We want to say that reading the testimonials brought us to tears many times. We feel like everyone is a WINNER because now they can make homemade bread! The testimonials reminded us why we are so compelled to share the things that we have learned over the years. The best part is that making homemade bread from start to finish in just one hour is only the beginning. We are so excited to make the rest of the DVD's in our series and share them with you.
So lets announce our winners! They are 1st Place Kris H., 2nd Place Diane C., and 3rd Place Meryll P.! Read their stories below.
Thank you for your class. I haven't had to buy any store bread for the past year. I love it!!!!!
I am living proof that "good intentions" don't make good bread. (You can quote me on that!)
My good intentions of making bread for my family became a joke about my making enough bricks to build a wall. I remember as a child, arriving home from school just as my mom pulled two loaves of bread out of the oven. She would slice the bread while it was so hot that the butter and honey melted on top. Instead of my children arriving home from school with great anticipation about my newest attempt at making bread, I am sure they were wondering what new thing they could come up to do with the loaf--a hockey puck, a door stop, a stepping stool.
So began the bread cycle--find a new recipe, get up earlier than the sun, mix, wait, mix again, wait again for it to rise, mix ONE more time, wait ONE more time, bake, finish by noon, taste, cry, give up, listen to my children joke about my newest attempt, get angry, throw the loaves at the children (just kidding), throw the loaves away in the garbage, and vow never to try again...receive a loaf of fresh bread from my visiting teacher and start the cycle all over again.
Then, one day out of the blue while I was munching on a piece of store-bought white bread, I got a flier on my door telling me that our Stake was going to host a bread making class given by Pantry Secrets. I grabbed my second daughter who was about to be married, and we attended the class together. My "good intentions" had changed. I had long given up on the idea that I could and would ever turn out a decent loaf of bread, but I was determined that my daughters would not blame their future, failed attempts at making bread on me. Let them see for themselves how difficult and time consuming the whole process of making homemade bread is!
Imagine my surprise when the demonstration did not go at all like I had expected. The presenters made it look so easy, and when they combined, mixed, and kneaded out loaves of bread in less than ten minutes, I didn't know what to think. Then, when they went on to demonstrate the making of pizza, rolls, breadsticks, and even desserts with the same recipe, I turned skeptical. "Impossible!", I thought, but then the smell of the baking goods came from the kitchen, and I began to wonder, "Could it be?" My mouth began to water, my nose began to tingle, and my memories of racing home from school to taste the bread all came flooding back to me.
One year, and a lot of bread later, I am a believer. With each bucket of wheat that I grind into flour, I smile. Every time I pass the bread on the shelves at the store, I feel a sense of accomplishment and walk on by. On the mornings that I get up and mix bread while I exercise, let it rise while I shower, bake it while I do my hair, and eat it for breakfast, I get a rush of good feelings. But my favorite is when each time the timer turns off after only 25 minutes, my daughters race to get the bread out of the oven so they can have the first piece--right out of the oven, hot with melting butter and honey on top.
Thanks for making me a believer. You have changed my life.
Kris H.When I was a little girl, my mother baked five loaves of bread every Tuesday. I remember riding in the car to Primary with the big plastic bowl full of dough under my feet. Mom would come out to punch it down between singing time and class time. On the way home, I’d snitch a little piece of the dough because it was so yummy! When we got home, I watched her knead the dough, separate it, make rectangles, pound it with the sides of her hands so there’d be no bubbles, then letting it rise again before baking. Oh, the agony of waiting forever for the oven to beep, and the deliciousness of hot bread and melting butter!
When I got married, I tried making bread many times and failed miserably, even with Mom at my side. Then bread machines became affordable and I almost cried because now we could have hot bread and melting butter. Except my bread still didn’t turn out like Mom’s! We even tried a few different bread machines, not to mention recipes and yeasts and flours, to no avail. My bread-self-confidence disappeared.
Now I’m forty-something and, confident in my bread-making failures, I ignored my mom telling me I had to try this new Pantry Secrets bread recipe. I was guilt-free because I was done with trying to make bread. Done. Period. Finito. I don’t engage in lost causes. One Saturday afternoon, she arrived at my house with a bunch of ingredients and Dad in tow. She made me, my husband, and all six children watch a DVD that had us drooling by five minutes into it. Then she taught my oldest daughter, age 16, how to make the bread. Trust me, I hadn’t recently inflicted my children with the promise of yummy homemade bread, much less taught any of them how to be baker failure like I was. When her bread came out of the oven, I was in awe, it was so beautiful! We waited a few impatient minutes for it to cool sufficiently to cut, and then it happened—hot bread and melting butter! In my house!
My daughter's new chore is to make 2 loaves of bread a day; we never have day-old bread (much less moldy bread) anymore. My son, age 13, makes homemade pizza every Saturday and for every teenage party for far less cost and much better flavor than commercial pizzas. Whenever we’re too tired to make dinner, my daughter makes the dough and my two sons, ages 10 and 7, make scones. Another daughter, age 15, makes cinnamon rolls to share with neighbors. We haven’t even tried the other recipes yet; maybe when the youngest daughter gets past kindergarten, she can test those out for us (yes, it really is that easy).
Here’s the niftiest part: For a big office party I hosted last year, Rose made the dough, adding some fresh rosemary, then baked the loaves as rounds on cookie sheets instead of using a loaf pan. That’s all she did differently—rosemary and rounds. We served it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and it was the absolute hit of the party. No one believed Rose had made the bread; they thought it had come from a restaurant. People still ask me for the recipe and to bring that bread to office parties. Me. Me! Whodathunk??
Pantry Secrets: Where all your homemade bread dreams come true!
Diane C.Dear Jeannie and Mindy,
I wanted to send you my testimonial as your class is probably the most worthwhile class I have ever attended. Never before have I attended a craft or cooking class that I have found so useful and used the information learned there again, and again, and again.
Some background information. I grew up in a somewhat dysfunctional home where there was no baking done, no cookies, and certainly no bread or rolls.
Somehow I knew that there is nothing in this world as wonderful and comforting as a loaf of fresh bread. When I got married, I thought this would be a great addition to the skills I would bring into my new home, but homemade bread seemed way too overwhelming to me. As a newlywed I did attend a Rhodes Dough class and felt like this would be the way that I would prepare homemade bread for my family. Some of my bread making was successful. Alas, Rhodes dough is not very consistent depending on the weather, and I often forgot to defrost it beforehand.
At the invitation of a friend, I attended a Pantry Secrets Food Storage and Bread class. I had no idea that homemade bread could be so easy to make and taste so good too. This was actually something I could do. It was quick and delicious. I am a huge fan. I love the fact that one batch can make a variety of bread items. I can make your bread recipe much faster than the time it takes to defrost frozen dough. We have tried many of the breads including the sweet breads which are my 11 year olds specialty. We do not buy delivery pizza anymore, it is faster to make our own, and just as yummy. The most exciting part of all this is that it is simple enough for my daughters to make also, and I am passing on a skill to a whole new generation, the art of bread making. You have truly made a difference in our lives. We are bread making women!
Thank you,
Meryll P.
