Real, true bread with yeast! This is a brand-new experience for me as I’ve always found the whole yeast/rise/knead thing intimidating. But today I did it and after much re-consulting of directions and only one emergency phone call to my mom, I have something crusty and bready and actually fairly tasty. Especially with butter. Lots and lots of butter. Mmmm.
I may have to start experimenting now!
Huzzah!
One of my favorite things to do is to bake bread in one of my metal mixing bowls. It comes out looking like one of those beautiful bread bowls that you can buy from bakeries. Very good for taking to potlucks.
Congratulations!
I love making my own bread - I get to throw in whatever I want, and I get to eat when it’s nice and warm.
[scribbles note: try metal mixing bowl next time]
Do you have to adjust the oven temp or anything? I just put mine in a large, heavy Dutch oven, so it ended up being a sort of freeform round loaf. I did think about using my heavy (and oooold) pottery mixing bowl, but I wasn’t sure it’d work right and I’d be really bummed if I managed to break it.
I have a number of Pyrex mixing bowls, too, which would work fine. I just wasn’t sure how big this sucker would get as it baked. 
I’m a total bread virgin.
Well, I was, anyway! Now I’m only massively inexperienced.
Yesterday I made flower pot bread for the first time. I think it may become my new go to pot luck / gift baking.
Back when I still made bread regularly, I loved to make dark rye hearth loaves. On a cold winter day, a pot of stew, a crusty rye hearth loaf, a pot of coffee and some cooked pudding for dessert absolutely hit the spot.
Yay for you! I love baking bread. In the cooler months, I bake most of our family’s bread. Not so much in the summer, though.
recipe please
To the OP, check out no-knead bread or artisian bread in 5 minutes a day. Good bread with minimal effort.
I want the recipe too! As my username suggests, I’m a baker IRL, professionally. Of all things I love to bake, bread is my favorite. Any kind of bread.
Imma channel China Guy here: recipe please?
I’m pretty sure I just used the regular recipe, with the same temperature and timing. Although it’s been a while since I did this, so I’m not 100% sure!
If you’re ever interested in whole-wheat baking, by the way, I’d highly recommend the Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book. It’s amazing.
Aw man, I was going to make a bread thread last night but I got tired and distracted.
I made Beer Bread, which came out AWESOME, and it was super easy to make (no rising required). The one downside is that the crunchy buttery crust de-crunched when I left it out overnight. Not sure how I should be storing it - I just wrapped it in foil and left it on the counter.
I’m somewhat like you–recently forced myself to try handmade bread and was surprised at how nice it was.
One recipe I found for when I don’t have as much time: Focaccia Bread on allrecipes.com. It has a high yeast/dough ratio, so it only needs about 20 minutes to rise. Two things I do different: I don’t have much counter space, so I actually can knead this in my largest mixing bowl, so mix, knead and rise all happens in that bowl. Also, instead of the separate dried oregano, thyme and basil, I just use 1 tablespoon of ‘Italian Seasoning,’ which is made of pretty much the same herbs. I’ve used this as garlic bread and as a pizza crust, and it’s really good.
I was quite the amateur baker for a few months–I fell out of it due to lack of time and a shortage of people to share my efforts with. 
Check out The Bread Baker’s Apprentice if you have a moment–that was my Bible, and I was never truly disappointed with the results.
Isn’t bread-making fun? I started doing it when I was at home caring for my children (notice I did NOT say “was not working”).
Originally the goal was to save money. A neighbor and I had figured out that we got top-quality bread at a fraction of the cost of the cheapest store brand. However, we also found that everyone ate a LOT more bread, so the actual savings were minimal.
I don’t personally understand why some people use a bread-making machine. It is so cool to have this wonderful stuff that you constructed literally with your own hands. I always let the children help. We especially liked the part after the first rising when you “punch” down the dough.
Another neat thing is that the actual process of making a few loaves of bread appears to take most of the day because of the rising and proofing time, but has long stretches during which you can do something else (or nothing). So when my husband came home from work wondering what I’d been doing all day, since the house was still a mess, I could point to the freshly baked bread.
When I retire next year I hope to do a lot more bread-making, only this time with my sweet granddaughter, now 20 months old.
It is just a potato bread recipe. Here is the recipe (pdf). And to season the pots I used this method.I think for my next loaf I will just use the recipe on the second link.
Beware the bread. I had to STEP AWAY FROM THE BREAD MACHINE a couple years ago when it started showing up quite noticably on my hips. But yeah, homemade bread: it is the yum.
This is the website I used:
http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/
and I think her recipe comes from the 5 minute bread guy, or at least it adapted from it. I looked at the book but it seemed so complicated. Somehow the description on the website wasn’t so intimidating. Now that I have the idea, though, I’m going to check out the book again!
I’ve been doing some sort of sourdough bread lately. I say sort of because it comes from a sourdough recipe (albeit one that cheats a bit with yeast in the first starter), but it really doesn’t taste like sourdough. It makes a good white or wheat bread, though, with a nice texture. Just moist enough with a really good crust.
And it’s so much fun. Using that recipe is encouraging me to improvise a bit, so I’m branching out. I like that Italian seasoning idea.
You rule – that must be the best thing, to discover something delicious as bread can come out of your kitchen.
It’s like hearing a great song – you always wish you could hear it the same way once again. No tips from me, but there’s so much great stuff describing different different ways of bread-baking, including the above, that I think I have no right to absolve you of your trials.