My kitchen smells of bread! How many of you make your own bread?

A lovely home made bread - There is nothing nicer than the smell and taste of home made bread.
@oldchem1 (8132)
May 10, 2010 8:08am CST
I have just taken my home made loaf out of the oven and the whole kitchen smells of delicious home made bread!! It left me wondering , in today's society, how many people still make their own bread.
4 people like this
20 responses
• United States
11 May 10
I make home made bread all the time. I make loafs, hamburg buns, rolls, cinnamon rolls and an orange blossom roll. They are all yummy and I hardly ever buy bread anymore.
1 person likes this
• United States
11 May 10
We use to get them in our grocery store ages ago but I haven't seen them in a long time!!! I roll the dough out just like for cinnamon rolls and butter it then I spread some orange marmalade on it to cover it, then roll it up just like cinnamon rolls cut and raise and bake. Then I glaze them with powdersugar and orange juice. They come out so light and fluffy!....OHHHH.....unfortunately I am the only one that likes them and I don't need a pan of them. When I worked I would make them and take them in and share with a couple of my coworkers but her and I have both been fired now!!!! So I will have to call her and meet her someday and make a pan so we can share!!!!
1 person likes this
@oldchem1 (8132)
11 May 10
Yummy!! I shall try those, many thanks for that!!
1 person likes this
@oldchem1 (8132)
11 May 10
Orange Blossom Roll sounds really lovely, what is it?
1 person likes this
@nova1945 (1612)
• United States
10 May 10
I used to bake bread and was pretty good at it too. But then I started only doing it for holidays and get-togethers because I kept eating the finished product. Nothing smells better than a house with fresh baked bread, and nothing tasts better than fresh, warm bread with butter right out of the oven. The one downside: you will end up weighing 500 pounds! I envy you if you don't have to worry about the calories or carbs.
1 person likes this
@oldchem1 (8132)
10 May 10
I have to be very careful and limit how much I have - but my son usually polishes it off before it can do me much harm!!
@nova1945 (1612)
• United States
11 May 10
LOL, Richnai. You must be a male. Women can't afford to get too big but men don't worry about it. Must be nice. Ha ha
@laglen (19759)
• United States
10 May 10
I bake about half the bread we eat. Simply because home made bread makes everybody around here eat way too much bread! I love home made and the smell in the house.... oh my
• Philippines
10 May 10
Wow! I would love to make my own bread. But I find it very difficult to find the right yeast and the right timing for pounding the dough. We tried once, but the outer part of the bread was so tough. You can almost break a tooth biting in it... I know how to bake, but making cakes are more simple than making bread. By the way, what flour did you use for your bread? All purpose? First class or third class? Cake flour? There is so much flour to choose from. (^^,)
• United States
11 May 10
I use All Purpose and have no idea what you mean by first or third class flour. Cake flour is for making cakes and that is all I have ever used it for. We do have bread flour hear, I have seen it and bought it once cause they were out of the all purpose. We only have yeast in powder form, or at least that is all I have found lately. I know it use to come in cakes and they had to be soften in warm water. I buy my yeast in 1# bags and use 1 Tablespoon for 1 package. What do you mean by 'right timing for pounding the dough'?....Maybe some of your problem with the bread coming out hard is the recipe that you are using. I have a lot of recipes for home made bread but I have 1 that is my absolute favorite. I place my yeast and flour in a 4 quart mixing bowl and add my yeast then heat all my liquid up to 118-120degrees on a candy thermomenter then pour that into the flour mixture and beat it with my mixer then by hand I stir in enough flour to make a soft ball that isn't sticky then I dump the dough on the counter and knead it. I knead my bread (I assume this is what you met by right time to pound) till it is no longer sticky. Then I place it in a very large bowl and let it rise. I make cinnamon rolls and hamburg buns out of it also loafs of bread and dinner rolls. I hope this helped you.
1 person likes this
• United States
11 May 10
I don't buy cake flour I use boxes of cake mix, Betty Crocker is my favorite brand and what I use the most. I think the cake flour is ground finer and has extra sifting to it and I think it contains baking powder, not sure like I said I buy boxed cake mixes. I have a few cakes I make on my own but I just use the all purpose flour for them. I wondered if the class might be on the grind of the wheat for the flour. I know the bread flour that I used was heavier and noticed that my bread was more firm when I used it. I just get all purpose because I use it for making pie crust, biscuits and pancakes and waffles, I also noticed that my bread is much fluffier with the all purpose. The old cookbooks call for mixing the yeast with warm water but in our new cookbooks they tell us to mix the yeast into the flour. When working with yeast you never want your liquid temperture to be more then 120degrees, not less then 118degrees. To hot will kill the yeast and to cold the yeast will not activate. I have a 12quart mixing bowl that I put my dough into and let it rise to the top of the bowl. Takes about 2 hours. Then I dump it onto the floured counter top and work it into what ever I want to make. It takes the dough about 2 hours to rise. Maybe the timeing will help you to know when to punch itand work it. Then after you have shapped it it takes maybe an hour to rise again before baking. I can send you my bread recipe if that would help you any. Do not be sorry for inquiring I am glad you are interested and would be very happy to share with you any experience that I can to help you. You said my cakes are beautiful, did you look at the ones on my profile? I love cake decorating, have been doing it for over 30 years.
1 person likes this
• Philippines
11 May 10
Hi Christmas! Here we have first and third class flour. I usually used them for pancakes and cakes. They are quite okay because they don't make the batter rise much. I am an amateur on baking. I learned it from my mom. So I don't use a definite recipe. I think the first and third class, are denominations on how refine the flour is. At my local bakery, they said even third class flour was okay for making bread. I don't like the smell of cake flour, like it already has a lot of baking soda or powder. I don't know. But yes, cakes made from cake flour are more moist. Can I ask? You mean you put the yeast and flour together. And after add the heated liquid on the flour and yeast mixture.. I read that you have to dissolve the yeast first in water before adding it to the flour? So you can add it immediately with the flour?...I meant by the right time to pound, after the dough was let to rest. So you don't have to pound it, punch the dough after it has risen? Sorry for so much inquiries. But I am very interested. And I am very happy and excited with your response. I hope you could share more of your experience. Seems like you cook beautiful cakes too. Would love to hear more from you. (^^,)
10 May 10
I occasionally buy the hovis i occasionally buy the hovis bread mixure bags from my supermarket. But with work comitments i dont do it as often as id like to. Ive often thought about buying a bread machine but dunno if it would be used for a month then left to gather dust in the corner.But i agree theres nothing like the smell of freshly made bread in a house
1 person likes this
11 Jul 10
i am a professional baker that works for a hotel i will leave unnamed for there sake, but when we first opened this hotel we made bread ever day until we got audited and they came up with the conclusion that we can buy good quality bread from a manufacture, and that will save money on labor. i have been there for almost 2 years now and i think the quality of my bread making has gone down so much i think that my chefs that trained me would be ashamed.
@oldchem1 (8132)
12 Jul 10
What a shame that money stopped such a wonderful tradition!!
• United States
12 May 10
I don't make the bread we eat our sandwiches on but I do make banana bread. In fact, I had some bananas that were starting to turn brown today and I made some banana bread. I made 2 loaves and they are so yummy. My house smelled good from baking them too. My husband came in from work and said it smelled good in our house...he said it smelled like I had been baking. lol I told him I made some banana bread and that made him happy because he loves it.
@oldchem1 (8132)
12 May 10
I love bnan bread too, a great way of using up over ripe bananas
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
10 May 10
Oh man...warm fresh baked bread with butter... forget the chocolate.. I'll take that! I have a bread machine and would love to bake it more often, but I am the only one that eats it and as much as I love it..I'd big as the side of a barn if I made it more often! My husband won't eat anything I bake/cook so it is just me. And isn't that aroma just the best!
@oldchem1 (8132)
17 Jun 10
Yes beats chocolate hands down!!
@cream97 (29087)
• United States
12 May 10
Hi, oldchem1. I normally will heat frozen bread up from the tin plate in the oven. I have never made my own bread before. But, I would like to learn how to. I know that it is very easy. I just will have to take the time to make it. My granddaddy mother used to make her own biscuits, and they were so delicious! She added honey to it. And boy was the biscuits ever so yummy!
@oldchem1 (8132)
17 Jun 10
Why don't you try with a pack of bread mix that you just add water to, it may give you the baking bug!!
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
21 Jun 10
I used to, up until about a year ago. For awhile we wouldn't eat any bread that wasn't homemade.. but then I just got tired of making it everyday. After we moved into a smaller place, with a much smaller kitchen, the idea of baking seemed to daunting, so I haven't done it since.
@o0jopak0o (6394)
• Philippines
17 Jun 10
well we used to make banana breads but not anymore. Well i miss homebaked breads. But in this day and age it is more convenient and cheap to buy than to make bread.
@oldchem1 (8132)
17 Jun 10
Not as tasty though!!
@allknowing (130064)
• India
17 Jun 10
deep friend cashes nuts - The aroma while deep frying cashew nuts is irresistable
Freshly baked bread does smell good. In Indian kitchens baking bread is more a speciality than a routine feature but we do have several other goodies that smell as good and fill not just the kitchen but the surrounding area too. I make my own ghee at home and when it is just getting ready that smell is wonderful and so is if anything is deep fried.Nowadays Pizza base is baked at home which smells as good. When cashew nuts are deep fried that smell again is irresistable!
@oldchem1 (8132)
17 Jun 10
ah yes the smell of roasted or fried cashew nuts is very good
• United States
13 May 10
Hi oldchem1! I love to make homemade bread and there is nothing better then the smell and also getting the first slice when it's hot, that is simply heaven. Your bread looks delicious. Snow
• United States
10 May 10
My fiancé makes homemade bread for us quite often. We both love being in the kitchen. I love making banana bread, zucchini bread, breads of that sort. Our general rule is he cooks, I bake. But, he does make really very good homemade bread.
@oldchem1 (8132)
17 Jun 10
zucchini (we call it courgette!!) bread sounds interesting!!
• United States
10 May 10
I do sometimes. I love the smell of baking bread, and it tastes so yummy, too!
@hvedra (1619)
10 May 10
I half do it because I use a bread machine - because there are only two of us I only need to bake one loaf at a time and it is more economical to us a bread machine than heat up the oven. I also don't have anywhere to proove a loaf so the bread machine is very convenient. I do love the smell of bread baking, it is very comforting but it does make me hungry.
@LadyDD (515)
• Romania
11 May 10
I use to make my own bread but not on a daily basis. I like to do that especially on holidays and in some weekends. Making bread at home using good ingredients and no additives is a healthy habit. I remember the marvelous days in my childhood when my grandma baked home made bread and loaves for her nephews. That bread had a taste I have never felt again. I think it's because the flour was obtained of full grains grown in the own field in the country.
@mspitot (3824)
• Philippines
11 May 10
Hmmmm....it's a good smell. i feel good when my kitchen smells like that. i bake breads and cakes.
@sallyj (1225)
• United States
13 May 10
I occasionally make bread, especially when i have older bananas or zucchini. I have a bread maker but my husband does not like his bread with hole in the bottom. Oh well men.
@ericpapasit (1274)
• Philippines
10 May 10
ohhmmm! smell good, but I just eat it.... yum yum