One of my grandmothers came from Russia.  The family owned a bakery in the Ukraine in the late 1880’s.  As the story goes, Cossacks constantly came in and stole bread.  One by one, my grandmother and her sisters came to America.  I’m lucky that my grandmother passed down an appreciation of good baking and breads.  Breads are so varied and rich.  Have you ever pined for a crusty loaf of brown pumpernickel or a light Swedish rye?  How about some old-fashioned oatmeal bread, a slice of sweet raisin or a loaf of warm, hearty potato bread?

In the past few years, bread baking has come to be an important part of my life.  I find something very satisfying and magical about being able to create the staff of life.  There are so many luscious types of bread, even though I usually just stick with a nice classic white that makes wonderful sandwiches and scrumptious cinnamon toast.  However, with time so short, I must admit I only bake bread using my bread machine.  I have two main rules.  First, I always put in my ingredients in the order listed in the recipe or, if different, the order recommended by the bread machine manufacturer.  Next, I make my measurements as precise as possible.  That’s what works for me.  One last treat you will get from your bread machine:  your home will smell delicious!

The library has many bread machine recipe books. Look for them under the subject heading, Automatic Bread Machines.  Check out some of the titles found below.