i made bread? from scratch!

i got this kitchen aid mixer for my bday. i've been looking at it and wondering what i was going to make. i'm more of a healthy, one bowl mixer. so i felt intimidated by this machine. my kids love challah. i usually go down to silverstein's bakery on mccaul. this is such a great place to buy bread in this city; straight from the warehouse, fresh, no perservatives and the price is right! people don't know you can just walk in and buy bread. go there. it's amazing.
when i look at the ingredients from breads in the grocery store they contain additives, perservatives, chemicals and even food colouring. the stuff never even seems to mold. this challah is made with white flour but it is made from natural ingredients; flour, yeast, eggs, honey, olive oil, salt. that's it. simple simple.
so, my friend in the neighbourhood suggested this receipe (excluding the fig jam insertions) from smitten kitchen (i love this food blog and have tried several recipes before). i decided to give it a try. then i got a little obsessed. i made a loaf a day for 3 days. i'm in the process of perfection. i think i'm almost there.....

 the hook

 kneaded

 loaf #1

 bread and hummus (with zatar from israel)

 dinner

 huh?