Earlier this week we (Sister & I) experimented with bread making.  I like very much not buying our eggs from the store and wondered what else we could not buy.  We tried two different methods and even doing both in the same day only took about an hour of prep time which means bread baking could easily be incorporated into our weekly routine.  Besides it is a fun way to be with Sister and teach her about all kinds of numbers (fractions in measurements, degrees on the oven, timing with the clock).  I gave Brother a set of measuring spoons and a small bowl of water to keep him busy which worked really well…. right up until the moment he poured his “creation” into our pre-measured and already sifted flour.  Oops! :)  Sister & I sent him out to play before continuing. About the two methods - The first came from my favorite crockpot book the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook by Dawn J. Ranck and Phyllis Pellman Good and the second from the Better Homes and Gardens “New” Cook Book.  As you can see from the picture the loaves each recipe produced are quite different.   The crockpot bread rose well but is slightly sunken on the top with a Schlotzky’s kind of consistency.  So not very pretty… but it used honey as it’s sweetener (ie healthier) and did not require any maintenance after the initial preparation.  Prep Time: approx 20 min.  Time to Complete loaf: 3 hrs.  Taste: Great. The other bread was more traditional.  Mix ingredients, Let it rise, Punch it down, Shape into loaves (it made two, BTW), Let it rise again, Bake.  The completed loaves looked more like store bread and the consistency was thicker but it used brown sugar as the sweetener and didn’t seem to rise as much as the other besides requiring more maintenance.  Prep Time: approx 30 min.  Time to Complete loaf:  3 hrs.  Taste:  Pretty Good Bet you can guess which one I will be making in the future. :)  Here’s the recipe.      Healthy Whole Wheat Bread2 Cups warm reconstituted powdered milk2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/4 Cup honey

3/4 tsp salt

1 pkg. yeast

2 1/2 Cups whole wheat flour

1 1/4 Cup  white flour

Mix together milk, oil, honey, salt, yeast and half the flour.  (2 minutes if using an electric mixer - I didn’t) Add remaining flour.  Mix well.  Place dough in well-greased bread or cake pan that will fit into your cooker.  Cover with greased tin foil.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Place in slow cooker.  Cover cooker and bake on High 2 ½ - 3 hrs.  Remove pan and uncover.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Serve warm.  (equally good cold on a sandwich)