Rise up and bake it!

Bread making for so long was something that intimidated me.  So many variables- temperature and relative humidity, kneading, rising, baking... so many ways to mess up any one of the steps.  For too many years i just avoided it and with it being such a basic thing we all consumed i was ashamed i hadn't learned how to make it.  As with so  many things my friend at Meduseld farms was far and beyond my abilities, making bread for her second nature.  She inspired me and encouraged me to pursue the art of bread making with a bread machine.  This awesome piece of modern equipment like the juicer, migrates in and out of kitchens with the seasons.  Any second hand shop will most likely have one for sale, i got mine for 10$.  With this cheat machine i got comfortable with the steps and stages by observation.  My own little teacher inside a metal casing more than willing to show me the way however many times i needed.   I began by letting the machine do all the work and gradually omitted the last step and removed the dough after the first rise, placing it in a pan for the final rise and then in the oven.  I made the final transition just mixing and kneading, then allowing it to rise... 
  Tonight i made some Bear stew and while it was simmering away i made  honey wheat spelt rolls with whipped honey butter.  I am far from a master but i have no trepidation whatsoever now and cannot express to you just how glad i am that i bought that bread machine, you know the one i loaned to another bread-phobic housewife wanting fresh bread...

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