Did you ever use a bread maker? A few years back almost everyone wanted one. The ones who had one raved about them. Things like, "Oh wow! It is so fast and easy, you don't have to do anything but put in the ingredients and wait. No mess, either" I never wanted one, I love to bake. I like to make things from scratch, I don't think it is too much work to make bread the old fashioned way. I like mixing it up, kneading it, watching it rise, punching it down, and then baking it. Besides that, those machines are HUGE, who would want to take up all that counter space for that ugly thing?

Well, Jessi is one of those people who had one. I say 'had' because for the last year, it has been sitting on a shelf in my house in storage for her while she is working in the Dominican Republic. I sorted out some closets recently and decided to take a look through her bread recipe books. Mmmm...there were some pretty good looking breads in there. White bread, sourdough, whole wheat, herb breads, breads with fruits in them, breads with meats in them, breads I had never heard of. OK, so why not just give one a try? So I lugged that HUGE machine into the kitchen. There were not instructions for it, so I went to the Internet and got the instruction manual. Yeah right, fast? So far no. I loaded the ingredients into the machine, closed the lid and ONE HOUR later...the house had the most delicious aroma of baking bread as I was slicing it up. It looked beautiful! It tasted so good! I found out that it can be loaded up, and a timer set so that it will come on and have fresh baked bread when you wake up! I just may have to rearrange those counter tops to make room for my new bread machine!
Home made raspberry jam, optional.