American sandwich bread

I decided to try my hand at bread. I’ve made it before. This time I made it without the bread machine. I’ve had bad luck with bread machine breads because the crusts always come out rock hard (and once I almost cut my finger off trying to cut through the crust of some bread I made). In any case, I decided to follow the recipe from my trusty Cook’s Illustrated cookbook, The New Best Recipe, for American sandwich bread. (Okay, really we were out of bread and I didn’t feel like going to the store and so this was a good excuse to try making some.)

Anyhow, it was delicious. Even though it was plain, it was delicious. I think mostly because it was fresh and warm and homemade.

Here is the dough ready to go in the oven. I used a lovely loaf dish that my friend Elizabeth gave me for my wedding.

And here is a perfect slice of bread smeared with some raspberry jam. Mmm . . .