best bread from a bread machine

By gwen -

I've found baking with my bread machine -- I have this one -- to be a lot harder than I anticipated. For me, it's harder to get bread right using the machine than using the traditional way, especially if you want to make anything except plain white bread. 

Challah and sourdough are non-starters (haha look at my sourdough joke there). My mix-ins never distribute right, and I've never had any success at all with rye or whole wheat or any kind of whole grain. The moment you sub in any other kind of flour, it all goes to hell and I wind up with an extremely dense, totally inedible doorstop. Also a lot of bread machine recipes use milk powder, which I never have and never can remember to buy. 

This King Arthur recipe, with slight tweaks below, is the best one I've found and reliably produces solidly A-/B+ bread. The only mishap I've had is that once, on a really hot day, making the large loaf (which I'd made before just fine!!) created a huge rise that spilled out of the top of the machine, ruined the bread, and was impossible to clean. 

Am I just bad at bread machines and should stick to my cousin's trusty challah recipe forever? Maybe someday I will have an oven that bakes at a consistent temperature and doesn't heat up the entire house, so baking in the summer won't seem impossible...

Ingredients for a small (1-pound) loaf:

  • 2/3 cup (152g) lukewarm water
  • 1/4 cup (57g) lukewarm milk
  • 2 tablespoons (28g) butter
  • 2 1/2 cups (300g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • 4 teaspoons granulated sugar
  • 1 heaping teaspoon (8g) table salt
  • 1 NOT-heaping teaspoon active dry yeast or instant yeast

Instructions:

Weigh everything.

Combine the water and milk and microwave for 20-30 seconds. Check to make sure it's lukewarm.

Put all the ingredients into your machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer.

Program the machine for basic white bread, medium color, and press Start.

When the loaf is done, remove the pan from the machine. After about 5 minutes, turn it out onto a rack to cool.

Comments

yashikawebdesigninghouse said…
"That sourdough pun rose to the occasion. Unlike my bread. My machine basically makes bricks with a crust."
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6:45 AM
muskan said…
"Bread machines and I have a complicated relationship—like an ex who sometimes brings you cupcakes but mostly just disappoints."
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6:51 AM
kajal said…
"I feel you! Whole wheat is like the bread machine’s kryptonite. Dense bread could double as gym weights."
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6:51 AM
gautam said…
"Honestly, if my bread machine spilled over like that, I’d just start calling it a bread volcano and pretend it was intentional."
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6:52 AM
Bhanu said…
"Every time I add mix-ins, my bread machine decides to create an art piece called 'Lopsided Chaos.'"
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6:52 AM
karishma said…
"King Arthur recipes are a lifesaver! They really know their flour. My machine respects them more than me."
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6:53 AM
manas said…
"I’ve had bread machine ‘successes’ that were so dense, they could sink ships. I guess I made submarine bread?"
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6:53 AM
Web designing house said…
"I, too, have given up on rye. The bread machine turns it into a geological formation every time."
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6:53 AM
varshakush said…
"Is it bad that I’m relieved to hear I’m not the only one making doorstop bread?"
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6:54 AM
Tripti said…
"My bread machine thinks ‘mix-ins’ are optional decorations. Everything gets stuck at the bottom."
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6:54 AM
SHUBHAM said…
"I now keep a notebook of my ‘Bread Machine Blunders.’ Entry 48: 'Tried sourdough. Machine laughed at me.'"
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onlinepromotionhouse22@gmail.com said…
"When I get my bread right, I feel like a wizard. When I fail, I remind myself that store-bought bread exists."
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6:55 AM
shivaniwebdesigning said…
"Who knew bread machines were so picky? It’s like babysitting dough that throws tantrums."
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6:55 AM
prachi said…
"Bread machine recipes: Step 1 – Weigh everything. Step 2 – Pray. Step 3 – Hope for the best."
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6:56 AM
Naina said…
"I’m convinced milk powder is just a conspiracy to make us feel unprepared."
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abhay said…
"You’re not alone! Bread machine rye bread tastes like regret in loaf form."
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