A couple of weeks ago I arrive home, walk into the kitchen, and I was presented with a toaster. Now, you may not think much of this, but if you've ever been to Japan, you would know that they have the weirdest, but still tasty, bread.

Bread is typically sold in supermarkets based on number of slices, often 6 or 8 slice, or 3 for the more 'fancy' brown breads and other breads. Those 6 or 8 slice packs are usually of the same original size, so the 6 slice is thicker than the 8 slice. Even the 8 slice is thicker than the thickest toast bread they sell in NZ, and the 6 slice can sometimes be up to an inch thick. Oh yeah, none of these packs come with the crusts, and some have the crusts sliced off already, so you get white squares in a small plastic container.

Bread is eaten in a completely different way here. They often take one of those thick slices, cover it in all manner of things, like a pizza, and put it in these custom-made ovens that have a pull-out tray. Or, they'll toast the bread in the oven, and then spread butter or other things on it, sometimes jam, or peanut cream, a sweetened version of peanut butter, not at all the same, but ok to eat.

Now the problem is when it comes to sandwiches. If you've ever had only toast bread left to make a sandwich with, you will understand that sandwiches are much better when the bread is thinner. The thicker bread makes it harder to fit in your mouth, and also means the ratio of content to bread is lower, a crime if you ask me.

What this means is that I don't normally eat sandwiches, but when I do, I take the fancy 3-slice brown bread, cut each slice in half, and use that to put the ingredients in. None of this thick bread nonsense. But recently, I've been eating bread in a completely different, and better, way.

After a long hiatus, I decided to get the bread-maker out again. For the last few weeks, every few days we have been waking up to bread-maker bread, and let me tell you it is glorious! If you haven't had fresh bread in a long time, coupled with the aroma, it really is a treat! Plus, by my calculations, it's cheaper than buying store-bought, unless you're like us and you add in walnuts and maple syrup, so a win-win for me 🙂 Wish I had thought of it earlier.