The 9 inch always seems big to me.  I prefer the 8.5 inch, just right imo.

ONE more question….
i got a copy of the bread bible here, haven’t read it yet, but plan to go to the store and get some ingredients. When it says “Instand Yeast” does that mean “Active Dry Yeast” or “Rapid Rise Yeast”.  I am assuming rapid rise, but I see nothing that says “instant”

It means Rapid Rise yeast., that’s what I use anyway!

Matthew calls it again. I think the smaller pan produces a superior loaf.

Rose explains the whole yeast thing near the back of TBB. Ingredients section I think.

My husband makes our “daily bread” all by hand, no mixer, no bread machine. I have heard that for some types of bread dough a mixer is better. Of course, there are only two of us, and he doesn’t have any trouble with his wrists or hands. (Back and knees, yes, but fortunately he still enjoys kneading bread!)

which ‘daily bread’ does he make??

OK so here are the results…..

This bread was THE BEST BREAD I HAVE EVER TASTED.  It was so soft and flavorful. OMG. It is definately a keeper, i can’t wait to try more!!  I made 2 loaves, 1 in a 8inch pan, 1 in a 9 inch. The picture here is the 9 inch, made for a much thinner loaf, the 8 inch one came out PERFECT (dont ask me why i didn’t take a picture of that loaf I was in a hurry!), looked JUST like regular sandwich bread. 
One thing to note,- I hate the time frame of breads. I let the fermentation process go (as the book said in the tip section) 1 hr room temp and then overnight in the fridge. I just hate waiting for the rising!!  I might not have let it rise the full time that it said to, as I needed to leave the house and it still came out perfect. RAVE reviews!!

So glad you were pleased with your bread.  Which recipe did you use and which method?  Looks like you’ll be baking bread on a regular basis now, eh?

I did the white sandwich bread and I did it with my KA mixer!

The only thing is, I dont think this is going to be my ‘daily’ bread, mainly because it seems more expensive than buying a loaf (w/ honey, dry milk, butter etc). I think i need to find a cheaper recipe for my boyfriends daily lunches (as he doesn’t need a glamorous bread).  This one, WILL be served for company however.

I’ll have to stand over Jim sometime when he makes bread. He does most of it “by eye” rather than measuring exactly. I’ll get my kitchen scale out and measure his “scoops” and “glugs.”

He starts with yeast and water (those he measures). He adds some 7-grain cereal and lets the mixture sit for a bit. Then he adds in some salt, oil, molasses, all-purpose unbleached flour and whole wheat flour. It’s a great bread!

Sometimes he omits the 7-grain cereal and uses oats instead. Sometimes he makes a part-whole wheat cinnamon raisin swirl loaf. Fabulous for toast!

Howdy!

..............Fast, easy, and inexpensive, but good. That is the only type of bread that I could see myself making regularlyat home. So, I experiment from time to time. Here are a couple of tips that may help you bring some of the flavor you want, with the budget in mind.
..............Feeling creative?

1. Use a recipe you like as a template/guide.

...........You can trim down a recipe that you like into it’s essential elements. just keep in mind the chemistry of baking. You will have to rebalance liquid and dry, leavening, and have an idea of what flavor you want most in it.
......... (keep in mind that you may have to learn by doing whether the dough you make can fully cook into a loaf , since it seems that sandwich bread is the direction you’re looking. You might make a bar-type bread, or a biscuit-type bread. A bar-type could be used easily as slices if it’s not too thick; just use two pieces. A biscuit/roll- type you would make sure to cut the dough thick enough to let it reach the height you desire, based on how you expect it to rise; cut dough to a 3/4 inch-1 1/4"thickness then split in half after it’s cool.)

2. Easy improvisation
............I once came across a super simple biscuit recipe that used self-rising flour.  Since I had leftover flour, I soon just started mixing up other doughs to see what I could come up with.
.............I also play around with using flour and baking powder, then see what I want to add to them to make an easy snack.

For example I was making things up one day, and I used (Approximately- didn’t write anything down)

5 cups           wheat flour
2 cups         dry oatmeal
two teaspoons   baking powder
1/2 stick         butter
1 1/2 cups       raisins
32oz             vanilla yogurt
1 bag           semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons   cinnamon
1 teaspoon     ground ginger
5 crushed candy canes…...........Feeling really inventive-wanted some cookies- no snacks in the house that day!!

..............I mixed my dry ingredients , then added my moist.  put 12 small mounds of dough spaced out on a cookie sheet. bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or so

..  ........It came out well. it wasn’t crispy cookies, but it turned out to be a good bar-type cookie witha an acidic twang from the yogurt. I let someone else try some, and they want me to make it again, but to add some apples, to balance the flavors out. I agreed.

...........Sorry that my example was not more of a bread.  However, the principle is most important. I use flour, 1 tsp baking powder for each 2-3 cups of flour, and some liquid and just go for it!! simple ingredient improvisation makes it inexpensive to try things out, and when you find something that works just the way you want—————-EUREKA!!