Bread Machine Tips and FAQ
There may be no more welcoming smell than fresh-baked bread. Homemade bread tastes delicious and may be healthier for you and your family than the bread you buy in a store. However, making bread the old-fashioned way is time-consuming and complicated. Bread machines provide an easier way to make fresh bread whenever you want. Does this Spark an idea?
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Capacity
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Check the size of the loaves of bread your machine can make. Most bread machines make a 1 1/2- or 2-pound loaf of bread. Your bread recipe should contain 3 cups of flour for a 1 1/2-pound loaf or 4 cups of flour if you have a 2-pound loaf.
Yeast
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Use specially formulated bread machine yeast. This type of yeast is designed to make bread rise faster to accommodate the abbreviated bread-making cycle. The yeast should go in last.
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Order of Ingredients
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Measure all the ingredients carefully. Place the water or other liquids in the pan first, followed by oil, salt, sugar and flour. Make sure that the water or liquid is not too hot or it could kill the yeast. The yeast should go on top of the other ingredients.
Baking
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Select the correct baking cycle setting on the bread machine. Some of the cycles include light crust, dark crust, quick or dough. If you use the dough setting, it will allow you to make dough, such as for pizza crust, that you will then bake in a regular oven. Peek at the bread dough as it is mixing; it should form an elastic ball. Add flour 1 tbs. at a time if the ball is not forming well.
After Baking
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When the bread is finished, use oven mitts to take the bread pan out of the machine. The pan will be very hot. Shake the bread out of the pan and allow it to cool on a cooling rack. Wait to cut the bread until it is cool.
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References
- Photo Credit Thomas Northcut/Photodisc/Getty Images
