Did you know that you could wake up in the morning, to your house smelling of fresh homemade bread? Or get off work and your house smells like fresh bread? Or just have your house smell like fresh bread any time you want? If you didn’t, you do now!
Fresh bread is all the rage in this house. It’s primarily the only bread we eat because it’s super simple. We use a bread machine, actually we have four! A bit excessive yes, but during the holidays those little babies will be put to work. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we are cheating by not doing it all by hand and using loaf pans. When you’ve got a house full of Rugrats and a never ending pile of laundry, you make due. Not that the super nice lodge cast iron bread pans don’t ever get used, they produce the BEST corn bread! That’s a post for another day though!
Fresh bread is awesome and super easy to make. Plus it doesn’t have all of those preservatives, meaning it only lasts a few days, but it isn’t introducing things to your body that don’t belong there.
We use an Oster bread machine, and we have three Zojirushi machines. If you know how to pronounce that last one, let me know! Jacob and I just kinda avoid saying it! I’ve had the Oster for about five years. It’s been a great little machine and comes with a boat load of options. Jacob’s Zojirushi is pushing 25 years and has been passed down to us! It’s not as flashy as the Oster but it is a great machine.
The only negative thing I’ve found with the Oster is that sometimes the machine “walks”. What essentially is going on is it is kneading the dough so vigorously that the machine will actually do a little dance, I’ve found adding a little extra liquid will stop this, as it helps the dough mix up a little better.
If you are interested in purchasing a bread machine here is a Cuisinart brand one that is the best of both worlds! Since writing, this post the two machines that I use have been discontinued. This one that I am recommending now is very budget friendly and has 12 preprogrammed settings! Wowza!
The recipe that I’m going to share with you is for the Oster, but we have used it for the Zojirushi and it works perfectly! This is also a basic 2 lb loaf of white bread, but can easily be used for whole wheat. I’ve never tried the gluten free flour, but may give it a go just for shiggles.
First gather your supplies:
- Bread flour
- Measuring cup(s)
- Measuring spoon(s)
- Sugar
- Oil
- Yeast
- Salt
Most bread machines come with a liquid measuring cup and a nifty little measuring spoon that has a teaspoon on one end and a tablespoon on the other! Before we dump the ingredients in to the bread pan, make sure the paddle is secure and the pan is locked in place. Trust me, I’ve made this mistake and it sounds like there is a monster trying to come out of the machine! Once that’s done, you can get started!
White Bread Recipe
- 1 1/8 cup luke warm water
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 4 cups bread flour (could do half white and half whole wheat flour)
- 2 tsp dry active yeast
- 2 tbs sugar
- Pinch of salt (optional)
Directions
- Add the water and the oil into the bread pan.
- Measure out 4 cups of flour and throw those in.
- Make a little hole in the flour, not all the way down to the liquid though! Add the yeast into that. Be sure to keep the yeast out of the liquid and away from the sugar, you don’t want to activate it too soon!
- Add the sugar to the side, or in the corners, whatever you want! Just be sure to keep it away from the yeast!
- Add a pinch of salt if you want!
BAM! you’re done! It should look something like this…
Now you can close the lid and hit start! Go about your business and wait for the beeps to tell you when it’s done! On an Oster the first setting is for basic white bread, there are also settings for sourdough, whole wheat, pizza dough, a quick setting and all sorts of stuff! For a 1 lb loaf, just had 3 cups of flour instead of 4, and 1 tsp of yeast. Once you hit start, it starts mixing it all up, and also let’s it rise before it bakes and fills the house with a yummy aroma! You can take a peak during the rise time it will look like this…
Look at that little dough baby! You can also add all sorts of seasonings and herbs to the bread for an even more exciting explosion in your mouth! The end result is delicious, it’s great for samiches, for toast, for dipping in broth or gravy!
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