Somehow, the spirit of the New Year and the idea of making a fresh start has me committed to improving my bread-baking prowess.
We don't eat tons of bread, but most of what we do eat comes out of our bread machine.
I'm following King Arthur Flour's online Bread Machine Basics & Beyond class to branch out and understand what I'm doing a little better.
That sounds more complicated than it really is, because the class only involves making 3 different breads.
Today was my second time making the Harvest Cracked Wheat Bread. We loved it so much the first time, I had to try it again.
The first time, the loaf was kind of gnarly (which is apparently the word for the weirdness that comes out of your bread machine when you don't add enough water.) The flavor was great, but the shape was very weird and the crust was super crunchy.
This time, I monitored the bread while it was kneading, added 1/4 cup of water a tablespoon-ful at a time, and the bread came out much better. (The first time I made the loaf, the instructions told me to pay attention, but I was doing something else....hopefully weaving-related... and the time to intervene passed me by.)
The recipe is for a smaller size bread machine than mine, so I'm still going to experiment with making the recipe bigger so it can be part of our regular bread rotation.
Jim (AKA Mr. LifeLoomsLarge) likes to use power tools (an electric knife) to slice the bread. We freeze it in two-slice pairs, perfect for sandwiches. I guess we like gadgets whether they're used for weaving or for bread-making!!
8 comments:
That looks so yummy! It makes me want to get my bread machine cranked up again!
That looks so good...I really want to try and make bread this year.
Thanks for encouraging me - by seeing how lovely your bread turned out.
I absolutely love my bread machine. Well, I did before I lost the paddle (only to find it several months later in the compost pile.) I now knead with my Kitchen Aid. But I bake in my bread machine!
The bread looks delicious. Makes me go to my kitchen to bake bread today in our new machine. And I think I'l make some rolls too. I like to bake bread in my oven too.
Yummy. Thanks for making me do this today.
Food is always good and a post about homemade bread, even better! Sounds yummy.
I love our bread machine and use it quite often. Makes short work of pizza dough too!
I had to laugh when I read the part about the power tool to carve the bread!
Your loaf looks great.
We love bread-it can be a real downfall to dieting but....I use bread flour; it makes a much lighter loaf than regular flour. Try it!
I been looking for a bread machine which one do you have?
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