I’m going to confess. I used to be one of those people who slightly made fun of others who made their own bread. It just seemed too “1950s housewifeish” too much like a leave-it-to-beaver-mom.

I used to say in a gruff ogre voice, “What am I going to do, grind my wheat, to make my bread?”

I have always loved homemade bread (who doesn’t), but it seemed like too much work.

I was wrong.

The fact is, homemade bread not only tastes better, has more nutritional value, and costs less, but it is fast and easy to make. For poor college students, it should be a staple. Why do people talk about cans of Spaghettios and packages of Ramen, when homemade bread is the real poor-man’s (or poor-woman’s) food? We make a fresh loaf every few days. It is heaven. The truth is, it’s very hard to get tired of fresh bread and therefore eliminates the temptation to buy other food, like chips, popsicles, or cookies, (saving even more money.)

We started making fresh bread by accident. We somehow stumbled on a bread maker. It came from my husband’s parents, and was a wedding gift of sorts. They never used it, and my husband thought it would be fun. It is fun. There are endless possibilities of delicious breads. After our first loaf, we were hooked.

Here is the recipe I use. It is pretty much impossible to mess up. I substitute and add ingredients all the time and it still turns out great.

                    Time: 5 mins                       Level of Difficulty: 2

Best Bread Ever (really)

*  1 generous cup lukewarm water

( my grandma says water is lukewarm when you run your finger in the faucet and it is hot but not hot enough to burn you. Hot tub temperature. If you’re in doubt, just use cooler or cold water and give it some time to bubble before hitting start on the bread machine.)

*  2 teaspoons of  yeast

(affectionately referred to as yeast beasties in our house. Keep them in the freezer for longer shelf life.)

*  3 Tablespoons sugar (or honey, agave, raw sugar, brown rice syrup, maple sugar, pureed banana,)

*  1 teaspoon salt 

* 3 cups flour (1.5 cups of white flour, 1.5 cups of wheat flour, 2 cups white flour, 1 cup wheat flour, 2 cups wheat flour, one cup white flour, any combination works) 

(I apologize for the quality of photos, these were taken in our 250 sq. ft dungeon basement apartment).

                                Pour water, sugar, and yeast into bread machine. 

We’re in the big leagues and use bulk yeast instead of those little wimpy (expensive) yeast packets.

Let stand 6-12 minutes until it gets bubbly and frothy. (My husband lives on the wild side and skips this step. He just dumps everything in. However, I find this step usually helps reduce the chances of creating a “brick-loaf.”)

Add the remaining ingredients. Use bread cycle and hit start. (Set bread maker for “light” bread if that setting is available.)

If you find yourself addicted to making bread you may want to invest in a bucket to hold 25 lbs of flour. We bought 25 lbs of flour for about 7 bucks. (This is for white flour only. Wheat flour we keep in the fridge. We also got into grinding our own wheat but that's a whole different topic.)

Oat bread (substitute 1/2 -3/4 cup of regular or instant oats for 1/2-3/4 cup flour)

Potato bread (substitute 1/2 cup potato flakes or instant potatoes for 1/2 cup flour. Increase water by at least 1/4 cup.)

Italian bread  Add at least a teaspoon of Italian seasoning to the bread mix)

Rosemary bread Add a bunch of fresh or dried rosemary to the bread mix)

** If you want a “whole-whole wheat loaf (100% wheat), add a tablespoon of vital wheat gluten (from a health food store), or you will end up getting a brick-loaf.

*** If you have a few bad loafs on your first try, (which shouldn’t happen with this recipe. Don’t give up. It took us a few times to get it right for our machine. Each machine is a little different.