Bread Machines For Dummies (20 page)

Read Bread Machines For Dummies Online

Authors: Glenna Vance,Tom Lacalamita

A
good place to start making bread is with the most basic recipes. The recipes we've selected for this chapter provide you a wide variety of breads. Our guess is that your book will begin to open to these pages as you will use the recipes over and over without tiring of them.

These breads are made primarily with white bread flour and will rise nicely for you into soft-textured breads with chewy, thin crusts. Each recipe is unique. You will be picking many of your favorites from this selection, we're sure.

Good Old American Sandwich Bread

You will love this bread for sandwiches because it doesn't crumble when you cut it and it doesn't fall apart when you laden it with sandwich fillings. The oatmeal makes the bread taste a tad bit sweeter than most breads, without any added sugar. The oatmeal also holds moisture for a soft texture.

Preparation time:
15 minutes

Approximate cycle time:
2 1/2 to 3 hours

Yield:
1 1/2-pound loaf, 12 slices; 2-pound loaf, 16 slices

1 1/2-lb loaf

2/3 cup milk

1/3 cup water

2 tablespoons vegetable oil or butter

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons oatmeal

3 cups bread flour

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

2-lb loaf

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup water

3 tablespoons vegetable oil or butter

2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons oatmeal

4 cups bread flour

1 tablespoon yeast

1 Be sure that all the ingredients are at room temperature before you place them in your bread pan in the order listed.

2 Select the Normal or Basic setting and a light to medium crust color and press Start.

3 Open the lid after the machine has kneaded the dough for about five minutes. The dough should be formed into a very soft, sticky ball. If the dough is sticking to the sides or the bottom of the pan, you need to add a bit more bread flour. If the dough is crumbly and not in a ball, or if the ball appears firm, add more water. Your machine still has kneading time and will work the water into your bread dough. Keep checking your dough until you're satisfied that a soft, sticky ball has formed.

4 After the machine has completed the baking cycle, remove the pan from the machine and the bread from the pan to cool on a wire rack. If you cut the bread before it's cooled for about an hour, it will look doughy. The bread has to cool completely to allow the structure to set.

Per serving:
Calories 140; Protein 5g; Carbohydrates 26g; Dietary fiber less than 1g; Total fat 2.5g; Saturated fat 0g; Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 200mg.

Soft White Bread

If you're looking for a bread that's like the soft, white, commercial bread you find in plastic bags in the bread aisle at the grocery store, this is the recipe for you. Kids love it, especially when thick slices are spread with peanut butter and grape jelly.

Preparation time:
10 minutes

Approximate cycle time:
2 1/2 to 3 hours

Yield:
1 1/2-pound loaf, 12 slices; 2-pound loaf, 16 slices

1 1/2-lb loaf

3/4 cup water

1 tablespoon oil or butter

1 cup white cake mix

2 cups bread flour

2 1/4 tablespoons yeast

2-lb loaf

1 cup water

4 teaspoons oil or butter

1 1/3 cups white cake mix

2 2/3 cups bread flour

1 tablespoon yeast

1 Be sure that all the ingredients are at room temperature before you place them in your bread pan in the order listed.

2 Select the Normal or Basic setting and a light to medium crust color and press Start.

3 Open the lid after the machine has kneaded the dough for about five minutes. The dough should be formed into a very soft, sticky ball. If the dough is sticking to the sides or the bottom of the pan, you need to add a bit more bread flour. If the dough is crumbly and not in a ball, or if the ball appears firm, add more water. Your machine still has kneading time and will work the water into your bread dough. Keep checking your dough until you're satisfied that a soft, sticky ball has formed.

4 After the machine has completed the baking cycle, remove the pan from the machine and the bread from the pan to cool on a wire rack. If you cut the bread before it's cooled for about an hour, it will look doughy. The bread has to cool completely to allow the structure to set.

Tip: If Soft White Bread becomes a favorite in your household, save time by preparing a few batches of ingredients at a time. Measure the dry ingredients, except the yeast, into self-sealing plastic bags and keep on hand, ready to toss in the bread machine at a moment's notice.

Per serving:
Calories 130; Protein 4g; Carbohydrates 23g; Dietary fiber less than 1g; Total fat 2.5g; Saturated fat 0.5g; Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 85mg.

Milwaukee Beer Bread

Perhaps Milwaukee Beer Bread will not make Milwaukee famous, but you may be when you share it with family and friends. It's definitely a no-fail recipe that you can count on to bring to a potluck supper. Some people think it tastes a bit like sourdough bread.

Preparation time:
10 to 15 minutes

Approximate cycle time
: 2 1/2 to 3 hours

Yield:
1 1/2-pound loaf, 12 slices; 2-pound loaf, 16 slices

1 1/2-lb loaf

1/3 cup water

2/3 cup beer

2 tablespoons oil or butter

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons sugar

3 cups bread flour

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

2-lb loaf

1/2 cup water

3/4 cup beer

3 tablespoons oil or butter

2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons sugar

4 cups bread flour

1 tablespoon yeast

1 Be sure that all the ingredients are at room temperature before you place them in your bread pan in the order listed.

2 Select the Normal or Basic setting and a light to medium crust color and press Start.

3 Open the lid after the machine has kneaded the dough for about five minutes. The dough should be formed into a very soft, sticky ball. If the dough is sticking to the sides or the bottom of the pan, you need to add a bit more bread flour. If the dough is crumbly and not in a ball, or if the ball appears firm, add more water. Your machine still has kneading time and will work the water into your bread dough. Keep checking your dough until you're satisfied that a soft, sticky ball has formed.

4 After the machine has completed the baking cycle, remove the pan from the machine and the bread from the pan to cool on a wire rack. If you cut the bread before it's cooled for about an hour, it will look doughy. The bread has to cool completely to allow the structure to set.

Per serving:
Calories 130; Protein 4g; Carbohydrates 25g; Dietary fiber less than 1g; Total fat 1g; Saturated fat 0g; Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 290mg.

Buttermilk Farm Bread

Whenever we think of buttermilk in bread, nostalgia sets in and we immediately think of the country kitchens where buttermilk pancakes and buttermilk bread were common food. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, buttermilk was the liquid that remained after cream was churned into butter. Using it was part of a frugal life — waste not, want not. Although today's buttermilk is cultured, it still has the same properties that make bread tender and slightly tangy.

Preparation time:
15 minutes

Approximate cycle time:
2 1/2 to 3 hours

Yield:
1 1/2-pound loaf, 12 slices; 2-pound loaf, 16 slices

1 1/2-lb loaf

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons oil or butter

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

2/3 cup semolina flour

2 1/3 cups bread flour

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

2-lb loaf

1 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon water

3 tablespoons oil or butter

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons sugar

1 cup semolina flour

3 cups bread flour

1 tablespoon yeast

1 Be sure that all the ingredients are at room temperature before you place them in your bread pan in the order listed.

2 Select the Normal or Basic setting and a light to medium crust color and press Start.

3 Open the lid after the machine has kneaded the dough for about five minutes. The dough should be formed into a very soft, sticky ball. If the dough is sticking to the sides or the bottom of the pan, you need to add a bit more bread flour. If the dough is crumbly and not in a ball, or if the ball appears firm, add more water. Your machine still has kneading time and will work the water into your bread dough. Keep checking your dough until you're satisfied that a soft, sticky ball has formed.

4 After the machine has completed the baking cycle, remove the pan from the machine and the bread from the pan to cool on a wire rack. If you cut the bread before it's cooled for about an hour, it will look doughy. The bread has to cool completely to allow the structure to set.

Cooking tip: If you don't have buttermilk on hand, you may use 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup of milk as a substitution.

Per serving:
Calories 130; Protein 5g; Carbohydrates 27g; Dietary fiber 1g; Total fat 1g; Saturated fat 0g; Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 15mg.

Irish Potato Bread

American bread bakers have probably been putting potatoes into bread dough since potatoes were grown in this country. It's thought that the original potatoes for planting came from Ireland, so like soda bread, potato bread is usually credited to the Irish. We like mashed potatoes in bread because the bread crumb is moist and the crust is crisp. This bread rises easily, as the potato water and mashed potatoes help the yeast to ferment and the dough to stretch.

Preparation time:
40 minutes (includes boiling and mashing potatoes and cooling potato water to room temperature)

Approximate cycle time:
2 1/2 to 3 hours

Yield:
1 1/2-pound loaf, 12 slices; 2-pound loaf, 16 slices

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