When making your own bread, you WILL make a mess, you WILL have flour on the floor and the tip of your nose will always itch at the wrong moment.

If you're making bread with your children (and this is a great experience to begin bringing your kids into the kitchen with), relax, enjoy and have fun.

Always start early in the morning and give yourself plenty of time to do it right and to enjoy the experience. If this is your first time or you're not quite sure of yourself, start with a basic yeast recipe.

Here is one I use and build off of frequently:

WHITE BREAD: (Basic Recipe)

2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 packages instant active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp salt

1 cup water
1 cup milk
1/4 cup Canola oil

2 eggs, beaten

1. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cup, leveling off top.
2. Combine flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl; blend.
3. In a saucepan, heat the water, milk and oil together until very warm (120 to 130 degrees F). I use a candy thermometer for this.
4. Add heated mixture to flour mixture and mix slowly.
5. Add eggs to flour/yeast mixture and mix slowly until moistened.
6. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed.
7. Remove beaters. With a wooden spoon, stir in an additional 3 ot 3 1/2 cups of flour to form a sticky dough.
8. Dump dough on a floured board and gradually work in 1/2 to 1 1/2 cups more flour, kneading until dough is smooth and no longer sticky. About 5 minutes.
9. Place dough in a well greased bowl, cover with a dishtowel, plastic wrap or a loose fitting lid.
10. Let rise in a warm place until double in size, about 45 minutes.
11. Punch down dough to remove air bubbles and then divide dough into 2 pieces.
12. Form dough into loaf shapes and place in greased bread pans.
13. Cover, let rise in a warm place again until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
14. Bake at 375 degrees F 35 to 45 minutes. To check for doneness, lightly tap on loaf. If it sounds hollow, it should be done. If loaf becomes too brown, cover with aluminum foil during last 10 minutes of baking.
15. Immeadiately remove from pans and butter top. Cool on wire rack.

Then, slice, butter and enjoy!

Bowls for mixing and rising: Stainless steel bowls that hold about 3 to 4 quarts are perfect especially if using a kitchen mixer. I prefer to use Pyrex glass or stoneware bowls for rising.

Stay away from any type of metal (stainless steel is ok) containers, measuring cups, spoons, and etc -or you'll damage or kill the yeast culture.

Bring refrigerated items to room temperature:
It takes about 20 minutes for these items to reach the right temp.

How to measure flour: first fluff up the flour in its container, and then lightly spoon it into the dry measuring cup. Level off the top with the back of a knife. Measure all liquids in a liquid measuring cup.

How much flour to use: usually a recipe for yeast dough will suggest a range of how much flour is used, ie: 4 to 5 cups. Begin by adding less flour than your recipe suggests or at the beginning of the range to the proofed yeast and water, not the other way around. The reason why is that sometimes more or less flour is needed depending on the flour or the weather. Sometimes the difference can be a couple of cups, not just a tablespoon or two.

Use salt--don't leave it out:is an important ingredient in bread baking. However, direct contact with salt will kill the dissolved yeast. Instead, mix the salt in with the SECOND or THIRD cup of dry ingredients.

Sugar: always use regular table sugar. Do not use sugar free sweeteners, unless the recipe is written to specifically include them. Sugar free sweeteners contain chemicals that can damage or kill the yeast.

Kneading the dough is very important: It is a necessary step in the bread making process. The biggest problem new breadmakers have is they don't knead the dough long enough. It takes a good 8 - 10 minutes to knead dough with lightly floured hands on a lightly floured countertop. I use a kitchen timer to help me keep track of the time, (be sure to set it before you start--sometimes I forget and that makes just another mess to clean up). I have a friend who has timed out a favorite song instead and sings away while kneading! Kneading can also be done with a stand mixer on low speed by dough hook for 5 minutes or pulsing for 45 seconds with a food processor. Bread machines also knead dough as part of their bread making process.

Prepare the kneading surface by lightly flouring it with pinches of flour, instead of handfuls.

Knead by using the heels of your hands to push the dough away from you. Then pick up the edge farthest away and fold it back toward you. Turn the dough a quarter turn.

Repeat this process for 8 to 10 minutes.

The dough should be soft and smooth, but not dry, or a dough that holds together in a nice ball and feels like a "baby's bottom", soft, smooth and rounded!
Other tests: Springs back when lightly pressed with two fingers. Stops sticking to your hands and work surface.

To tell if your dough has fully risen:press in the top of the dough with the tips of 2 fingers lightly about 1/2 inch. If the impression stays, the bread has doubles and is ready to be shaped into loaves.

Covering your dough: when using plastic wrap, be sure to spray the side that will be next to the dough with Pam. This will keep the wrap from sticking when the dough has risen.

Deflating the dough before shaping: (this is one of my favorite parts) give the dough a couple of quick punches with your fist. Don't beat it down! You'll hear a "Pssst" as it deflates. Dump it on a very lightly floured board, gently pull into a rectangular shape. Fold in the short ends of the dough until it is approximately the length of the pan. Then, fold the far, long edge over to the middle. Fold over the other long sides and compress it gently to form a tight cylinder. Place seam-side down in the lightly greased bread pan. Cover.

Do remember to take your rings off before making bread - you can't believe the mess you'll have to clean up otherwise!

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I KNOW I SHOULD WATCH MY CARBS, BUT THAT BREAD IS JUST SOOOO GOOD!