I would like to assemble a dry ingredient mixture of flours, salt, sugar and dry milk with a separate yeast packet to give for holiday gifts. I know this is a bit goofy but I think I can make it work. The idea is that the recipient proofs the yeast in a small amount of water, and then adds more water, oil and the mix. 

I am wondering if any Fresh Loafers have experience with this.

A day or three ago I read a message from someone who asked, very reasonably, why make bread from scratch when it's possible to turn out bread from prepared mixes at  lower cost and which rise every time. They're good questions and they're ones we may all have asked at some previous time.

 My reasons are that I can now make bread with a better taste and texture doing it from scratch. My loaves stay fresh (this is Tuesday evening and I've just eaten some of the bread I made last Thursday morning) and have a great taste. But, more than that, I'm persuaded that modern "factory Bread" is not something I want to eat or to dose my family with. (I include pre-packed mixes in that exclusion.)

I encourage anyone interested in this topic to go to http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/the-shocking-truth-about-bread-413156.html and http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=471 for two articles which, although based on the views and research of one highly successful baker, are sufficiently different that it's worth reading and printing out both of them.

I'm sorry to have misplaced the original post but hope the poster may come across this reply.

Sojourner