Hi from Portland, OR
Hi there -
About 15 years ago (!) I got a bread book and made a few loaves of bread. Haven't done so since - even though I loved it - and now have a family and would like to start baking bread again. I also thought the kids would enjoy helping and the smell of it baking - and most of all, the part where they get to eat it. :)
I have either tendinitis and arthritis runs in the family so I doubt I'll dodge that bullet...so I'm going to look into getting a stand mixer. Never thought I needed one before but I want to be able to make whole grain breads that are denser so that could potentially be hard on the body. What a wuss! Plus I like the idea of being able to get other things done in the kitchen while the thing's going instead of having to stand over it like I do with the handheld mixer. I'll probably get the Bosch.
I'd like to find a couple of nice recipes. I wish I could find one that's close to the Good Seed kind made by Dave's Killer Bread. We spend a fortune on that bread!
I've noticed a couple things have changed since I last made bread, which is interesting to see (or maybe I just didn't notice these things before) such as it seems most people are putting oil down instead of flour...and I noticed a lot of people are grinding their own flour! Has that always been the case? I'm wondering if that's cause of that Wheat Belly book? I didn't read it but a friend told me about it. I'm curious about the benefits of grinding one's own wheat. But a simple search will undoubtably bring up lots of results! :)
I'll buy a couple of bread books based on suggestions here, and do searches on here...I also want to learn about the different general methods like whether or not to do a sponge, and what types of general ingredients have best results. But it seems every author has his/her preference - hard to know which to do but I guess that's what experimentation is for.
Well, that was a pretty long introduction!
Thanks!