Somewhere between my need to avoid unnatural food additives, my desire to cook and eat more like my grandma, and Joe and my attempt to live more frugally, I talked my husband into making our own bread. From scratch. It took months of convincing.

After a lot of discussion with Amy Clark from MomAdvice, I posted a request on my local FreeCycle board for a bread machine. Only a few days passed before an offer came in, and Joe went to pick up the bread machine.

And then it sat in our dining room for seven months, until the car crash forced us to become more serious about being frugal.

Alas, we are now committed to having a better, slower, more frugal lifestyle, and we are making our own bread.

Of course, when I saw we, I really mean that I’m lying on the couch with an ice pack while Joe follows the recipe I gave him, but that’s just as good as doing it myself, right?

Our first couple of attempts at homemade whole wheat bread were miserable failures. We ate them, but they were barely edible. Then we found the whole wheat bread recipe that Phoebe (who did not use a bread machine) had adapted from Crystal (who did use a bread machine). I mentioned Phoebe’s version in Things to Write Home About and printed it for Joe to try.

We made a few changes to reflect the ingredients we had on hand as well as our taste preferences.

We were eager to try our bread, so we smeared real butter on the warm bread and topped it with a dollop of my homemade apple butter. Oh my! It was comfort food at its finest.

Homemade Whole Wheat Bread

• 1 1/4 cups warm water (not hot or cold)
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached white flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons dry nonfat milk
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon vinegar

1. Layer in bread machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. In our machine, we put the yeast in the bottom, topped by the dry ingredients. We add the wet ingredients last, then shut the lid and turn it on using the Light setting.

That’s it.

I’m not kidding.

When the machine beeps, we open the lid and eat the most delicious and light wheat bread we’ve ever had.

Happily submitted to Share my Recipe Sunday, Mouthwatering Mondays, Homemaking Monday, Make Something Monday, Recipe Swap, and Make Do Monday