Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts. ~James Beard

My daughters gave me a bread making machine for my recent birthday. I finally gathered all the ingredients together and made my first fresh loaf this evening.

What an amazing gadget! All I had to do was measure (precisely!) each (room temperature) ingredient and pour it into the bread basket in a certain order (water, butter, flour, sugar, dry milk, salt, yeast), plug in the machine, and watch it do its magic. This was a simple 2 pound white bread recipe. The machine mixes and kneads the dough, lets it rest, then kneads some more, then lets it rise, and then punches the dough and it rises some more and then it bakes the bread. All this took about four hours and so worth the wait. I love the heavenly aroma of freshly baking bread.

My first fresh baked loaf. Neil and I had to laugh at how enormous the loaf was, but we’re not complaining. The big question was Will it taste as heavenly as it smells?

We slathered on some butter while it was still warm. I’m thrilled to tell you it was totally delicious. This does not bode well for people who are trying to lose weight. I’m looking forward to making more of this bread and trying the other recipes. You’ve heard of Cookie Monster? I could easily be Bread Monster.