Bread and butter? Yes please!

I love love homemade bread! I gasp at the price of bread at the store. The healthier the bread the more you pay or so it seems. Again, in one of my "little house on the prairie" moments I decided to make my own. In the first attempt, I killed the yeast. I made the water too hot and I got a shrunken loaf that never rose and was not even edible!! Yuck! I learned that the temperature of the water is super important. I tried using my kids thermometer to check the temp. I used one of the probe covers on it... no need to be grossed out! Anyways...it didn't work. It just kept flashing HIGH at me. So I went out and bought a meat thermometer. It was $2.99 at my local grocery store and worth every penny! The recipe I used was just for basic white bread but I learned a few things along the way.
-Always warm your bowl before you dissolve your yeast in it. I just run hot water all over mine and then dry it really well.
-When you have your dough ready to rise, place the bowl in a ANOTHER bowl of hot water. Just from the tap hot. Nothing boiled or scalding. Im not sure about everyone else but I can't seem to find a nice warm place to set the bread to rise. Its still cold here. This seems to have worked the best.

-Punch down the dough. There is no need to knead it. Just work out some of that stress and punch away!
-I also didn't roll it out or form the dough. I just greased my bread pans and stuffed it in there so it fit.

Last but not least... Do the happy dance when it comes out FANTASTIC! It was so good

our whole family sat down and had some, straight from the oven with home-made butter.

AHH butter... love it. Hate what it does to my hips. Again, the butter you find at the store is made mostly with vegetable oil and yellow food coloring and if you want the good stuff you pay more. So I found this great tutorial at A Lemon Squeezy Home . Check it out for a ton of great ideas!

What you need:

-baby food jar- I suggest a container smaller in size. Then you don't have to shake as long.

-heavy whipping cream

-salt

-a round ball. I used a plastic lemon from my daughters play kitchen. It worked just fine.

Take your container and add the salt. I put just enough to cover the bottom lightly. Then add your heaving whipping cream-only fill about half way. There needs to be room when you shake. Then put your marble, wooden ball or my case a plastic lemon in. Close it up really tight and SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE SHAKE IT! I know you've seen those horrible shake weight commercials. That is exactly what your doing. Shake for about 5 mins or until the butter sticks to the ball. Then enjoy!

This is what is supposed to look like. Yes, I know there are a few bread crumbs in mine. Hey, we love butter. It gets messy.

Yah for the longest post from me EVER!

I also wanted to mention that the adorable wreath I made came from Tater Tots and Jello. I just remembered where I found it. I love her blog. I used her idea and then tweaked it for my own.

If you try this, send me a message and let me know if it works for you!