In the past year, I’ve had the joy and privilege of learning to make many of our bread products. I do still buy some things, but baking bread is something that is challenging, fun, versatile, and downright delicious!
For many reasons, I’ve found that knowing how to make bread is helpful in ways I never imagined. In this post, I dive into each reason that bread-making has benefited my family, and how I think you could benefit too!
Now, hear me out. This post is not a public shaming. I still have some bread items I buy at the store. And lots of people have spent lots of time doing lots of research on safe amounts of preservatives and yada yada (more on that later). And while ideally, I’d love to never buy store bread again, it just isn’t always feasible. If you’re in a season where learning to make bread is just not going to happen for you, that is okay. I can only tell you that it will definitely be worth it when you do.
1. Convenience
I’ve mentioned before that the town we live in does not have a grocery store. We do have a Dollar General, but you generally pay a premium at those dollar stores. So learning how to make bread was big on convenience for me. If Caleb wanted an extra sandwich during the week and we run out before the next grocery trip, we can still have more bread! If I wake up in the mood for French toast, I can Use as much bread as I need because I can always make more!
But the best place where the convenience of breadmaking shines is in contributing to social gatherings. If I don’t know what to bring to an evening Bible study, bread! Invited to dinner last minute? Bring bread! Last minute gift ideas? Just make a loaf of bread and wrap it in ribbon!
If you find a good quick bread recipe, you can have a delicious loaf in just a couple of hours!
2. Versatility
Have you ever tasted a bread and thought “man, this would be great if they added…”?
I totally have! Sometimes I wish the bread was a tad more buttery, firm, cheesy, salty… etc. And now, I can do that with my own breads! I can add a little more butter to make my sandwich bread a little softer. I can add herbs and cheeses to my artisan loaves to go with any cuisine. I can alter the flavors and ingredients to any recipe to fit the needs and tastes of my family.
Once you learn the purpose of each ingredient, you can adjust them to make it perfect for you! I mean, when was the last time you got a custom loaf from the grocery store?
3. Learning a new skill
If you’ve taken a look around, you’ve probably noticed that I love the learn new things. And you probably do too, if you landed here! And another benefit of learning how to make bread is that there are endless possibilities and endless things to learn. Once you learn sandwich bread, maybe you’ll make bagels. then you can add blueberries, but you may have to adjust the recipe a bit. Then you might make hamburger buns, and then you may learn sourdough! And basic breadmaking is a wonderful gateway to sourdough.
The learning never stops with bread, and each new recipe is just as exciting as the last.
4. Avoiding unwanted ingredients
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “the greatest thing since sliced bread”. And while having the bread already sliced was a nice convenience for homemakers before us, store-bought, pre-sliced bread has become, well… not so great.
Along with being conveniently sliced to take home, your bread has enough preservatives to live in your cabinet or on your counter top for up to two weeks!
In the ultra-preserved world we live in today, that might not seem odd in the slightest. But if you’ve ever had fresh bread in your house, you know that you should probably eat it within 3-4 days before things start to turn green. So it makes you wonder.. how do they get those loaves to stay good for so long?
The answer is lots of preservatives.
Is the bread you buy safe to consume?
Well, the answer is yes, and maybe not. There has been plenty of research done on the safety of individual preservatives in breads, and some of the most common ones are chemicals that are naturally occurring in other foods. Calcium Propionate, for example is a very common preservative for bread, and it is naturally occurring in butter.
However, there are still two questions that leave me a little uneasy. What about the ones that aren’t naturally occurring? And does the level of ‘safety’ change if I eat more bread?
See, many studies on ingredients will test the safety of a particular amount of exposure/consumption. If they deem it safe, then it’s considered to be so. but what if you eat the ‘safe’ amount in an English muffin for breakfast, then in crackers for a snack. Then a sandwich at lunch, toast for an afternoon snack, and garlic bread with dinner? Have you then far exceeded the ‘safe’ amount?
The reality is, we can’t really know. To test the long-term effects of ingredients, life-long studies would have to be done, and I think we all know lab rats don’t live that long. So, since we don’t know, I choose to avoid these ingredients when I can and make bread at home.
Getting Started
Bread is one thing that requires very few items to get started. You likely already have flour, salt, and water, so you’ll just need some yeast. I prefer Flieschmann’s (ActiveDry or Instant). Some recipes specify, but i personally use them interchangeably and never have issues.
You may need to invest in a loaf pan or dutch oven, but any oven-safe covered pan should work fine.
Here is my own sandwich bread recipe, and some of my troubleshooting tips.
Bread is one of the simplest and most affordable skills to learn, and I would argue one of the most valuable. Through making bread, I have learned patience, intentionality, discipline, and problem solving skills. If you want to learn something new and serve your family in a fun and delicious way, I can’t recommend bread enough.
Leave me a comment on this post, and tell me where you are in your bread making journey. I’d love to know how many seasoned bakers and new bakers I have here in this community!
Until Next time,
Bekah
