Bread Machine (2 page)
I have found that bread machine baking is a type of baking unto itself. When you bake with a machine, the technical part of the process is taken out of your hands, which may cause experienced bakers to be concerned about the quality of the loaf that will be produced. But I found, once I began to allow bread machine baking to stand on its own merits and ceased comparing the process to making bread by hand, that the bread machine gave me the freedom to endlessly create and improvise on a few fundamentals. I began to really enjoy the results, too—the wonderful bread! The loaves are different, perhaps, than handmade loaves, but they are beautiful and delicious in their own right. And so, once you’ve armed yourself with a bit of knowledge, some fresh ingredients, and your beloved machine, I hope you, too, will approach this wonderful new realm of baking with an open mind.
Often described as looking like a leftover robot from
Star Wars
, the maid in a futuristic Jetsons’ cartoon, or even a gem tumbler, the bread machine was originally invented to go in small Japanese kitchens, which typically have no room for Western-style baking ovens. Contained in this machine that is the size of an old-fashioned bread box are an internal motor that turns a kneading blade, a nonstick mixing and baking canister, an electric coil to bake the loaf, and a microcomputer that tells the machine how to take your loaf right through the traditionally hands-on procedure. Sophisticated electronics control the motor, temperature, humidity, all of the timing, and can even store a recipe file in the bread machine’s memory bank. The machine can weigh anywhere from fifteen to twenty pounds, and definitely commands your visual attention as it sits on the kitchen counter. Once you get used to how different it is from the method of preparing bread by hand—in which you have to be watching, waiting, and noting times, and your constant presence is needed—you will see how convenient this method’s minimal handling of the dough is, and how the fixed timing of the rising and baking cycles eliminates guesswork. The machine truly does the work, leaving you free to do something else while your bread is being prepared. The process is nothing short of magical.
I feel compelled to warn you that this type of baking is very addictive. Once I got rid of my anxieties about blowing fuses in my tiny kitchen, and set aside my disgruntled attitude about making bread MY way, I couldn’t leave the machine alone. This appliance begged me to use it. When each loaf turned out better than the last, I was glad to have hundreds of recipes to test. The amount of actual hands-on baking time, after deciding which bread to make and assembling the ingredients, is just minutes. And then, aside from putting away the ingredients and wiping up a bit of flour on the counter, there is no cleanup, which is remarkable for a craft that is known for being messy.
To set the process in motion, all you do is assemble, measure, and pour the ingredients into the bread pan that serves as the mixing canister, then push a button to specify a setting and another to program the timer, if you wish. The machine mixes, kneads, deflates, allows for the proper rising time, bakes, and often cools the loaf, all automatically. The machine does it all—you don’t need to know how to bake bread to use it.
With a bread machine, a light, high loaf is the result of using a precise, carefully measured liquid-to-flour ratio in conjunction with the machine’s perfectly controlled series of risings. The controls may also be set to “Dough Only,” so that the machine can be used just for the mixing-kneading-rising process, after which you can shape the loaf yourself and bake it in your home oven for bread that looks more like the loaves you’re used to. Most bread machine models now have a specific setting to produce the crisp crust and airy texture characteristic of bakery-style baguettes and artisan breads, although bread machine loaves will differ in shape from their authentic relatives. You may wish to shape these kinds of doughs by hand into whimsically formed dinner rolls or round country-style loaves and then bake them in a conventional oven. You can almost hear the old French baker sighing,
“c’est un scandale!”
at the mere thought of automating his revered techniques.
A loaf of bread made in the machine is, just like handmade bread, superior in nutrition, texture, and taste to its commercially produced, store-bought cousin. Homemade bread is free of additives, colorants, preservatives, and chemical fixatives. Whenever you have such control over what you put in your bread, you are almost guaranteed quality. While hand-wrought loaves boast an appealing visual charm, each loaf baked in the machine is the same shape as its baking pan. Even so, I find that the loaves fresh from the machine have their own special beauty, eliciting oohs and ahhs from the most stalwart bakers. The aroma and sight of homemade bread are powerfully good—just try to resist tearing off the end of one of these still-warm loaves. These sensory experiences are part of baking’s pleasure.
In baking, breads are traditionally defined by the kind of flour used, whether they have yeast or not, their shape, and their added flavorings, all of which give each bread its intrinsic character. Within this book, the recipes vary in each of these regards, with something designed for every type of baker—an impressive variety of breads, from the simple and familiar to the innovative and challenging. There are breads for the health fanatic, breads for those with a sweet tooth, and even breads for those who cannot eat gluten. There are breads loaded with familiar and not-so-familiar ingredients, inventive flat breads, and even artisan breads using the old techniques, adapted here for the bread machine. You will recognize the better-known breads, such as egg breads, yeasted white and whole grain breads, pumpernickel and other ryes, and French bread. The rich and evocative sweet holiday breads, breakfast breads, flatbreads and focaccia, and some of the quick breads may be new areas for you to discover. There is a section on baking with commercial bread mixes and one devoted to pizza, a distinct favorite of home bread machine bakers. You will learn to make them all if you choose. This collection is composed largely of recipes that are made from start to finish in the machine. They are based on classic formulas that never go out of style because they are the prescribed universal laws of baking. Each simple ingredient reveals under tones of flavor created by the time-honored, ageless principles of harmony and balance in baking. Good, fresh ingredients need little to unlock their natural flavors.
When you have made just a few loaves in the bread machine, you will already have acquired the confidence that you are a good baker, and you will happily find that your loaves are suitable for accompanying meals, making sandwiches or toast, or using in other recipes. Whether you bake for daily consumption or for the festive holiday, baking with the bread machine is an opportunity to showcase your well-cultivated or newly awakened talents as a baker. If you like ultimate flavor merged with ultimate convenience in homemade bread, this appliance is for you. Baking bread in a bread machine is an easy, satisfying task, and more fun than you can imagine. In the chapter that follows, Orientation, I guide you into the machine’s workings and features and through the pantry so you can set your reservations aside and start right now to enjoy baking in your bread machine as much as I do. I wish I could incorporate into these pages the sensuous aromas of these breads as they are going through their cycles and being baked, but they are for you to discover. So go ahead, push the button, bake bread, enjoy the delectable results, and stand back to collect the compliments.
ORIENTATION
Batterie de Cuisine: Know Your Bread Machine
Loading the Ingredients into the Bread Machine
The Process of Baking Bread in the Bread Machine
What Can Go Wrong and How to Fix It
BATTERIE DE CUISINE:
KNOW YOUR BREAD MACHINE
T
he three sections that follow will help you become familiar with your machine. They demystify the hardware, offer criteria for how to choose a machine, provide customer service telephone numbers for bread machine manufacturers, and help you figure out what types of bread can be made in your machine. There is a lot of practical information here; you will refer to it often.
Whether you are acquiring a new machine, looking to begin using one that you purchased or received as a gift, or wanting to better utilize the one you’ve owned for a while, begin with this guide to understanding the components of a bread machine. There are many manufacturers and models of bread machines to choose from. They range from the simple, offering just a few basic cycles, to the more complex, with many cycles and features, and the ideal machine for you depends on what kind of baking you do. This is a place for experimentation. The section on cycles and settings (
Features: Cycles and Settings
) will help you understand those functions better. Whether simple or complex, it is important for you to know that all bread machines make bread exactly the same way, using the same progression of steps within the cycles. There is a machine for every pocketbook. Prices range from $49 to $249 (sales and discounts are frequently offered), with plenty of models priced in between the economy machines and the sophisticated “luxury” models. Prices generally reflect the number of features the machine has; the more features, the more the machine costs. The prices for the most elaborate and highest quality machines are now $150 to $249, which is remarkable, since just a few years ago you could pay double that amount for a similar machine. There is no one perfect machine; which machine you use is a very personal decision, and you, the baker, will adapt to your machine quickly. All the machines make great bread.
Before we proceed to the basics given here, I should tell you that there are a few not-so-pleasant characteristics common to all bread machine models. All machines operate at a high noise level during the kneading (how high depends on the action of the motor, and an intense action is desirable). But this is only during the kneading phase, and you will quickly get used to your machine’s pings, pangs, bangs, creaks, and bumps. Sometimes the baking is uneven, leaving you with a loaf that is shaped, cooked, or browned differently in different parts. Caution must be used in handling the machine or any parts of it during the baking cycle while the machine body radiates heat. The baked bread may occasionally stick in the baking pan (this generally occurs only with the thinner-walled baking pans). The loaves are oddly shaped as compared to traditional hand-shaped ones, and sometimes a slight depression occurs in the top of the loaf caused by over-rising in the warm machine (this doesn’t hurt the loaf, which is still delicious). The bread machine is not total perfection, and some models may be easier to use than others. But you should know that though all machines have their quirks, none of which prevent them from producing good bread, you will quickly learn to work around them. While automatic bread-bakers produce bread the “painless” or “no work” way, they are by no means no-brainers. Be prepared to familiarize yourself with the idiosyncrasies of your machine.
Understanding the following basic components will help acquaint you with your machine, or narrow down the choices to fit your needs.
What are the bread machine’s dimensions?
Bread machines are all countertop appliances, but they have a wide variety of dimensions. Consider your counter space; a machine should fit in a safe place with minimal activity around it, as the body is very warm or even hot while functioning. It should rest about 4 inches away from all walls and cupboards. Make sure there is room above to open the lid; most machines are taller than they are wide. Some machines are quite compact and space-efficient, under 14 inches high and 14 inches wide, while others are much larger, like the Zo V20, one of the largest at 17 inches wide, 11
1
/
2
inches high, and 8
1
/
2
inches deep. American Harvest makes an even larger side-by-side bucket unit that allows two loaves to bake at the same time.
What size loaf does the machine make?
Although machines are categorized by pound size, the volume of the loaves is really what differs in different size machines. (A loaf that contains nuts and dried fruit, for example, may be the same size as a loaf that is made with just the basic ingredients, but it will weigh more.) Still, it has become the convention of bread machine manufacturers to designate the volume of a machine in terms of a loaf weight, so that is the terminology used throughout this book. A 1-pounder is a small loaf, a 1
1
/
2
-pounder is a medium loaf, and a 2- or 2
1
/
2
-pounder is large. A machine can always make a smaller loaf, but not a loaf larger, than the capacity of its pan. Figure out what your needs are based on how many people will be eating the bread you make. A single person or a couple would consume the 1- or 1
1
/
2
-pound sizes. A medium family would eat the 1
1
/
2
-pound loaf, and for more than four people, a 2-pound loaf is popular (at this writing, it is the top-selling size). There are also a few 2
1
/
2
-pound-loaf machines on the market.