Yes, I love bread too. The cooking spray is a great trick, much like the dishwasher steam one. Thanks for sharing.

Bread is one of my guilty pleasures. I know I’m not supposed to limit how much I eat, but I need at least one loaf of French bread a week or I go through withdrawl.

My mom always taught me to check the expiration date on the packs of yeast at the grocery store, as old yeast doesn’t work well. She also passed along a good trick to help with the rising process — spray the top of your dough with PAM or a nonstick cooking spray, and cover it with plastic wrap (as in, right on top of the dough.) The plastic wrap traps the yeast bubbles that might otherwise escape, speeding up the rising process, and the spray keeps the plastic wrap from sticking to the dough.