Our Hourly Bread

Bread doesn't demand much of you while it rises--just that you be home three or four hours ahead to get it started. If you don't have that luxury, you can add club soda or beer to a package of Quick Loaf mix, stir it up, let it sit 10 minutes in a loaf pan and bake. The resulting loaf doesn't have the chewy, elastic texture of kneaded bread, but it has a good fresh-baked aroma, and for home-made bread that's ready one hour after you open the package, with essentially no work, that's not bad. The cracked wheat and nine-grain flavors are particularly good, and there are also garlic, onion, oatmeal and cinnamon-raisin mixes. In supermarkets.