Yes, it’s been a long time. Too long. Just been very busy of late.

And one of the things I’ve been busy with of late is bread making. The bread we like to buy from the store (Nature’s Own) is $2/loaf on sale at our local Kroger. As much as I love the bread and the varieties it has, making my own bread is cheaper. I just need to make a minimum of 3 loaves a week to cover our family.

But I’m struggling a bit. My wheat bread is okay, but I suspect it’s not the texture it’s supposed to be when baked, and my Rosemary Olive Oil bread has the taste but definitely not the texture. I’ve just tried two new breads today and am having the same issue: they just aren’t rising all that much on the second rise.

This is a step forward, really, because my Rosemary bread wouldn’t rise correctly on the first rise.

So I’ve done some research into the specific things I think I may be having trouble with and I now have a tips card to use. Hopefully my next round of bread making will be far more successful and I can post some pictures. Maybe I can even get the Rosemary bread to finally work.

Or maybe one day I just need to get a bread maker.