The Virtues of Homemade Bread

I have been learning to make my own bread over the past month and have had varying degrees of success. I can now make loaf bread, rolls, hamburger/sandwich buns, pizza dough and sweet breads. I've made biscuits a few times and am still trying to perfect those. While I finally got them to rise, they still aren't the guilty pleasure Bojangles-type biscuits I want.

Anyway, through this experimentation with making bread I've learned quite a few things about the difference in homemade bread and store bought bread.

• Homemade bread tastes so much better! It's like the difference in a $5 pizza and a gourmet pizza. It's the real thing not some cheap, badly made knock-off.

• It's more filling. I tend to eat a lot. I love food, especially breads and pastas. But, with homemade bread, I fill up much faster. Less food, but more filling food that doesn't leave me hungry again in an hour; that's way better for my waist line.

• We waste less with homemade bread. Store bought bread lasts a long time in my pantry and still keeps it's texture. Many times it will sit in our pantry until it molds and then we throw it away. My bread however, will dry out after a while because it doesn't contain all those nasty preservatives. This makes us use the bread when we have it and if it does dry out, I make bread crumbs out of it and store those for later use.
  

• It doesn't take that much time to make. Most people think that making bread is a long and laborious endeavor. I don't think it is. Maybe, like with other things, I've just gotten used to the process. But, really the time is in the dough rising and you don't do anything for that - just let it sit in a warm place. I have started making the dry mix for my bread ahead of time and storing it in the pantry. So when it's time to make bread, I just add a few wet ingredients, toss it in my stand mixer which even does the kneading for me, let it rise and then bake. My actual time invested can't be more than 15 minutes.

• It's better for you. It doesn't have all those preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, bleached flour (if you choose to buy unbleached), or any other chemical, bad for you ingredients. So many people avoid carbs like the plague because they have been touted as fat causing foods. But I'd argue that it's not the bread or pasta itself that is causing obesity or obesity related diseases, but the ingredients used to make the bread. Granted, that doesn't mean you should eat all bread all the time. But really, if you are eating REAL food instead of food-like products it's going to make a difference in your overall health.

For all of these reasons, I am hooked on homemade bread. I still feel tempted to buy bread at the store, especially from the deli, simply because it's there it looks and smells good, but then I remember I don't need to buy any. I can make my own way better bread and to top it all off, making my own bread is cheaper too!

Read about my adventures in bread making and get the recipe for homemade bread.