: I have the basic white bread, wheat bread, sweetbreads, flat breads, country breads, and even coffee cakes to try.
Give it a try yourself. At the very least, your kitchen well smell incredible.