Sandwich Bread

Sandwich bread. Go to the store, half of an entire aisle is devoted to the American staple. So many varieties, so little time. Speaking of little time, do not start reading ingredient labels - you could be at the store an entire day, tediously typing in your smart phone, looking up explanations and pronunciations of sandwich bread ingredients. With so many unheard of ingredients, no wonder everyone buys their bread instead of making it. Where could I even find sodium stearoyl lactylate?

Alas, my friends, all you really need to make sandwich bread are things you likely already have in your pantry. Flour. Yeast. Milk. Honey. Salt. Water. Vegetable oil. Yes, that is all you need, even if you are sans bread machine. No sodium stearoyl lactylate required.

Every time I make my bread, it turns out better than the time before. There is something about the time spent kneading the dough that is therapeutic and relaxing. My heart always skips a beat or two, however, until I actually see the dough rising. Nothing is more disappointing than kneading your hands off to then discover inactivated yeast, or, *gasp*, dead yeast. After all of it's time spent rising, the recipe I use (from the CIA Baking at Home), instructs on an odd folding pattern that has often resulted in creating large holes in the center of my loaves.

Except for this time.

As I said, my bread always turns out better than the time before. Which makes me even more excited to bake sandwich bread, and all of it's glorious simpleness, all over again . . .

You can only imagine my excitement when I sliced into my first loaf and . . . perfection!

Close up. Why? Why not!