Oh lately I have been making bread. In fact I have enjoyed it so much that I have made all of the bread my family eats and don’t buy it anymore. Of course, I make it in a bread machine so that makes it even more enjoyable.
This is my perfect Wheat Bread, comes out nutty, with a fine and chewy crumb, moist and semi- dense, but not heavy.
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup whole milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons instant yeast
3 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 to 1/2 cup bread flour
add all the wet ingredients to the bread machine “pan”.
add the salt to the liquids
add the flours on top (start with 1/4 cup of lightly scooped bread flour, not packed, not leveled)
then put the yeast on top of that
turn machine onto the Wheat bread, two pound, rapid rise setting (2:20 minutes), with a medium crust. Then press start.
I check the bread at the first mix cycle, and make sure it is mixing right. this is where I may add a bit more flour, to get it into a smooth ball that isnt sticking to the walls.
Then i sit back and relax and smell the wonders of fresh bread in my own home!
It takes about 5 minutes to put all the ingredients into the pan and turn it on. and 5 minutes to clean up the tools for measuring. then i wait two hours till the bread is done.
I put the finished bread onto a wood cutting board to cool about 10 to 15 minutes. I do this so that when I cut into the bread it doesn’t compress the fine crumb. I particulalry enjoy the first slice a bit warm, with soft butter and blueberry jam… OH SO GOOD.
Mrs Meg Logan
My hubby just bought me a bread machine this past weekend. I’m still trying to figure out the directions. This is really going to help. Thanks!
i never looked at the directions (my machine was a free hand out, but didnt have any directions.) everything i have read about them makes it sound so complicated, like you better follow the manufacture’s instructions or it wont make bread. But I never had any trouble, I just add all the liquid plus the salt first (and the reason i add the salt to the liquid is because the salt kills the yeast.) then all the dry and the yeast on top. the machine mixes it all perfectly.
Mrs. Meg Logan
This looks like a really yummy recipe. I’ll have to try it as soon as the new apartment is unpacked and the kitchen is set up (I hate moving!!). I got really into making bread last winter and was making all my own bread for a while (of course, that’s only enough for one person, not a whole family) but once the weather warmed up I just couldn’t bear to use the oven. I don’t have a bread machine, and to me part of the joy of making bread is how much you work with your hands in kneeding it, but now that my SO and I are living together, and I have a new job with a crazy schedule (as opposed to my old job, which I did from home and made my own hours) I don’t know how realistic it is to expect to make all the bread for two of us by hand. I might have to look into aquiring a bread maker.
Just one question about the recipe: Is it okay to use all purpose flour instead of bread flour? What’s the difference?
The difference between all purpose flour and bread flour is the gluten content.
Bread flour will give a more chewy texture (think artisian bread), while all purpose will give a softer, less chewy texture. You can of course use all purpose flour, but it is going to taste differently than this recipe. Most likely your bread will be more compact, with a tighter crumb, denser, heavier…
But it would still be good.
I don’t like to make bread by hand for precisely the reason you so! I hate getting my hands all in the dough! Also, I tend to forget that it is needing my attentions, and I stress out about when I might need to go knead it again….
I make bread every other day in the bread machine, for three people. We eat alot more now that i make it. When I was buying it only my husband ate it, since i never wanted to run to the store to buy more, and he takes sandwiches to work everyday.
Mrs. Meg Logan