Any way you slice it: Homemade bread is back — and it's tastier than ever

Bread is back. A few years ago, one of the world's oldest, most common foods had become a four-letter word — "carb."

But today, carbo-phobia has died down considerably. That might not matter to those who never gave up their daily bread in favor of bunless burgers. There's just something about biting into fragrant, freshly baked slice that couldn't be satisfied with a low-carb tortilla wrap.

Whole grains have taken the nutrition spotlight, giving rise to breads with more personality. Even the big sandwich chains are boasting words such as "multigrain," "artisan," "five-seed" and so on.

But most of these breads aren't being handmade at home. The low-carb frenzy was just the latest factor in why generations of home cooks have skipped over the basics of bread-baking. For many years, the cottony, "store-bought" white bread was the mainstay of many households. The back-to-nature movement in the 1970s sparked some interest in homemade, whole-wheat bread, but most of the results were heavy on texture and short on taste.

Then came the bread machine — the top-selling small kitchen appliance of the '90s. Dump in some simple ingredients and in a few hours you could slice into your own warm loaf without having to know anything about yeast, kneading or rising times.

King Arthur Flour, a Vermont-based company, is working to remedy this, with free bread-baking classes offered throughout the country. In December, the company offered several classes in Utah (for a future schedule of class sites, check www.kingarthurflour.com). The company also offers a Baker's Hotline (802-649-3717) that you can call for advice.

"We went through that stage in the 1970s where everyone was making whole-grain bread," said Carolyn Hack, who taught the Yeast Breads class at the Salt Lake Airport Hilton. "That stage didn't last long, and there was a reason for that. But these recipes have been highly tested and they taste great."

The company, which sells only unbleached flour, recently introduced its 100% White Whole Wheat Flour, which bakes up lighter than regular whole-wheat flour. It's made with soft white winter wheat instead of the usual hard red wheat. The white wheat has no phenolic acid in it, said Hack, so it tastes milder.

Here are some of the basics from Hack's class and from King Arthur Flour's recipe booklet:

The yeast causes the dough to rise

Yeast is a fungus, and like all living things, it needs food, moisture and warmth to grow. Adding warm water and a little sugar and flour to the yeast is called making a "proof," said Hack, "because we are proving that the yeast is viable."