Baking with a bread machine

After last week, you took the plunge and bought a bread machine (or maybe you have one already and haven’t really used it).  I want to talk about some of the things that I’ve learned as I’ve used my own machine.  Without further ado, here are 10 tips for baking bread:

1.  You will have a failed bread loaf.  I have not known a single person that has used a bread machine and the loaf always turned out exactly as they wanted it to.  Usually this has to do more with a recipe error than a machine error, especially if you find your recipe online.  Some bread machines are better at baking certain types of breads than others.  And sometimes, you may just hit the wrong button if you are distracted.  I have yet to have a loaf that was inedible, but some just weren’t that good.

2.  You will have a dry loaf and a wet loaf at some point.  If you haven’t made a lot of bread before this (usually people that buy bread machines have little to no experience in making bread before this), then you will most definitely learn the signs of dry loaves and wet loaves.  What I mean by this is bread has to be the right balance of dry ingredients to wet ingredients to make an awesome loaf.  As long as you really don’t get it out of whack the bread will still be edible.  But you have to learn to adjust recipes based on what type of bread it is and the humidity in the air.  Usually, you want the bread slightly tacky, but not sticky.  Just add more liquid or flour to get the right balance.  And if you go back and forth several times until you get the hang of it, that’s ok, it really won’t affect the bread all that much.

3.  Use bread flour unless stated.  Bread flour has more gluten in it, which affects rise and texture.  I also substitute bread flour for recipes that call for all-purpose flour because I like the texture better.

4.  That brings me to vital wheat gluten, my best friend.  Neither my husband nor I have allergies or sensitivities to gluten, so we love this stuff.  The texture to your bread and the rise will be so much better than without it.  I usually add about 2 tsp vital wheat gluten to 1lb of bread (so 1 ½ lb loaf would have about 2.5 tsp added to it).

5.  If you want to substitute whole wheat for the bread flour, start with a fourth of the flour substituted for the first loaf, then go to half and half.  You will probably want to add more vital wheat gluten as you add more wheat flour.

6.  At first follow the recipe exactly.  This is a science, and if you don’t know what you are doing, your bread will not turn out.  Case in point: when I first started making bread, I wanted to cut down the sodium, so I would add a dash of salt at the most.  Then I wondered why my bread kept having large holes in the top and the rest of the bread was very dense.  It was the salt.  Once you start getting the hang of it, you can learn to change things around, but it does take some time.

7.  Things like water versus milk or honey versus granulated sugar can pretty much be substituted 1 for 1, but it will change the texture or taste a little.  Usually I do these when I am out of an ingredient.  Still good bread, just different.

8.  If you want to make a gluten-free version of your favorite loaf or roll, look for a similar recipe that is close to the one you already use instead of just substituting in gluten-free flour for regular flour.  This all goes back to chemistry and how each flour consists of different components.  I tried this once with my most fluffy, buttery rolls and they turned out like hockey pucks.  I had even spent time and a decent amount of money to find the “best” mix of flours to use.

9.  Use a stackable cooling rack instead of a regular one if you have it.  When we got married, we got a set of three racks that have long legs that can be stacked one on top of the other.  I love these especially around holiday baking time.  However, they are awesome to cool your bread on.  You want to make sure your bread is completely cool before cutting it.  These racks have lessened the time it takes and the amount of moisture that builds up on the bottom of the bread and the countertop.  It is not necessary, but I find it works better.

10.  The library is probably one of the best resources.  I have gotten dozens of bread machine cookbooks from there and have scanned the recipes that I’m interested in onto my computer and have them organized into folders.  This way, if I ever need a recipe or want to try something new, it is all there for me and I can search for it easily.  This is especially nice if your usual recipe calls for something that is not easily substituted and you are out of said item.

Hopefully sometime in the not near future I will compile another list of helpful tips, but these are certainly my favorite tips.  Next week, I will share with you one of my favorite white sandwich bread recipes.  And if you have any helpful tips on baking bread with your bread machine, feel free to share them in the comments section below!