My wife and
I have been making our own bread since 1985 when we taught in an Athabaskan
Indian village in remote Alaska. There
was no store in the village so commercial bread was not readily available. My wife was teaching kindergarten, first and
second grades, and I had the easier job of third, fourth, fifth and six. All of our time was spent either teaching or
planning lessons so there was no time to become bread bakers.
That year we
bought our first bread maker that looked similar to the R2D2 robot on Star Wars
and produced a cylindrical loaf.
Since
that time, we have always made our bread with bread machines.
This is my
favorite bread recipe:
1 cup of
milk
3 tablespoons
of water
1 ½ cups of
white all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups of
whole wheat stone ground flour
4 teaspoons
of sugar
¾ teaspoon
of salt
1 tablespoon
of butter
1 teaspoon
of yeast
If you
measure carefully the bread comes out perfect almost every time. Just before the last rising we remove the
dough, remove the paddle, lightly kneed and shape into a ball and return the
dough to the bread machine for the final rise and bake. We find the 1 ½ pound recipes give a better
consistency bread than the 2 pound recipes.
We have had numerous
bread machines. The worst one was a
terribly expensive, two paddle machine made in Sweden – the bread came out
lousy. The one we like the best is the
Bread Machine Ultra that cost about $90 on line.
We have made
breads, cakes, pizza dough and rolls with our machine – the machine does most
of the work.
My favorite
bread machine recipe book is: Bread Machines and Beyond by Jenny Shapter, my
next favorite is Better Homes and Gardens Bread Machine Cook Book. I like the first one best because it has
pictures – I like pictures
Enjoy some
fresh bread
the Ol’Buzzard
Thom got me a bread maker a couple christmas's ago and I was all excited till I realized that it only made one loaf at a time..I usually make 4...one for me 3 to give away..so he got me a kitchen aid instead..will that recipe work without using the bread machine?
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of pulling the paddle, slap my forehead and say "why didn't I think of that one?"
ReplyDeleteIs there anything in this world that smells more delicious than bread baking in the kitchen?
ReplyDeleteA bacon sandwich...on homemade bread?
DeleteA bacon sandwich...on homemade bread?
DeleteI always use my bread machine to mix the bread, but usually bake it in the oven. That way I get more nice crust!
ReplyDeleteI can't stand grocery store bread, but as long as I work in a town with a wonderful bakery, I will let someone else do the mixing, kneading, and baking. Debra's right about the smell, tho.
ReplyDelete