Bread Machine (9 page)

Check your manufacturer’s manual or see the
chart
to be certain of the sequence for adding ingredients to your machine. Most machines require the liquids to be added first, then the dry ingredients, and then the yeast, so that is the order in which the ingredients are given for the recipes in this book. (The ingredients are also grouped according to liquid, dry, and yeast, so it is easy to change the order if your machine calls for the dry ingredients first. Simply switch around the categories.) Once you have determined the proper order for your machine, follow steps 5, 6, and 7 according to it.

Pour the water you have measured into the pan.
If you are using a Welbilt machine, add 2 additional tablespoons of liquid
. Add the honey and room-temperature butter pieces (the size of the pieces is not important), dropping them right into the water; they will be distributed into the dough with the action of the kneading blade.

Measure and add the dry ingredients, in the order they are given, adding the exact amount of flour, powdered dry milk, wheat germ if you are using it, sugar, gluten, (seasonings, if they had been in this recipe), and salt. Do not add the yeast yet. Don’t worry about mixing anything; just pour the ingredients in.

Measure and add the yeast on top of the other ingredients (or into the yeast dispenser after you close the lid in Step 8, if your machine so requires). While machine manuals usually make the point that you don’t want the yeast and salt to touch (salt inhibits the action of the yeast), if you will not be setting the Delay Timer, it doesn’t matter what touches what; it will all be mixing in a matter of minutes anyway. Wipe clean the edge of the pan around the rim.

Replace the bread pan in the machine and click it into place on the bottom of the oven floor. Fold down the handle, close the lid, and plug in the machine. The display surface will light up and there will be a beep.

Program the bread machine for the cycle appropriate to the type of bread you are making. In this case, the desired cycle is Basic. With some machines, choosing the cycle is as simple as pressing the button labeled with the name of the cycle you want; consult your owner’s manual for the clearest instructions for programming your machine.
     If applicable, press the loaf control button and select the size loaf. Press the setting for the desired crust color. Use the medium setting the first time you make this loaf. You can adjust this setting the next time you make it, if need be. (If you were using a recipe that called for extras, and if your machine has a dispenser, you would place the extras in there, and then press the Extras button as you were programming the machine.)

Push the On or Start button to begin the cycle, which starts with Mix and Knead 1. Clean up the work area, leaving on hand the measuring spoons, some flour, and some water. Place a long, narrow plastic spatula at the ready for testing the dough.

During the first 5 to 10 minutes of Knead 2, open the lid and check the consistency of the dough, even if this is not stated in the manufacturer’s manual. Every loaf is different and you need to adjust and repair the dough as needed. (Some bakers regularly withhold 2 to 3 tablespoons of the total amount of flour so they can add it slowly into the dough ball, so they have better control of the consistency.) Pop open the lid and, using the spatula, push the dough around, checking in the corners to make sure all the ingredients are incorporated into the dough ball. Some machines stop when you open the lid, others keep running. If the machine is running, you need to exercise caution to avoid the moving kneading blade, but you will become comfortable with this. Use your fingers to touch and press the dough. If the dough is wet and sticks to the sides and bottom of the pan, sprinkle in some flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, while the machine is kneading (be careful not to splash flour over the sides of the baking pan rim and onto the element because you will smell it burning later during the baking) until the dough forms a ball that is smooth and firm, yet soft and springy to the touch. If it looks like a batter, you can add up to
¹
/
₄
cup of extra flour. If the dough is very firm and dry looking, perhaps lumpy and not holding together, or even if it is a dry ball rolling around in the pan, add water 1 teaspoon at a time until the dough softens up a bit. The humidity of the climate where you live will affect the amount of additional flour or water you need. This is a very important step!
     Just before or during Knead 2, your machine may beep. This is to alert you to add any extra ingredients. This recipe doesn’t call for any, but if you were adding nuts and raisins you would open the lid and sprinkle them in. (Some machines don’t beep to signal for extras; if yours does not, you could just open the lid and add them during the Knead 2 part of the cycle.) The extras would get incorporated as the dough was kneaded.

Set a cooling rack on the counter. When the baking cycle ends, you will hear the beep. Press Stop even if your machine has automatically gone into the Cool Down/Keep Warm phase. Unplug the machine, carefully open the lid, and, using heavy oven mitts to hold the handle, carefully remove the pan by pulling up and out of the hot machine. If your bread pan is thin, set it on the cooling rack and let it stand for 5 minutes to allow the bread to contract slightly from the sides of the pan before turning it out. Otherwise remove the bread from the pan immediately by turning the pan upside down and shaking it a few times to release the loaf. Make sure the handle is out of the way so the loaf is not damaged by hitting it as it comes out of the pan. If it does not slide right out, run your rubber spatula around the edges and shake the pan again to dislodge the loaf.
     Check to see if the blade has come off the shaft and is still embedded in the bottom of the loaf. If so, remove it by prying it loose with a bamboo chopstick or the handle of a heat-resistant plastic spatula while holding the loaf upside down in your oven-mitt-protected other hand. Don’t use any metal utensils that could scratch this nonstick piece. You can also just let the loaf cool and remove the blade later. (If you have problems getting the blade out of the bread, next time you make bread, spray the kneading blade with a vegetable cooking spray before adding the ingredients to the bread pan.)