I got a bee in my bonnet to bake bread recently, and after a few failed attempts, this is what I got. I used the milk bread recipe in Joy of Cooking. I first tried to make Parker House rolls with the same recipe, but missed a step and ended up with gigantic rolls that were hard as a rock. The second roll-making attempt was much better, but they were still a little dense for my white bread tastes (I once ate an entire loaf of Wonder Bread by myself in the backseat of my dad's car). My first loaf was a disaster; I heated the butter too much and killed the yeast, which left me with a gummy dense loaf. My mom fed it to her composting worms. They loved it. Finally, I got this beauty. I ate it plain, with butter, with raspberry jam, and made an unforgettable butter and ham sandwich that took me back to my childhood--my grandmother was a big proponent of the butter and ham sandwich on fresh-baked bakery bread. I'm planning to bake another loaf or two for Thanksgiving for the turkey sandwich leftovers.
