For all of my adult years I’ve enjoyed baking bread, but have never found a recipe I enjoyed eating. Oh, it tasted fine, but the secret to getting a light, fluffy, normal-sized loaf of bread always eluded me. I couldn’t even get it to rise above the edges of the loaf pan.
I used a bread machine for a few years, and of course, tried kneading and rising and baking it myself. But I’ve always had a short, stubby little loaf of bread. And while it made a nice snack, it never replaced the store bought bread we used for sandwiches.
But I’ve never stopped searching for the perfect recipe, and Lo And Behold: I finally found it! The secret (at least for me) was the addition of Vital Wheat Gluten. I know this won’t fly for all you gluten-free folks out there, but we like our wheat, so it works for me.
Look at this beautiful loaf! It actually rose above the pan! I was so excited, I couldn’t stop bragging to my family about this awesome bread!
I made a couple of healthy revisions to the recipe: Instead of oil, I used 1/2 cup of flax seed, and instead of honey, I used Agave. So it’s a super-healthy loaf of bread that I will be comfortable feeding my family. I can’t wait to use it for sandwiches!
If the perfect loaf of homemade bread has been just out of reach for you, I encourage you to try this one. And then fix yourself a slice slathered with real butter. You’re welcome.
Yes, Thank you! Yum…it looks so good!
We tried making our own bread ONE time and gave up. It came out short and stumpy and we had no idea what we did wrong. Nice to know it's not just us 🙂