Life

From Cooking

One of the gifts I received for Christmas was a bread machine. I had been talking about getting one for a while, as commercial breads have been becoming increasingly pasty and overly sweet as various once delicious bakers are bought out by international conglomerates more interested in profits than taste.

By this point in time we have tried quite a few recipes. Our favorite so far is undoubtedly one originally based on this Light Oat Bread recipe but with a few changes to match our tastes:

• 1 1/4 cups water
• 2 tablespoons soft butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups bread flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 packet active dry yeast

Bread machine settings: Basic, 1.5lb loaf, light crust.

It's interesting how sensitive these recipes are; with more experience I hope to get more consistent round tops for example. So far though, we've devoured every loaf.

Beyond bread, there is a recipe in the book for pizza crust. Although it took 1.5 hours on the dough setting, it made the best pizza crust I've ever managed to turn out. Looking forward to more dough recipes, and I need to try rolls at some point.