An Unexpected Outcome

My last post explained how I was making my first ever vegan bread.  It was a seven grain, 2 lb. loaf and it took about four and a half hours to bake.  Originally I was trying to wait up so that I could take it out right when it finished, but the bread machine directions said that once it is done, it can stay in the bread machine for however long necessary.  So of course, I fell asleep on the couch and when I woke up in the middle of the night, I went straight up to bed and didn't think once about the bread.  When I went downstairs this morning, this is what it looked like:

I'm not really sure what the final product was supposed to look like, but this loaf was half the size of the usual breads my family bakes, yet it weighed the full two pounds. The thing was like a square brick.  Anyway, after sawing through it and taking a bite, I was a little happier because the taste wasn't too bad, it was just extremely dense.  I still had some for lunch and dinner, and Andrew even tried it and I think liked it somewhat. It's not the best plain, but it's pretty good with peanut butter or other toppings. If and when I decide to make another bread, I think I'll try a new recipe, just to see how they compare.

The struggles of baking,
Maggie