Freshly baked bread right from your kitchen has never been easier than it is today! With a few ingredients and a trusty bread machine, you can have warm bread in just a couple of hours. And in those couples of hours, you are not kneading the dough, transferring it to a baking dish, or making sure it’s not burning in your oven. You simply add the ingredients to your bread machine and let it do the rest! My Oster bread machine mixes the ingredients, allows the bread to rise, and finally bakes it to a perfect light brown (although I have the option for medium and dark as well).
While I certainly enjoy not doing most of the work in making my homemade bread, there is an even bigger benefit to this little machine: I choose the ingredients for my bread. I can be sure that there is no high fructose corn syrup or any other item foreign to my pantry in it. In fact, the healthiest bread I could find at my local grocery store has 23 ingredients (and mind you, I searched this loaf out for about fifteen minutes and it was the very best offered).
The recipe I recently tried with my bread machine is the Old-Fashioned Buttermilk White Bread from Tom Lacalamita’s The All-New Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook which calls for only water, buttermilk, vegetable oil, salt, dark brown sugar, bread flour, and yeast (see below for exact measurements). This resulted in a soft, moist bread that I can feel better about eating.
Since there are no preservatives in this homemade bread it will stay fresh for only a few days, but keeping it in the refrigerator can help extend the life. I personally find the bread so delicious that it normally disappears in a few days anyway! The exact measurements for this recipe are as follows; just be sure to add them in the order required by your particular bread maker.
1/3 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Buttermilk
2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 1/2 Teaspoons Salt
4 Teaspoons Dark Brown Sugar
3 Cups Bread Flour
2 1/4 Teaspoons Dry Yeast
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
So cute! Definitely a really exuberant idea. I also have a recipe for yeast-free, yet rising (!) bread to get up here too.
Your bread maker looks heroic! is there an etailer we can link to?
Yo, I have gotta try that bread. It sounds like a really solid recipe. No preservatives or “H.F.C.S” . That bread recipe sounds like it could be really flexible too! I would love to toss in some cranberries or walnuts. I would also like to try and make an Italian style loaf bread with some fresh herbs like oregano or basil or maybe something crazy like a tomato basil focaccia bread with some fresh homemade garden Bruschetta. Speaking of which I think I can jog my memory of that recipe as follows:
serves 4-8 people
**Note: a Balsamic reduction is a good thing to have on hand. Reduce 8oz balsamic vinegar on the stove, over med-low heat until it is very thick. Approx 20 mins – quite pungent, you may want to do this long before dinner and refrigerate
What you will need to acquire….
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1 1/2 TSP sea or kosher salt
1 TBSP Coarse black pepper
2-5 garlic gloves, minced or rough chop
Squeezed juice from 1/2 lemon (grate zest first and save for topping later)
1/2 sweet onion, diced
4-5 Heirloom tomatoes or 8-9 Roma tomatoes (2 lbs), blanched (do not overcook), and then diced
1 cup basil chiffonade
1 cup blended Olive/Canola oil
Combine and hand mix all ingredients in order they are listed (though you will have to do some prep where noted).
Grill (recommended) or toast slices of your homemade bread. Top with bruschetta, shaved Parmesan cheese, and Balsamic reduction. Eat well!
Any ideas on how to adapt this recipe for people without bread machines?
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/11/04/homemade-bread-cheap-delicious-healthy-and-easier-than-you-think/
here’s a website that should help answer all of your bread making whoa’s.
I really enjoyed this post!
Thanks for the bruschetta recipe- it sounds delicious!
And… I have a fresh herb bread for you from the same cookbook in my post. It turned out a little dry when I made it, but maybe you’ll have better luck:
3/4 Cup Water
1 Extra Large Egg
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Honey
1 1/2 Teaspoons salt
1 Teaspoon Celery Seed
1/4 Cup Fresh Herbs (Mix of fresh chopped herbs such as chives, parsley, basil, sage, dill, rosemary, thyme, or cilantro) *This was my favorite part since I grew my own herbs this past summer!
3 Cups Bread Flour
2 1/4 Teaspoons Dry Yeast
And make sure all ingredients are at room temperature!