Fresh Bread

The most wonderful smell in all the world is fresh baked bread. Sure, cookies smell good too, and so does a roasting turkey. But, fresh bread carries with it a sense of home, belonging, comfort, and family that no other smell can do.

This morning I woke up and decided to bake some bread. I have a bread machine, so it's no big deal to throw in a loaf. My daughters love to bake. Claire helped me this morning. Her favorite thing is to stick her hand in the canister of flour and then run her fingers through it. But, she's also getting pretty good at adding ingredients to the bowl. So, although it takes at least twice as long to bake with her, I usually invite her.

Today I baked a new bread. I have a wonderful bread cookbook,so I'm always trying new recipes. Today we made cereal bread. It is made by adding 2 cups of your favorite cereal in with the flour. I used a great grains granola and pecans cereal. It made the yummiest bread! It is sweet yet tasted of whole-grain nutty goodness.

Ah.... Bread! I love it!

Here's the recipe for 2lb loaf:

Granola Bread from the Bread Machine Cookbook II

Water 1 & 1/3 C
Oil 3 T
Honey 3T
Salt 3/4 t
*grated orange peel 1 t
granola cereal 2 C
bread flour 2.5 C
wheat flour 1 C
yeast 2 t
*raisins 1/2 C
* sunflower seeds 1/2 C

I didn't add any of the optional things, but I'm sure they could be good.