YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Guess what everyone! I did it. I finally made bread, and it actually looks like bread. After doing some tweaking to the recipe and trying to copy a friend who makes perfect bread here in VA, I have finally done it. The bread I made today is TWICE the size as usual. Here is the proof! I am finally a bread maker! Here is what I did. I did the yeast differently than the recipe calls for. I let it activate with sugar before I added the flour. Then I did as it said. I did not knead it as long as I usually do, I allowed it to be more sticky. I did turn the oven on to 300 degrees first and let it get nice and toasty warm in there. I turned off the oven and put the bread in there in the bowl with wax paper and a cloth towel on top. I let it get double the size. Then I took it out, flattened out the dough, did not half it as the recipe calls for, and folded it in half, then folded the ends in and flipped it upside down with the ends on the bottom of the pan. I pre-heated the oven to 375 with the bread sitting on top without the towel on top. It only took about 15 min for the dough to reach the top of the pan. i stuck it in the oven and did not open the door for the whole 35 min and let it cook, and it raised in the oven. YEA! One thing I am curious about is if it is cooked all the way through since I didn't half the dough, so I will find out later tonight when I slice it up. But go me! Finally, and only after about 7 loaves did it work. (Oh, the slice of bread, that is from last weeks batch just to compare the size difference.)