Growing up, one of our favorite treats was homemade bread, with a heavy helping if homemade strawberry jam to accompany it, of course!  For years before I was married, I dreamt of making homemade bread every week, and bringing that same pleasure to my family as my mom brought to us {though I can't say that we were treated with it weekly}.  Since Dustin and I got married, it has been something I've tried.  And tried.  And tried.  Let's just say it's been a journey!

The first loaf I made turned out perfect and beautiful.  I followed a simple recipe I had found on the internet, nothing special, just white, all-purpose flour mixed with dry active yeast {and a few other things} and voila.  We waited a total of 10 minutes after pulling it out of the oven before we devoured 3/4 of the loaf with peanut butter and jelly.

I was so proud! 

Purdy, ain't she!

The next one was good too, used the same recipe, but it was a bit more dense.  I think I was still getting used to the kneading thing, and didn't like the dough sticking to my hands, so I just kept adding flour until it was quite a solid loaf.

Then I decided to try the whole sourdough starter thing.  Genius, right, never have to buy yeast again!  {ehem}.  Slowly, as the months passed, my bread loaves went from semi.light.but.slightly.dense to door.stops.  Okay, so it wasn't such a slow process.  I was also trying to make a healthier bread, and therefore began adding whole wheat flour.  I soon began to realize that the wheat flour they sell here on Utila is pastry flour, no gluten, therefore no rise {at least that's what I understand from my research}.  

Looks great from the top...

But there was no rise, there was no bounce, the thing could have knocked you out had it hit you in the head!

Now, once I realized that perhaps I just didn't know enough about the sourdough starter to actually succeed with it, I returned to yeast, but I was still on the whole wheat kick and so that lent itself much to the exercise weight style loaf instead of the soft bundle of goodness we were desiring for our sandwiches.  Needlesstosay, I was discouraged.  So, my bread making went on a bit of vacation.  Quite naturally, we went on vacation {Christmas in Nicaragua!} and when we returned, I simply didn't have the desire to start it up again after so many failed loaves.

Until recently, when one of my lifelong friends posted about her heavenly homemade bread that was no frills and no fails, I had to try it!  I can't count the days we took down a loaf of bread at her house growing up, it was probably part of what lead to my deep love of fresh baked carbohydrates :)  So I gave it a go.  The bread actually did rise {I know, this should not be a surprise, but for the last 6 or so loaves of bread I attempted, I tried everything - from putting it in the sun, covering it with a hot towel, etc - to get the bread to rise, but the WW pastry flour simply refused}

See how she grew!

This gives you a bit of a better perspective as to just how deep the bowl is - IT ROSE!!!

I punched her down, kneaded her a bit, and split her in 2 to let her rise again in the bread pans.  Again, she rose beautifully.  Well, not so beautifully in the cosmetology sense, she cracked and separated something awful, but beautifully in the performance sense - she actually broke the plane of the bread pan.  Remember, this is normal, I was simply amazed to see it happen in our kitchen!

Just put into the oven, it seems that with the move, they deflated a bit, no worries, even with that deflation, this is much more of a success than I'd seen in months!

They baked for a good 30 minutes and came out clean and soft and wonderful smelling, if not the ugliest loaves of bread you've ever seen, they sure do taste good!  So, my confidence restored, I will continue to make bread.  However, I would love advice as to how to make pretty loaves.  Is kneading the second time necessary, or is it more of a punch down and separate kind of deal?  How do you assure that the tops of the loaves are clean and smooth?  

I'm really just glad that these are good with pb&j; they are soft and moist and so I can't really complain, I just love to improve!  Thank you so much, Bob, for the recipe!

~KMI

p.s. sorry about the poor quality of the photos, I don't pretend to be much concerned with photography while I'm baking...hands covered in flour and all :)

This morning my hubby and I listened to a sermon podcast from the church he used to attend in California.  The title of the message was "Pure Joy," and it was taken from Philippians 4.  It was wonderful!  How easily we slip into the humdrum of life, or we feel defeated by the world and the unending "to-do's."  But how vital true joy is to the believer's life!  I love verse 4, which says, "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, rejoice!"  As the pastor noted in his sermon, we see the command book-ended with "Rejoice!" But, he pointed out, the key to this verse isn't that we simply rejoice, or even that we rejoice always; the key is that we rejoice in the Lord! For in the Lord alone can we find true and real joy!  

The pastor gave us 4 questions to ask as a way to check ourselves - am I laying hold of truth?

1. Are you in the Word of God?  The world has a barrage of lies to feed you if you are not getting fed by the Word!
2. Are you praying?  As in any good relationship, the only way to stay connected is by communicating.
3. Are you grateful for your salvation?  In Luke 10, Jesus reminds the disciples of this very thing.
4. Are you living with a future hope?  We cannot live as if this world is all there is.

There is an enemy out there that has an insatiable appetite to devour our joy.  But let us rejoice in the Lord, who has already conquered that enemy!

I hope this has encouraged you as it did me!

Blessings,
KMI