no need to really get a book - it's really hard to screw up bread. First thing you should do, if you're really interested, is make some w/out the instant yeast. Just set some water and flour out (I use stone ground whole wheat), and you'll have something bubbling in a few days. You can throw in some fresh apple peel or something - not a supermarket apple, something from a green market. The idea is to get some yeast growing in there. It settles on everything, so you'll have some in the flour, some on the apple, and some hanging around in the air. Once you see some bubbles, which can take 4-5 days, you have a yeast. Whether it's good or not, you won't know until you use it. I have 3 of them right now - one tastes really good but one works much faster. Then you can make bread with those - it's "sourdough" bread, meaning it wasn't made with a commercial yeast. Remember - bread yeast is like anything else - it has been developed to have certain characteristics. So you get something that is reliable and relatively quick, but lacks flavor. The wild, or feral, yeasts provide much more complex flavors. In part that is because they work in harmony with bacteria, which are also floating around. Those bacteria, which are similar to those in yogurt, also eat the sugars in the flour and help to develop those really nice complex flavors in the bread. Just keep a little of the flour/water mix aside, add more of both, and keep the starter dough going. As far as time - this is why your commercial yeast was developed. With one of my yeasts, if I knead the dough in the morning, it won't rise until the next day. So basically, I put it in the fridge for rising. Those long, slow, rises do help the flavoring. Then, when you're done messing around with that, you can start adding different things. Fats, whether they be in the form of oils or something else like butter, will make your bread have a more tender crumb and will also help with the shelf-life. The bread will not be as dry and will last a few days longer. You can incorporate seasonings - be careful with salts because they'll kill your yeast, but you can add any kind of herb you like, or a combination. Ditto spices. Or fruits. Or you can use fruit juice for part of your liquid. Or something like ricotta cheese. Or eggs. Or different flours and/or grains - rye, spelt, rice, oats, etc. Just be aware that the texture of your bread will be VERY different - nothing has the gluten that wheat does. You're already having fun - so just have some more. Incidentally, this is a good thing to do in the winter when you really can't work in the garden. I don't know how any of these will work in a machine - I've never used one. But I've been making bread and doughs pretty much once or twice a week for about 30 years, and it's quite therapeutic. Have fun!

Thank you both! The bread turned out great with just self-rising flour - no soda. Instead of the 1 TB cinnamon, I used 1 t. cinnamon, 1/2 t. English Mixed Spice, and 1/2 t. ground ginger. Recipe was a combination of one from Smitten Kitchen and another blogger who used less sugar and oil. I think I will try this with other fruits and spice. I like the ease of baking quick breads with self-rising flour. Teresa

I don't know... that's a pretty healthy looking recipe for me which sounds really good. ;) I'm going to keep that one.

While I don't have a recipe that will make 10 mini loaves, this one will make 6: Pumpkin Apple Bread 3 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 t. salt 2 t. baking soda 1 1/2 t. cinnamon 1 t. ground or fresh grated nutmeg 1 t. ground cloves 1/4 t. ground allspice 1 16 oz. can pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling) 3/4 cup vegetable oil 2 1/4 cups sugar 4 large eggs, beaten 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped small (about 2 cups) Topping: 1 TB flour 5 TB sugar 1 t. cinnamon 1 TB unsalted butter, softened Preheat oven to 350F and grease 6 mini loaf pans (3" by 5 1/2" in size). Into a large bowl sift flour, salt, soda, and spices. In another bowl, blend pumpkin, oil, sugar, and eggs. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture until well combined. Fold in apples; divide batter between pans. Make a slight hollow in the center of the loaves. Blend topping ingredients in a small bowl until crumbly. Sprinkle topping on each loaf. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Test in the center of a loaf with a toothpick. Cool in pans on a rack for 45 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely. Will keep chilled and wrapped for one week. Will keep frozen, well wrapped for one month.