<p>There is nothing better than the smell of fresh bread in the kitchen. I did have a learning curve when I began, but the end results were well worth a few poorly-risen loaves in the beginning. </p>
<p>I’d encourage anyone to try to learn how to bake bread. The 5 min recipe that was mentioned by another poster is a good one to try. And there are other very simple ones - like beer bread (this recipe uses the yeast in the beer as the leavening agent and requires no kneading).</p>
<p>My grandmother taught me. I do it by hand and just use the old Joy of Cooking recipe for white bread, use whatever flour combo I feel like. She’d put a little sugar in with the yeast, as it dissolves. A jump start.
Have also done wedding cakes, big pans, fondant and all. Fun. But croissants- that’s impressive!</p>
<p>Holy moly bookreader ! That is one heck of a mixer. I don’t have a standing mixer but I am thinking I might need to break down and get one.
I agree there is a lot of trial and error in the beginning of learning how to make bread. The rolls I made yesterday are perfect for a beginner since there is no warm liquid involved . To me , the biggest challenge is dealing with the various temps when it comes to activating the yeast…too hot will kill it, not warm enough will make the dough take a very long time to rise</p>
<p>I made a lot of yeast products when I was in law school. I also made my own yogurt and sprouts and we cooked a lot of vegetarian food and did gymnastics and rode bicycles. It was therapy and helped keep us sane in rather stressful times around very wired people.</p>
<p>Have not made much yeast products since, especially since H doesn’t do well with gluten, nor lactose. Ah well, at least he likes most other food.</p>