Bread.

You know what totally creeps me out? The bread aisle! First, bread is expensive. Second, I'm convinced store bread never goes bad. Lately we've been living by the rule "if it doesn't go bad, then it's not good for you." So....store bought bread is out of the question! (We don't 100% live by this rule...baby steps!)

So, in order to pinch some pennies and still eat delicious carbs....I started making my own bread. From scratch. By hand (maybe with a little help of my handy mixer!) It's easy, it's delicious....and really, there is nothing better than the smell of fresh baked bread!

The first bread I made was pita bread. Four ingredients and less than an hour to make. It doesn't get much simpler than this! The pita bread lasts about 2 days, longer if you freeze it.

1 Tbsp yeast

1 1/4 cup warm water

1 tsp salt

3 - 3 1/2 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in water for 5 minutes in a bowl of electric mixer. Add salt and 1 1/2 cups of flour. Using the dough hook, beat. Add additional flour. When all flour is incorporated kneed for 5 minutes.

Turn dough onto a floured surface. Divide into even portions (the recipe makes about 10 good sized pitas.) Form dough into balls, then flatten with rolling pin into 1/4 inch discs. Make them as thin as possible, if not the middle will be way too doughy!

Let rest on floured surface for 40 minutes. 

Preheat over to 425. Put discs, floured side up, on baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

Next up is a delicious loaf of white bread. At the store I don't buy white bread...but for my first time baking bread I wanted to keep it simple. This bread is a long process but so worth it.

1/4 cup skim milk

5 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

5 tsp melted butter

1 package yeast

3 - 3 1/2 cups flour

Nonstick cooking spray

Mix the yeast according to package directions in bowl of electric mixer. Add the milk, sugar, salt, and butter to the yeast mixture, mix until well combined. Then add 2 cups of flour, using the hook attachment, beat. When flour is incorporated add remaining flour until incorporated. Beat with hook for about 5 minutes. It shouldn't stick to the sides of the bowl! 

Flour your surface and turn ball onto the counter. Shape into a ball. Spray bowl with nonstick cooking spray and put dough back in it. Cover with a cloth and set in a warm place for one hour.

After an hour punch down the dough and turn onto your floured surface. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin and then roll the dough, like a jellyroll. It should be the same length as your bread pan. Put the dough in a greased bread pan and cover with a cloth. Set in a warm place for another hour.

Preheat oven to 400. Bake bread for 30 minutes. When it done, take it out of the pan immediately. slice, smother in butter and jam....Enjoy.