My wife and
I have been making our on bred for thirty-five years. We have gone through numerous bread machines,
but years ago settled on the Breadman Ultimate.
Our fall
back recipe, the one we make the most, is wheat germ bread. It has a great consistency, easy to slice
and is delicious toasted.
Wheat Germ
Bread
- 1 cup Buttermilk (we use the powdered buttermilk available in the baking isle of the supermarket.)
- 1 large egg
- 3 cups of all-purpose flour (we don’t use bread flour.)
- ½ cup if wheat germ
- 1 ½ tablespoon of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 3 tablespoons of butter (not margarine.)
- 1 teaspoon of yeast
The
buttermilk and egg mixture goes in first, then the dry ingredients: the sugar
on one side of the bread pan and the salt on the other. The yeast goes in last in the middle of the
dry ingredients.
An hour and
a half before the bread is done (just before the final kneed) we take out the
dough and remove the paddle, then place the dough back into the machine for the
final rise and baking. This way you do
not end up with a hole in your bread from having to remove the paddle after
baking.
Note:
You have to
bake a few breads to discover the best consistency of dough. The biggest mistake most new bakers make is
adding too much water and ending up with a wet, sticky dough. If you measure carefully you should get the
right dough. If I still see flour in the
bottom of the pan during the first kneed I will add 1 tablespoon of water –
only one!
Better the
dough be a little dry than too wet.
Homemade
bread is a simple pleasure
the Ol’Buzzard
