Baking journey

Wow! Time flies. I haven't been to my blog in a year. 2015 has just flown by.

It seems that with the kids in Form 1 and Standard 4, I am just as busy as when they were babes! Instead of feeding and cleaning them, it's ferrying them to and from classes, guiding them in their lessons and just engaging with them in their lives.

Well, apart from the happy routine of a SAHM, we had a wonderful holiday in Austria this year, and in September, I dug out my Breville bread maker (BM) from storage and gave it its purpose in life once again.

For this, I must thank a friend who encouraged me to bake breads. Looking at all her marvelous photos of buns and loaves, I was inspired to try as she assured me that the BM is a great help. And it sure is!

I hate messes. So it follows that I dislike kneading dough with my hands as my hands get dirty, the counter top gets dirty, the floor might get dirty and so on. Here is where the BM is such a wonderful tool as it kneads for you and you have a wonderfully kneaded and rested ball of dough. So wonderfully clean!

The same friend gave me my first bread recipe, and it was a success.

Happiness Bread Recipe
150g fresh milk
1 egg
300 g bread flour
20g milk powder
1g salt
60g sugar

5g yeast
30g butter

After more than 8 years of not even looking at my BM, to use it again felt great.

With this new-found confidence, I went on to experiment with more breads. I am quite bad at baking, but the BM almost always guarantees success. If you would like to make your own breads, and don't have a BM, I highly recommend you getting one.

The egg bread was next in my to do list, which I paired with a lovely Egyptian beef stew. After that it was Milo buns, banana loaf, cinnamon rolls, Hokkaido milk loaf etc. and the baking journey isn't over.