Breadbaking 101

Before this last week it has been a while since I baked bread.  I work outside the home full days and ride the bus to and fro which means by the time I get home it's 6 pm and  I'm not thinking about creative stuff, including cooking/baking.  The exception to this rule is unless we have guests in our B&B in which case I work hard at creating baking treats for our guests.  (http://www.dayspringbb.com).

I finally checked the dates on my yeast because I have had minimal success with my last 3 loaves of bread. What's up with that??

It's fine to want to use what you have but I've decided it's wasteful to use tired and outdated yeast that doesn't rise your bread.  Nobody wants to eat a hockey puck or door stop.  It wasn't quite that bad but you get the idea.

So, here goes the confession ... I'm throwing out my old yeast...wasting it....there, I said it.  It's dead and not useful so instead of producing bread nobody wants to eat, I made a decision to invest in some new yeast and to use it!

I'll make a fresh loaf tomorrow.  Currently baking homemade pizza used with the old yeast and perhaps that's why it didn't rise.  Oh well.  It will taste good nevertheless.

But the lesson here is:  Breadmaking 101 - make sure you use fresh, live yeast, otherwise you will get discouraged and quit making bread.  And that will not do!

On to the next loaf,
Mavis