Bread Snob meets Anadama!

Unlike most of the other Half-Baked Beauties, I have tried my hand at many loaves of bread in the past. I grew up with a mother who was and is an excellent cook and baker. Mom involved all 4 of her children in the kitchen, and often. I fondly remember making sugar cookies for every holiday, homemade pasta, cinnamon buns and other types of rolls with my mom. I remember EATING the fruits of her labor even more fondly!

So I must admit that I have been spoiled with lots of delicious, homemade bread over the years. I've also had the blessing to travel a lot and try many different restaurants in different parts of the world in my event planning career. This means that my palate is picky, or in layman's terms, I admit: I'm a bread snob.

I like bread hot and moist yet crusty. I'm not much of a Panera Bread fan. I prefer bread fresh out of the oven, and I like the taste of butter-based bread better than oil-based bread. Yet I prefer to dip bread in olive oil versus spread it with butter! Yes, I am a conundrum.

All this is to say that I was disappointed in my anadama bread. I would consider how it turned out to be dry and heavy. But I think I know why.

• First, I didn't go looking for the "perfect" ingredients. By this I mean that I didn't find light molasses or the proper cornmeal in my local grocery store, and I didn't go searching. In baking, I've come to believe that the right ingredients = the right results. Baking is a chemical reaction, so the ingredients matter!
• Second, I used my Kitchen Aid mixer for all the steps and did not knead the bread by hand. Call me lazy or just plain practical, but I usually make all my bread fully in the mixer and thought this one wouldn't be any different. Maybe I'll work up some kneading muscles by the time we get through our baking journey.
  

Needless to say though, we've enjoyed trying anadama bread. It tastes best warm or toasted with butter and honey. Ours is too dry for sandwich bread, but I do think that the flavor and general texture would lend itself well to sandwiches. Hubby can't understand why on earth I'd want to give our second loaf away. Maybe next time!

Stay tuned for a photo - technical difficulties.