Homemade Bread! Yum!

So I decided to break out my good old breadmaker and make some bread to save some money...now this breadmaker is old...from my grandma's day...none of this one loaf at a time deal for me, my breadmaker makes 8 regular loaves at a time or 5 monster loaves at a time! I like the monster loaf size and pray that they fit into some sort of bag!! So here's my breadmaker!


You can tell by the label that it's pretty darn old! I just wish there was a year on it! I would guess it's from the '50's era...anyhow, I thought my efforts were going to flop as I was busy trying to make a sad baby happy and keep a sick girl away from the bread dough!! Yeahhhh, fun stuff! And then I forgot it was rising in the oven....


Sigh...yup, I think it's done rising...and now for the finished product!!!



And the cool thing is...Jamie, who normally hates homemade bread, is asking for more!! I wish I new what I did differently! Here's my 8 loaf recipe that I use:

1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 heaping Tbsp yeast
Add these together and set aside, then in a large bowl or breadmaker like mine add the following.

7 1/2 cups hot water
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
4 cups flour

Then add the yeast to above mixture and then add about 16 more cups of flour(I usually add about 5 cups of whole wheat and the rest with boring white flour)...this is approximate...I never actually measure how much flour I use...I just "keep adding to make the right consistency"...lol
Knead it for a good 10 minutes when all the flour is added, I often add another cup during the kneading process...then let it rise until double. Punch it down and divide into as many loaves as you want and shape them nicely...I usually flatten the dough into a rectangle and then roll it up pinching the ends in...anyhow, then let them rise til double again and bake them at 400 for 1/2 an hour. After you take them out of the oven, take them out of the pans right away or they will get soggy and brush the tops with butter if you like the crust to stay somewhat soft...otherwise it will be quite crusty...then enjoy!!