Then I Made Bread
Back at the beginning of the year, I couldn’t help noticing that food prices were skyrocketing.
The first thing I noticed was baked goods: Bear in mind I was on the prairies; Canada’s breadbasket, and the price of a loaf was slowly climbing. Bit by bit, we were eliminating baked treats, fancy breads and anything other than floured basics from our grocery list. We simply couldn’t afford it.
When I grudgingly came back east, prices were a little easier to take. The bakery where I have bought bread since I was a child still offers a good-sized loaf of whole wheat for $1.40, and you can’t go wrong with that. But again, “treats” seemed to be decreasing in quality and increasing in price. Contrary Mary has a weak spot for raisin bread, and she observed that the loaves that I was buying from the bakery were distinctly low on raisins. I splurged on a name-brand loaf that set me back close to four dollars. It was good, but the price was outrageous.
Being an avid cook but a reluctant baker (the exact-ness of baking has always scared me off), I started to think about a better way. I’m not a complete idiot, I don’t think: Surely I could find an easy recipe and bake a good, tasty loaf of raisin bread. My last attempt at baking bread some twenty-five years ago resulted in some lovely little doorstops, but nothing was stopping me from applying years of wisdom and experience to the deed and trying it again.
So I found this. I followed it to the letter, taking great pleasure from the kneading and punching and the babysitting of the dough while the yeast worked its magic. The results were pretty darned good for a first effort. The Contrarian loved it, and I filed the recipe away as a “must-make” for the family.
Next stop: Pizza Dough.
