With the new year, I've made some new resolutions. One of them is to regularly make my own bread, instead of buying it from the store. Fresh, bakery bread is now around $8 a loaf and since I don't live close to the bakery, I have to buy it whenever I'm in town, which may not be the day that they make it. It's good, but always a little stale. Most of the commercial breads in the big box stores are terrible, IMHO, and full of preservatives.
I've always liked making bread, but doing it on a constant basis is another story. I've got it down now and I'm really enjoying the process and rhythm of it all. I use a sourdough starter that I've had for over 8 years and I do everything over 2 days, so there's lots of sour taste in the bread. Sometimes I make white bread, or I change it up and make whole wheat, multi-grain, or seeded. I make 2 loaves and put one in the freezer. When we get into the second loaf, I take out the starter from the fridge to prepare for the next batch.
I'm enjoying the whole thing and the DH loves it. My biggest problem is trying not to eat it all when it first comes out of the oven. I figure that it's an exercise in discipline.
~ C