Having a "Real Bread" craving?

For some reason, lately I have been just craving bread. The "real" thing, not gluten-free, bread made from whole wheat flour, honey and all of the other ingredients that make up that perfect loaf of bread. Is your mouth watering? Oh my, mine is!

This past weekend, my husband and I had the opportunity to get away for the afternoon without kids. Rare treat for us, there is always something that needs to be done and it generally involves our kids. While we were shopping, I spent some time looking at a display of bread machines. I have wanted one for a long time, my last one died several years ago and I have just not replaced it. After cutting out gluten from our diets, I really did not see a need to have one. Honestly, I could imagine gluten-free bread coming out very well in one.

My husband asked me why I was looking at them, he didn't think that gluten-free bread could be made in one either. What changed my thinking? A cookbook! One of my favorite stand by cookbook authors is Bette Hagman, commonly known as "The Gluten-Free Gourmet". I only have one of her cookbooks, but have checked out several from the library. While I generally tweak and change recipes to better suit what I am looking for or to better fit my families tastes, I have learned a lot from Ms. Hagman's books!

The book that I have on my bookshelf now is "The Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Fast and Healthy". In that book are a number of bread recipes that are best made in a bread machine. I have tried them in my conventional oven, following her instructions for hand mixing. They turned out pretty good, but I had a feeling that they would come out much better if they were made the way she had intended them.

After a bit of discussion, and realizing that this would save me time in my kitchen and prevent my kids from having to eat sandwiches on rice cakes and corn tortillas (yes, that has been known to happen more times than I care to admit), we decided to buy the machine. I was not as "ready" as my husband was, but bless his heart, he wanted to buy it to save me time. What a guy!

The model that I bought is a West Bend and it makes a loaf of bread that is similar in shape to what you buy in the store, a rectangle shaped loaf. There are many models on the market that have a dedicated "Gluten-Free" setting, the model that I have does not, but works very well! I have made four different kinds of bread in this machine and they have all turned out wonderfully. If I wasn't sold before, I am now. My family is thrilled!

The texture of the bread has been perfect and the flavors have been so close to wheat breads that I am totally not feeling deprived. The first loaf that I made was a potato bread. Oh my goodness, my husband and I ate almost half of that first loaf in one afternoon. Keep in mind that my husband is not gluten intolerant, he does eat gluten-free foods because that is what I cook but he doesn't have to eat gluten-free breads. He loved this bread!

I also made a sourdough bread that came out amazingly well. It does not have the texture of what I consider to be traditional sourdough, but the flavor was good. I have been playing with a sourdough starter that I read about in my Bette Hagman cookbook. I have not perfected it yet, but it is getting better.

The third loaf that I made in my new bread machine was a cinnamon raisin bread. This recipe made me nervous, mainly because I SO wanted cinnamon raisin French toast the next morning for breakfast. When I used to make bread in my previous bread machines I would often make a raisin bread and make French toast with it the next morning. It was "that" bread that I wanted to have for breakfast. My gluten-free version came out wonderfully and we all enjoyed a hearty breakfast of cinnamon raisin French toast! Craving satisfied!

On my fourth attempt, I tried Ms. Hagman's recipe for "Mock Graham Bread". It came out beautifully. Of the four, it is not my favorite, but still a good bread. My youngest son loved it! Score another one for this mom. If my kids like it, I know it is a hit!

Having this machine to help me in my kitchen has been a huge time saver. Yes, it can take three or more hours to bake a loaf of bread, but the end result and the fact that I do not have to touch it after I start that machine make the investment totally worth it! I am not selling one particular machine, there are many out there and most of them work fine, I am sure. The time it has saved me in the kitchen has been worth more than the amount of money it cost to buy this bread machine.

One other noteworthy bit of information is how the bread has stood up to time. I expected the bread to be wonderful the day it was baked, but as with many gluten-free or even gluten-filled breads the next day it seems to loose something. The breads that lasted more than a day carried over wonderfully well. Held together, stayed relatively moist and my kids enjoyed the whole loaf. Even my gluten-eating husband and oldest son enjoyed the bread. That is saying something.

Time is precious and none of us has time to just throw away. There is always so much that is demanding of our time. It is very easy to just go and buy a loaf of bread and be done with it. However, our money is also hard to come by these days and finding ways to cut costs and save time are huge bonuses we cannot afford to over look. This bread machine will pay for itself in the cost of a few loaves of bread. Better yet, we don't have to go without good bread just because of cost or not getting to the store for one reason or another.

I thought the days of having a fresh loaf of bread with dinner were over. I had almost given up on having a to die for piece of gluten-free bread without spending an arm and a leg. No more, now I can make wonderful breads for my family. For this Gluten-Free Mom, that is priceless!