I have a confession to make.
I am not good at baking bread from scratch.
I have been told I am a great cook and I can bake items like cakes and cookies, but for some reason I have trouble making breads that have yeast as one of their ingredients.
When I attempt to make bread, I know I have to be patient.
The recipe may say to wait 30 minutes to let the dough rise to double its size but if it does not do it when the timer goes off, I don’t give it more time.
Instead I go on to the next step by either punching it down or putting it in a pan and placing it in an oven.
I also think I sometimes knead it too long so it loses its buoyancy.
Regardless, the bread comes out as hard as a brick and each bite is very heavy.
Life can be like making bread.
We come up with an idea or goal and we want to bake/execute it.
It may be to find a new job, buy a house, or get in shape.
We investigate and then buy all the necessary “ingredients” and get excited about eating/experiencing that “slice of life”.
Some of these “ingredients” may be very easy to obtain and others may require going to a special store like Crate & Barrel or Williams-Sonoma to purchase a special pan and/or Whole Foods to buy an exotic spice or a certain type of flour.
The quest to find these “ingredients” should be as enjoyable as eating the final product. 
If not, we may become unmotivated and throw the whole thing in the garbage.
When determining what bread to make, ask yourself, what are the preparing and baking times necessary and is this the right time to do it?
If you are making food for a dinner party or large gathering, making bread may become more of a chore and not the fulfilling experience you had hoped for.
You have to recognize your limitations from time, financial, and motivational standpoints and make sure you are truly committed, OR buy rolls this time and make bread on a quiet Sunday afternoon.
Will you eat your bread plain or put butter, jam, or something else on it?
Get creative when deciding this and it could be so much more rewarding.
As an example, if you always relied on friends and online ads to get a job, attend a networking event or a business Meetup.
When house hunting, don’t just use Realtor.com or a realtor, but instead cruise neighborhoods first and then go online and see the inside of particular homes you are interested in.
Once you have baked bread a few times successfully, you will gain confidence to the point that you add or switch ingredients like nuts and cheese.
Experimenting can be fun and ideas you never thought of emerge.
For me, I decided not to make non-yeast breads for now but having been using yeast in pretzel rolls and am delighted with the results.
Enjoy the recipe below!
