I'm going to confess. I used to be one of those people who slightly made fun of others who made their own bread. It just seemed too "1950s housewifeish" too much like a leave-it-to-beaver-mom. 

I used to say in a gruff ogre voice, "What am I going to do, grind my wheat, to make my bread?"

I have always loved homemade bread (who doesn't), but it seemed like too much work.

I was wrong.  

The fact is, homemade bread not only tastes better, has more nutritional value, and costs less, but it is fast and easy to make. For poor married college students, it should be a staple. Why do people talk about cans of Spaghettios and packages or Ramen, when homemade bread is the real poor-man's (or poor-woman's) food? We make a fresh loaf every few days. It is heaven. 

We started making fresh bread by accident. We somehow stumbled on a bread maker. It came from Calvin's parents, and was a wedding gift of sorts. They never used it, and Calvin thought it would be fun. It is fun. There are endless possibilities of delicious breads. After our first loaf, we were hooked. 

Here is the recipe I use. It is pretty much impossible to mess up. I substitute and add ingredients all the time and it still turns out great.

*  1 cup lukewarm water 

( my grandma says water is lukewarm when you run your finger in the faucet and it is hot but not hot enough to burn you. Hot tub temperature. If you're in doubt, just use cooler or cold water and give it some time to bubble before hitting start on the bread machine.)

*  2 teaspoons of  yeast 

(affectionately referred to as yeast beasties in our house. Keep them in the freezer for longer shelf life.)

*  3 Tablespoons sugar (or honey, agave, raw sugar, brown rice syrup, maple sugar, pureed banana,)

*  1 teaspoon salt 

* 3 cups flour (1.5 cups of white flour, 1.5 cups of wheat flour, 2 cups white flour, 1 cup wheat flour, 2 cups wheat flour, one cup white flour, any combination works)

Flax Bread (substitute 1/2 cup ground flax seeds for 1/2 cup flour)

Oat bread (substitute 1/2 -3/4 cup of regular or instant oats for 1/2-3/4 cup flour)

Potato bread (substitute 1/2 cup potato flakes or instant potatoes for 1/2 cup flour. Increase water by at least 1/4 cup.)

Italian bread  Add at least a teaspoon of Italian seasoning to the bread mix)

Rosemary bread Add a bunch of fresh or dried rosemary to the bread mix)

Some tips:

We are in no way expert bread-makers but we thought we would pass on a few tips. 

Some people love using the timer so they have fresh bread when they wake up or come home from work. I find that it is awesome to have fresh bread when you want it, but the longer it sits in the bread machine, usually the denser the loaf. To each their own. 

The bread in the picture looks hard as a rock but it is actually very soft on the inside. Never put your bread machine settings to "dark" crust if you can help it. We have never had good results with this.

You don't have to wash the bread pan every time. This sounds gross, but usually the bread is clean and just slips out of the pan. It saves time and effort to wash another thing. Just check the little knob at the bottom of the bread maker to make sure it is free of crumbs. 

Bread can be frozen and saved for later. 

Bread should be used up in one to two days. Stale bread can be used to make pizza toast, poppers, french toast, or croutons.

Slide a knife over the top of the measuring cup when measuring flour. It helps. 

If you are coveting a bread machine but don't have a lot of cash, look at the thrift store. Last time I was there, I saw an entire row of misfit bread machines waiting to be rescued. I didn't test them out, but my guess is many people don't know the value of making bread and tossed the machines because they were taking too much space in the kitchen.