Bread Machine Recipe

How To Maximize The Perfection Of Your Bread Machine Recipe

By Kenny Yong

In both bread machine recipes and oven baked recipes, we only need three primary ingredients to make cakes-flour, liquid, and the yeast. Once these basics are prepared, you can add, mix and experiment on some other ingredients that will enhance the taste of simple recipes. Baking a bread by hand and with the help of bread machine follows the same basic processes. The only crucial difference is that rising, mixing and baking are all done inside the machine. However, this doesn’t imply that you must not keep a close observation on what’s cooking in your bread machine. The little window is there for a reason, remember?

Flour

The structure-giving component in all breads is the flour. And this is further supported by the gluten content of the cake, bread, wheat and other flour varieties. However, gluten comes in varying levels in different types of flour. Hard wheat has the strongest and largest gluten amount per cup. (Perhaps 6 grams or more in each cup.) Bread machine flour however, is somewhat identical with that of the all-purpose flour. Gluten is important in baking since it gives the body for the bread. It also helps yield chewy texture. Meanwhile, vital wheat gluten is a food item that creates the benefits of gluten in non-gluten or less gluten content flour varieties such as whole-wheat flour, rye flour, oatmeal, soy flour and cornmeal. This is usually used when your bread machine recipes requires such varieties as we have mentioned.

Liquid

The most popular liquids used in bread machine recipes are buttermilk, milk and water. The general rule of thumb in using liquid and other main ingredients is to allow them to settle at room temperature. If your bread machine recipe requires eggs, you must follow this rule too. Since active dry yeast is dissolved in warm liquids (but definitely not hot!), it becomes an exception to the rule. One main point to remember in most bread machine recipes is that they seldom make use of fresh milk. (Who wants milk that has been exposed to the external environment for a whole night anyway?) Instead, we alternate powdered buttermilk or non-fat dry milk. However, if you’re planning to mix the ingredients right away and bake them immediately, you can substitute fresh milk with buttermilk or water then cancel powdered milk.

Yeast

As we have noted earlier, yeast yields the body for the bread. Yeast is a one-celled plant that feeds on starches and sugar which in return, gives off carbon dioxide- a leading element in raising the size of your dough. Since it is a living organism, it can be vulnerable to very harsh conditions such as too hot or too salty environment. But yeast takes considerable time to activate in the dough, more often 45 to more than an hour. That is why you often see that recipes require the use of another yeast breed – rapid-rise yeast. This is a special formulation that can be mixed directly into the dry ingredients.

All bread machines are not created equal. Please note of the maximum size your bread machine yields and the estimated size of the recipe that you will bake. Bread machines can either make 1 pound, 1 ½ pound or two-pound loaves. Please be sure to follow the guidelines as stated in your user manual. Make use only of recipes that have proportionate amounts of ingredients with your bread machine or try to adjust the quantities accordingly.

Bread Makers

Easy Bread makers Recipes for Homemade Bread

By Lynne Birch
When bread makers first came out years back people felt that all you could use them for was plain white bread. Well that is not even close to being true any more. There are now dozens of fantastic recipes available for all kinds of bread. What you will find is that the ingredients you use in bread makers will be a little different than if you were baking bread normally. The results are just as good however.
Below is a selection of recipes that are very simple to make, very affordable, and most of all, deliciously healthy. They only take a few minutes to prepare and the results will make everyone happy. So go ahead and try them out. Cracks open your bread makers and give one of these yummy recipes a try.

Basic White Bread

1 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons powdered milk
2 TBSP oil (l usually use canola)
1 tsp salt
3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp yeast
Just use the standard wet on the bottom dry on top mixing process. This is delicious with butter and honey while it is still hot.

Grain & Honey Bread

3/4 cup warm water
2 TBSP honey (liquid or melted)
2 TBSP olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 TBSP lemon juice
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (mixed grain flower is OK too)
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 tsps granulated yeast
Put the salt in the bread maker first, and then add all other ingredients except the yeast, oats and flour. Add the oats and flour. Make a small hole at the top of the dry ingredients for the yeast. Bake as usual.

Cheesy Buttermilk Bread

This yields a moist and tasty loaf. It also stores very well, but you’ll probably finish it before those even matters!
1 and 1/8 cups buttermilk
1 tsp salt
2 TBSP sugar
0.75 cup extra sharp cheddar (grated)
3 cups bread flour
1.5 tsps bread machine yeast
Prepare as usual. All wet ingredients first, then the cheese, then dry ingredients, and the yeast on top.

Oat Bread

Use natural rolled oats. Just put them in a pot with boiling water, and then let them soak until they cool off. Then add the other ingredients and proceed as usual.
1 cup rolled oats
11 fl.oz. water
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 cups flour
1 tsp yeast

Baking bread is a wonderfully delicious way to add great nutrition to you family’s diet. Give the recipes a try and add some flavor to your meals.