I bought a bread making machine. I love good bread, and I thought for a long time that these machines were a gimmick. But then I tried some, and it was SO good. Bread so yummy that it seems a crime to spread butter or jam on it. I wanted to be able to have bread that good whenever I wanted.

So as I type this, my first batch is in the machine. And I’m fretting…

Its the yeast that has me worried. I used to homebrew beer so I got fairly intimate with yeast issues. But this is so…automated. And the poor yeast is just dry little pellets. I felt the urge to make a nice starter to get it awakened and ready to do its thing!!

In beer making, there are many strains of yeast and which one you pick has a very real impact on the resulting beer. I’m not seeing any evidence of that in bread making, and I wonder if it just doesn’t matter, or if it just hasn’t been explored in ‘home bread making.’