The PERFECT Loaf of Bread

I don't know how I managed even a few months without a stand mixer.  I had no idea how nice it was to turn it on and let it do the work for my hands.  It is like having an extra set of hands in the kitchen and especially to spare my hands the additional discomfort of kneading that heavy homemade bread dough.

A few weeks ago, I finally broke down, and ordered a powerful KitchenAid on ebay for a decent price.  I could hardly wait for the mail to come but it finally arrived.  It was brand new in the original box!

It did not take long to learn how to use it.  I was grateful for that after just having dealt with a new floor loom and all the work it took to set it up and learn how to make it function!

I couldn't wait for pre-Thanksgiving preparations to begin so I could put it to the test on my homemade bread.  One of the things I have learned about making bread is that without a good kneading, yeast breads (and especially whole wheat yeast breads) will not get a proper rise.  That may have been part of my frustrating problem with the bread failures recently.

So with this stand mixer, I just through all ingredients in the bowl and follow the steps on the recipe.  I make sure to add Vital Wheat Gluten for the rise, and Yogurt as a dough enhancer, and I let the KitchenAid do all the work.  I doubted that the dough hook could really knead the bread properly but with a little faith and a lot of peering into the bowl, I discovered it was doing quite a nice job!

With a little adjustment to a higher temperature on my oven dial (which differs from the actual temp inside my oven by about 50 degrees), I baked two loaves of bread right out of the KitchenAid bowl - NO KNEADING!

They were wonderful!  Very soft and airy on the inside and perfect crust on the outside.  I couldn't have asked for better bread.  One other secret I learned fairly recently is to avoid disturbing the bread loaves for the first 2 hours out of the oven.  I used to wait about 15 minutes and then cut into them to see if they were done... they were not...  go figure...  I think they need that 2 hours to "set".

I am now in the "bread business"... at least unofficially.  :)