Now I'm The Bread Making Expert

I've been asked by my church's women's auxiliary leaders (Relief Society for all you Mormons out there) to teach a little class on bread-making tonight. The ladies announcing the class have been passing me off as an expert bread-maker. I had no idea I was a bread-making expert.

Lots of people out here make bread, and they do it a particular way that's really involved and takes a lot of time. My breadmaking method was picked up from watching my bread machine do its job. I make mine in my Kitchen Aid mixer and let the mixer do most of the work. I throw all the ingredients in and let it go to town. I don't do it "right" because I am too lazy to do all that kneading. In fact I think the only reason I was asked was because one time I brought dinner to a lady who is now in the Relief Society presidency, and the humble dinner menu included a loaf of that bread. Considering that was a couple of years ago, it must have made a distinct impression on her.

All the older ladies make either white bread, wheat bread, or cinnamon rolls with their dough, so to them, my herbed bread is some sort of gourmet loaf, when really it's the same old bread with some herbs in it. The gourmet image, I admit, is enhanced by the round, free-form shape and stalk-of-wheat marking I give my loaves. I grind the wheat myself in one of my collection of ultra-cheap wheat grinders (I have three... yes I'm a nut... and I'm terribly proud of the fact that the purchase prices of all three total about $100).

So it's the herbed loaf (whose recipe appears below) that I'll be teaching tonight. I haven't made it in a while. I'm making my demo loaf this morning, hoping desperately that it's like riding a bicycle and I'll remember how to do it. So far, so good.