Breadmaker

I got myself a "new" breadmaker at the second-hand store. I was suddenly overcome by a craving for homemade bread that I won't have to babysit- you know, knead, let rise, be there to punch down, be there to shape, be there to let rise again for the exactly right amount of time, be there to take out of the oven at the exactly right time... Sure, that kind of bread is better than those weird cubical loaves you get from a bread machine; it's prettier, for one. But convenience has its definite advantages. So I hit the store, and struck pay dirt. Or paid for dirt, or whatever. Actually, it was very clean, the machine I got. Which is why I picked it. And paid for it.

So I'm trying it out now, the machine. I actually don't have the manual for it with the "correct" recipes. I tried to find it online, but so far no luck. We did have a bread maker before, so I still vaguely remember how to do it, and I did find some recipes on the web. (And yes, of course I've requested a bunch of breakmaker books from the library- was there any question about that?)

Now, as the bread machine is squeaking and rattling its way through its first cycle, I sit here contemplating.

Might talk more on the subject of "Lost Instructions": this time, I don't operate on hope, like with the knitting, but just wing it and see what comes out. Not always having to do things "correctly", just sort of approximately- it's a skill I could stand to learn more of. I think I'm making progress.

Then there's also the subject of "Getting Rid of Things": as I said, I did have a breadmaker before, and cookbooks to go with it, but I gave them away. Now I'm re-acquiring them. So was it a waste to have gotten rid of them? Should I have hung on to that machine, and the books, and saved myself twenty bucks and the time it took to shop for the machine? No, I don't think so. I'm glad I got rid of the other one, and saved all that storage space, and time it would have taken to move the thing from one storage spot to another. My life was a bit lighter in the meantime. And besides, I would not now have had a topic to waffle on about to you. So there's value, right there.

If you come to my house sometime in the next while, you just might be able to get a bowl of slowcookered stew with fresh breadmachined bread to go with it. Sound good? Yes, I thought so, too.

Postscript: here's the finished product. Told ya it'd be funny-looking. But the smell- aaah... Give it a try: just stick your nose right up to it and inhale... Bless you! Not my fault you haven't dusted your screen, is it?