More Bread

I'm so excited! I ordered a tripod so I could get better pictures of food - now that I have a Blog and all and it came yesterday. It was having a hard time getting clear pictures on close ups because the camera would shake (technically it would be my hands shaking - whatever.)

I've been loving Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day, but hadn't had any dough going since we returned from vacation. Yesterday I whipped up a batch of 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread. This is the first bread from the book that I had to make in a loaf pan.

This is what it looked like before the rising. I weighed the dough to be sure it was 1 1/2 pounds. I let it rise for about an hour and forty-five minutes. I sprinkled oatmeal over the top, made a slash down the middle. After 1 hour at 350 - Wa Lah!

The hardest part is letting it cool before cutting into it! The kitchen smells wonderful. It didn't rise as much as I had hoped. When I make up the dough it rises great, but doesn't do as well once the loaves are formed. I have a sneaking suspicion that my yeast is on it's last legs (hehe!) I bought one of the mega packages of yeat at Costco (ahem - more than a year ago!) I just have a really hard time throwing it out when there is still so much left - not rational, but just my cheap gene.

Buy the way - it's de-LICH-us mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm