34 Comments
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The Nonster's avatar

Homemade bread is 100 % worth the fairly minimal effort. Of course, as with most things, there’s somewhat of a learning curve, but that is worth the effort too.

Rachel Ciordas's avatar

This goes double for gluten free bread! Unless you live in a major city or Italy, Spain, or Argentina the gluten free bread choices are probably far inferior to what you could make at home!

Kerry Faber's avatar

Yes, I’m sure!! I definitely want to try out more gluten-free bread recipes too—on my list! 😊

Johnmark Guzman's avatar

.. your post inspired me to find and print “ best sandwich bread “ recipe .. and it starts tomorrow .. beautiful share ..

Kerry Faber's avatar

Thank you so much, Johnmark! I hope you enjoy making and eating it! 😊

Ellen Kornmehl MD's avatar

Love this head to head format! and will look for Make the Bread, Buy the Butter---I see you bringing back the "butter churn" to sell to the raw milk crowd (I don't have the time!)

Ellen Kornmehl MD's avatar

PS I buy artisanal and it goes directly into the freezer in small batches- 5 minute thaw in the toaster

Kerry Faber's avatar

Thanks Ellen! I’m not even sure I have the patience for butter, but we’ll see!

Lynn Hill's avatar

You cannot beat the taste and smell of homemade bread. Something I am slowly returning to. With experience, you can start to mix and match flours and add a few seeds here and there. Even mistakes taste good. Hard crusts can be blitzed into breadcrumbs and leftover slices into croutons. All of which taste better than shop bought. Unless it's from an artisan baker.

Kerry Faber's avatar

I’m happy to hear you’re starting to get back to baking bread, Lynn. I do find it boosts my mood when I make it (must be the smell!). And that’s such a great point about the things you can do with stale/ less fresh bread- bread crumbs, croutons—I love doing all of that too!

Betty Williams's avatar

Yes to homemade bread! I baked challah every Friday for 20-ish years and there is nothing like that smell!!! We just don’t eat as much bread in my house anymore with the kids gone but I do love baking it every once in awhile.

Kerry Faber's avatar

Yes that smell is everything!! I’ve got just over a year left to bake bread with kids around and then I’d imagine it will decline. Love baking challah too—still searching for the perfect recipe!

jess's avatar

yes, I’m with you!!!!

Kerry Faber's avatar

Yay!! 🎉

Ceri's avatar

So nice to rediscover these life affirming, earthy, super healthy growing and baking skills.

Claire's avatar

I love baking bread! And I’m excited for this series.🍞I haven’t made a milk loaf (yet) but I love the tangzhong technique in my annual Hot Cross Buns for Easter (recipe from Edd Kimber). I bought a 5.5qt Staub Dutch oven with the intent to use it for cooking and baking—but I haven’t used it yet.🫣Any confidence tips?

I made the No-Knead Rye recipe a couple weeks ago; it’s delicious but since I love rye, next time(!) I plan use more rye and/or some whole wheat flour to boost the nutty flavors and dense texture.😍

Kerry Faber's avatar

Thanks, Claire! I’m so happy you like the series and love baking bread like me (and also appreciate the rye bread endorsement!). 😊

I use my Dutch oven for EVERYTHING!! You should totally make a no-knead bread in it since you like baking, but I also use it for everything from braising meats (roasts, short ribs, to making soups/stews, to deep frying (when I don’t want oil splatter all over my stove). I think it’s probably my most used pot or pan actually (or at least tied with my skillet). Let me know when you use it! :)

Robynne, PhD's avatar

I love this idea for a series, Kerry! I try to make all our bread from scratch and I agree the time is the biggest barrier. The more I work out of the home, the more workarounds I need for all the rising and proofing, like overnight rises, etc.

Kerry Faber's avatar

Yay, I'm so happy you approve! :) I've definitely been inspired by your DIY posts...and want to add yogurt to my list of things to try/ compare!

Robynne, PhD's avatar

Aw yay! I love to hear that. I’m so interested to see your conclusions on yogurt and everything else ☺️

Katie Stearns's avatar

I couldn’t agree more, Kerry!! There’s nothing like homemade bread, and you just have to be good about freezing it if you want it to last!

Kerry Faber's avatar

Yay!! And a big yes to freezing!

Katie Stearns's avatar

Also I love making milk bread!! It’s so satisfying!

Kerry Faber's avatar

Totally—both the process and the outcome are super satisfying!

Lala's avatar

You did an excellent job weighing the pros and cons of both.

Kerry Faber's avatar

Thanks so much, Lala! Very happy you enjoyed. :)

Amanda Lawrence's avatar

I’ve still never made milk bread and really want to!! Love all the pics and recipes here. All the cheers for homemade bread. 🤩🫶🏼👏🏼

Kerry Faber's avatar

Aw, thanks Amanda! :) If you enjoy making bread, then you’ll probably really like milk bread. Such a fun process and rewarding outcome!

Mira Dessy's avatar

I'm also a fan of Make the Bread, Buy the Butter. I love that you're doing this kind of experiment and sharing a deeper level of info with us.

Kerry Faber's avatar

Thank you, Mira! I’m really happy you enjoyed it (and like Make the Bread too!).

Leslie Bulut's avatar

Yes!! Homemade bread all the way. What a fantastic overview, Kerry. I especially love your tips for how to extend shelf life of homemade bread and that making bread is not as hard as most people think.

I hope that this encourages people to try making bread at home. :) I’m so glad I’m on my homemade bread journey.

And thank you so much for including my recipe. 🥰

Kerry Faber's avatar

Thanks, Leslie! Coming from another avid break maker, this means a lot. ☺️ My hope is definitely that more people will try making their own loaves—once you understand the basics, it’s so worth it!! Excited to try your recipe very soon!!