Bread Machine (52 page)
When the baking cycle ends, immediately remove the bread from the pan and carefully place it on a rack. Let cool to room temperature before slicing.
Milling Your Own Whole-Grain Flours
While some owner’s manuals recommend against using home milled flours because their density can alter crucial recipe measurements, once you have become familiar with your machine there is no reason you can’t use your own milled flours and make the necessary adjustments to the liquid-flour balance. Owning and operating a home kitchen grain mill is an investment in time and money, but many bakers swear by it, opting for a bit more labor in exchange for the added flavor and nutrition. Since excellent commercial unbleached and stone-ground flours are widely available today, this really is a personal decision. But there are benefits—the milled flour can be transferred immediately to the pan, leaving virtually no time for oxidation to destroy precious vitamins and minerals. The aroma of fresh-milled flour is so enticing, once you smell it, you will be hooked.
With a home mill, you will be grinding only whole-grain flours, never white flours, which need to be sifted to remove the bran and germ. The grind settings range from very coarse to very fine. Whole grains for milling can be kept for years stored in airtight containers. One cup of the larger grains (wheat, corn, rye) will yield 1 cup flour. The smaller grains (amaranth, teff, rice, millet) yield 1 cup of flour per
3
/
4
cup whole grain. Wheat and rye are the easiest grains to mill.
It seems that the more expensive the mill, the quieter it is and the less muscle power is required on your part. In the past, home mills have been known for being heavy, rustic, and tremendously laborious hand-cranked jobs, most certainly a link to the past. I had an incredibly heavy but fascinating hand stone mill I was given by a friend. It was a modern quern; a descendant of an ancient hand milling tool. I found out that it was a Samap from France. It made flour, as well as cracked grains, but I spent lots of time grinding.
The counter-clamped steel Corona hand mill, which caused a sensation in the 1960s during the back-to the-land movement, is still a good method for grinding wet hominy for masa, soaked soybeans for tofu, and a variety of cracked breakfast grains. It is usually the first mill in a home grinder’s life. My friends Ralph and Toni Korgold have been using theirs for decades, mixing and grinding the grains for their cooked breakfast cereal blend of the month.
The next step, the modern, lightweight plastic-bodied electric mills are incredibly efficient, living up to names like Magic Mill or Whisper Mill. They grind hard wheat berries, soybeans, and corn kernels into commercial-quality flour in one grinding, and are self-cleaning. They look perfect next to the bread machine and food processor, and take up a minimal amount of counter space.
Other electric grain mills include the Kitchen Aid, a grain mill with steel blades that is an attachment for their heavy stand mixer (I consider this best for cereal grinding), and a small electric mill by Braun. The Baker’s Catalogue offers two exceptional mills. One is the Family Grain Mill by Messerschmidt of Germany, a hand mill made of heavy-duty plastic that clamps onto the side of the counter and grinds from coarse to fine. The other is the Regal Kitchen Pro (from the same company that makes bread machines), a countertop electric model that grinds everything into beautiful flour and is very reasonably priced. Two other very good mills are a large counter model by Lee, and another by Excalibur, which has been out of production for a few years. If you see one of these at a flea market or garage sale, grab it; these mills are known for their excellence and durability.
R
ye breads are so inherent to the cuisine of Poland that the word
chleb,
which translates to “bread,” is what every loaf that has even a small amount of rye flour in it is called. Since my tester Mary Anne is Polish and rye breads are her favorite, we had to make a rye that combined the complex rye flavor with a very savory sourdough-like aroma during baking, just like in a professional bakery. This is a very light rye, so it is good for sandwiches. This bread garners raves!
1
1
/
2
-POUND LOAF
1 cup (8 ounces) beer
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon minced raw shallot
2 cups bread flour
3
/
4
cup light or medium rye flour
1
/
4
cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons gluten
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
1
1
/
2
teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon SAF yeast or 1 tablespoon plus
1
/
2
teaspoon bread machine yeast
2-POUND LOAF
1
1
/
3
cups (11 ounces) beer
1
/
4
cup apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1
1
/
2
tablespoons minced raw shallot
2
1
/
2
cups bread flour
1 cup light or medium rye flour
1
/
2
cup whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
2
1
/
2
tablespoons gluten
2
1
/
2
teaspoons caraway seeds
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon SAF yeast or 1 tablespoon plus 1
1
/
2
teaspoons bread machine yeast
Open the container of beer and let stand at room temperature for a few hours to go flat.
Place all the ingredients in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer’s instructions. Set crust on medium and program for the Basic cycle; press Start. (This recipe is not suitable for use with the Delay Timer.)
When the baking cycle ends, immediately remove the bread from the pan and place it on a rack. Let cool to room temperature before slicing.
P
umpernickel is a dense, rich, and textured bread. Its flavor is best at room temperature. It is the regional bread of Bavaria, a province of Germany known for hearty good food. There is a story that says the Russian dictator Lenin once carved his inkwell out of a hunk of pumpernickel rye bread. Serve this spread with cheese, use it to make tomato and red onion sandwiches, pair it with all sorts of wursts and mustard, or just toast it. This recipe makes great soft pretzels (see
Technique: Making Soft Pretzels
).
1
1
/
2
-POUND LOAF
1
1
/
3
cups water
3
1
/
2
tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1
1
/
2
cups bread flour
1 cup medium or dark rye flour
1
/
2
cup whole wheat flour
1
/
4
cup cornmeal
3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1
1
/
2
tablespoons nonfat dry milk
1
1
/
2
tablespoons gluten