Breadmaking

Tidy home, Tidy Mind? I found some lovely wicker baskets on special offer today, so now the Monkey's toys look much neater and she has a basket for her books.

For a while I've had the urge to bake my own bread, and this week my first loaf was created! I ordered the Tassajara Bread Book after seeing it on Soulemama's blog, however I haven't used the recipe yet because the measurements are all in American cups which have totally baffled me (so, American cups aren't the same as UK cups?). My first loaf was simply made from the recipe on the back of the Hovis wholemeal bread flour packet. I added a sprinkling of powdered milk and used molasses as the sweetener (from the Tassajara method). The loaf tasted great, here's Monkey having a nibble:

DH also liked it, and asked why we buy our bread from the shop?! It sounds silly but I didn't expect it to taste like Real Bread! But it definitely did. I made another loaf yesterday, it doesn't take much time at all, as long as I have a bit of baby-free time to do the kneading. I'm not sure how long it keeps for though? I found the loaves a bit cake-y tasting and heavy, not sure if they needed more kneading or a slight alteration to the recipe, but I look forward to trying the full Tassajara method when I have more time available next week.