Bread -- Take Two

I made bread once before. It came out like a football and was heavy and dense. Eating it as toast was palpable, but I don't think ACE bakery will be looking for my recipes any time soon.

I bought a new book called the Mixer Bible. It specifically tells you how to use your mixer for recipes, which is great because I'm not knowledgeable enough to know how to adapt a recipe, quite yet.

Last night, at about 8 p.m., I decided to make bread. First rule of thumb: always read the WHOLE recipe before you start. Had I done that, I wouldn't have been up until midnight waiting for my bread to rise.

Overall, it came out pretty well. It was way better than my first attempt, but I wish someone could taste it and tell me how to make it better. It still feels heavy and I don't know if that's from too much flour?

This is how it turned out:

Lessons learned:

• I can't say this enough: read the whole recipe before starting
• The pouring shield for the mixer is my new best friend. This allowed me to put flour into the mixer without stopping it
• I let the yeast foam for 10 minutes, even though it said it would take only five
• The oven with the oven light on is a good spot to let the dough rise (note: the oven is off)
• I enjoyed making it but I have a lot to learn!