the bread machine

I am now eating the most delicious slice of a ruined loaf of bread. But the bread machine is the most forgiving of kitchen contraptions.

I brought home an old bread machine from NJ this Christmas, and it is my new favorite toy. I've made several loafs of bread, but they are all sorts of experiments, because I have no manual for the machine, and less experience.

Today was a not-so-good day, and I came home feeling the need for some 'comfort food' -- a warm, yummy-smelling chocolate chip loaf of bread sounded like just the thing. I know from my last endeavor at making cinnamon raisin bread, that the raisins must be added near the end of the kneading cycle so that the pieces don't get all chopped up. So one morning when the smell of cinnamon and baking bread woke us up, I found the bread yummy, but the raisins all chopped up.

So tonight I dumped in the ingredients, started the machine, and sat around reading All Quiet on the Western Front and listened to the kneading and rising bread cycles. But I missed the last kneading cycle, and when I poured the chips in, they rose up with the loaf of bread as it baked, spilled around the sides and down into the oven, but did not get baked in the bread. Anyways, the sweet loaf still tastes amazing, and it is chewy and hot right now, and Angie and I enjoyed it after a little bit of Wallace & Grommett.

So if you ever have a bad, rainy Monday, give me three hours notice and I will do my best to cheer you up. (Angie will provide the W&G.)