Bread?

That's what my mother-in-law said when she saw that I made my own bread.  Bread?  Are you branching out? No.  I like making bread, its just been a while.  On my husband's birthday he wanted pulled pork sandwiches.  I thought wouldn't it be nice if we ate them on homemade rolls?  Plus a loaf of bread for those that don't like pulled pork sandwiches (me).

First I mix the yeast with water and sugar.

Then I add the flour....

....to make it sticky and pull away from the sides.

I tried my dough hook, but I really don't like it.  In my opinion,
it doesn't do anything for the dough.  Just spins it around and around!

Turn it out on a floured surface

knead it for a while....

and a while more.

You may be asking yourself, 'why is there a picture of a stool here?'
Good question.... The answer is, because I need height to knead the dough,
otherwise my shoulders hurt and I don't get enough leverage on the dough.
Funny thing is, now don't think this is morbid, but when I worked in the ER and
I would have to perform CPR I'd have to yell for a stool to get enough leverage
on the chest to compress deep enough!  Height challenged!!

When you get a smooth ball - after about 15 minutes of kneading

place it in a lightly oiled bowl turning over to cover the ball with oil on both sides.

Wrap with plastic wrap

Cover with a towel and put some place away from drafts.

Rise until doubled! (or so)

Punch down

to release the air

turn out onto a floured surface again and knead some more.

depending on the size of your dough you will want to divide the dough in half.

I lightly rolled out the dough and cut out the circles for the buns.

With the remaining dough I created a small round loaf and a french loaf with the other half
of the dough.  Placed them on a cookie sheet that was sprayed with Pam then lightly
coated with cornmeal.  Covered lightly with plastic wrap, then covered with a towel - placed
away from any drafts.

After about 30-60 minutes, I removed the wrap, sliced the loaves... 

then applied an egg wash to the loaves and the buns.  The next step is my
secret, I sprinkle sea salt on them.  Oh my is that good!!

Bake for the appropriate time.  Heaven in the oven!!  

I've also used the same recipe but instead of all bread flour I used half the amount in whole wheat flour, then exchanged the sugar for molasses - two tablespoons.  Mmmmm  good stuff.  With butter melting on the fresh made bread!  The smells....  Lordy lordy!!  You all don't know what you're missing!!

You can also use a bread machine to do all the dirty work for you, then turn it out onto a floured surface, shape how you want, then let rise again, then bake!