Bread Machine (120 page)

Bread Machine Baker’s Hint: The Right Amount of Dough for Your Machine

To get the best results from your bread machine, it is important not to underfill or overfill your machine. The recipes in this book are all designed to fit properly into 1
¹/
₂-and 2-pound-loaf machines. When developing your own recipes, though, or using the Dough cycle to mix a favorite bread recipe, you need to keep the capacity in mind. A general guideline is that 1
¹/
₂-and 2-pound-loaf machines need a minimum of 1
¹/
₂cups dry ingredients to work properly. The maximum for a 1
¹/
₂-pound-loaf machine is 3 to 3
¹/
₂cups dry ingredients, and in machines with a 2-pound-loaf capacity, the maximum is 4 to 5 cups dry ingredients. Consult your owner’s manual for the exact recommendations for your model. When figuring the amount of dry ingredients you are adding, include ingredients other than flour, such as wheat germ or oatmeal. Eggs are counted as liquid ingredients. Be careful to measure ingredients accurately, and never try making a loaf larger (or a larger amount of dough) than your machine is designed to handle.

TOASTED WALNUT BREAD

T
his is the all-time favorite bread machine recipe of one of my recipe testers, Margery Schneider. She clipped it from a Fleischmann’s Yeast ad in a magazine years ago. It has a particularly nice nut-induced color. Be sure to chop the nuts only coarsely; they will break up during the kneading. She serves this bread with potato soup for dinner or with
Marmalade Butter
for breakfast.

1
¹/
₂-POUND LOAF

³/
₄cup (3 to 4 ounces) walnut pieces

1 cup water

2 large egg whites, lightly beaten

1
¹/
₂tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

3 cups bread flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk

1 tablespoon gluten

³/
₄teaspoon salt

1
¹/
₂teaspoons SAF yeast or 2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

2-POUND LOAF

1 cup (4 to 5 ounces) walnut pieces

1
¹/
₃cups water

2 large egg whites, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

4 cups bread flour

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons nonfat dry milk

1 tablespoon plus
1 teaspoon gluten

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons SAF yeast or

2
¹/
₂teaspoons bread machine yeast

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and place in the center of the oven for 4 minutes to toast lightly. Set aside to cool.

Place the ingredients, except the walnuts, in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer’s instructions. Set crust on medium and program for the Basic or Fruit and Nut cycle; press Start. (This recipe is not suitable for use with the Delay Timer.) When the machine beeps, or between Knead 1 and Knead 2, add the walnuts.

When the baking cycle ends, immediately remove the bread from the pan and place it on a rack. Let cool to room temperature before slicing.

SUNFLOWER OATMEAL BREAD

W
hen I worked in a restaurant bakery so long ago, I had an assistant for many years whose name was Celeste. She made this bread one day, and luckily I wrote down the recipe because she doesn’t even remember it. It has remained one of my favorite breads for twenty years. For years I taught it in my baking classes and now I have adapted it, most successfully, for the bread machine. It is moist, nubby, and richly flavored. This bread, for me, is a breakfast toast bread, spread with butter and one of my homemade jams.