I have had a bread machine for several years. I bought mine back in 1990 before they became popular. It cost me about $149, and at the time that was more expensive than most of the other machines on the market. When I buy something I try to get something that will last as opposed to ending up in the land fill. At the time I had no idea how well the machine would last.
Recently I started to wonder if my unit was to stop working, would I be able to get another one. This started me looking to see where the unit was made, and if the company was still in business. I was almost surprised to see my unit was made in the USA. That is something we very seldom see on products now days. I also did some research to see if the company was still in business and unfortunately they are not.
Over the years I have used my machine for many types of breads and pizza crust. I purchased two books several years ago and use both of them still today for my recipes. I haven’t tried all of the recipes but seem to stick to a few and constantly use them.
The two books are:
The Breadman’s Healthy Bread Book
Bread Machine Magic
When making bread I like to use whole grains which tends to make the bread heavier and denser. The loaves made with whole grains don’t rise as well as loaves made with basic white flour, nor do they tend to be light and fluffy like we have become accustomed to.
After many years, I recently decided to see if I could locate a better recipe for bread. This led me to the recipe I am going to share with you. I found the original recipe on an online recipe site and tweaked it a bit to include some whole grain flour and changed to oil to peanut. The recipe has become a hit with my son and the chickens as well. Since we do not eat that much bread, we share it with the chickens as it tends to spoil before we can get through an entire loaf. Be sure to add the ingredients as indicated even though your bread machine directions may indicate differently.
I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as we do!
Bread Machine Bread
Ingredients:
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/34 C) I heat the cup of water in the microwave for approximately 30 seconds and check the temperature with a meat thermometer.
2 Tablespoons sugar (I prefer to use organic cane sugar)
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
¼ cup peanut oil (I have found peanut oil helps the bread to stay more moist and not be as crumbly).
3 cups flour (I like to use one cup of my organic ground spelt flour which I grind with my grain mill, along with two cups of unbleached organic all purpose flour).
1 teaspoon salt (I use Real Salt http://www.realsalt.com/ )
Place the yeast, sugar, and water in the bread machine pan. Mix together and let dissolve and foam for approximately 20 minutes. Add the flour, oil and salt to the pan. Select white bread or basic setting on your machine and press start.
