Homemade bread...nom nom nom!

Today, while making what seemed like 100s of envelopes, I also baked some bread! I love baking bread from scratch.  I don't even have a bread machine anymore, and knead my dough by hand.  While I miss the convenience of the bread machine (I kind of, um, uh...ruined it back in October or November), I really love getting my fingers and hands into the dough.  I often get hand and finger cramps, and have found that regularly kneading dough helps prevent the cramping and aches, plus it's a great workout for your biceps and forearms!

I love the smell of fresh bread baking, don't you?  YUM!  And, I credit the book pictured with my loaf for transforming my bread baking!  The bread I baked today is a basic white bread, but every recipe I've tried from this book has been great!  

When my bread was cool enough to cut into, I nibbled on the crusty end, and then slathered homemade blueberry jam on two slices!  So yummy!  The jam is from this Martha Stewart recipe...since I wasn't sure how it would turn out, I did a half batch.  I wish I'd done the whole recipe!  So yummy! 

If the boy isn't careful, I may eat up the entire loaf before he gets to try it! Heeheehee....