I'd say don't worry too much about the breathing - if you're doing it for fun/exercise and not for top speed, keeping your head above the water all the time works fine. Especially with breaststroke. I've been taught to breathe out underwater when crawling, but I dislike getting chlorine in my nose, so I don't.

But then again my swimming comes mostly from spending every summer day as a kid splashing around at the beach, and watersports things, so my philosophy re: swimming is pretty much Everything Goes, as long as you're afloat and moving. Good luck with it!