(lots of links at the bottom, scroll down!)
The best invention since sliced bread.
I love my bread machine.
I haven't gotten the hang of it for making bread down here at sea level - actually, I'm having a hard time making healthy bread. So far what's working for me is to make the dough and bake in the oven. (BTW - I am desperately looking for a whole wheat bread recipe that can be made in a breadmaker, 1-1/2 lb. loaf, not using honey. All the recipes I've found make a 2 lb. loaf, which bakes up great but I can't get it out of the breadmaker pan!)
Ahh...the DOUGH setting! Miracle of miracles!
Make dinner rolls, pizza dough, even pretzels -haven't tried those!
I use it to make kolaches, which I never made very often, but now I make a lot. My husband has quite good luck selling them for 50 cents at work, and we get $2 a piece for the sausage ones - one batch of dough makes 9-10 sausage kolaches for pennies, plus about $2 for the links, which adds up to a tidy profit!
Sausage kolaches make a good dinner too. I can make the dough up to a day ahead and store in the fridge, then just roll 'em up, let 'em rise, and bake. Split open and serve with mustard and sauerkraut, or whatever you want on them... they are like a "pig in a blanket" but oh so much better. And the kids don't peel the "blanket" off and eat only the meat with these! Very portable - great for lunches on the run or picnics.
My sister gave me her bread machine, and I picked another one up at a thrift store - you can get them for under $10 there, and I just downloaded the manual from the manufacturer's website.
Helpful hints:
Gluten is cheap, and is called for in many bread recipes. Find it near the flour and cornstarch on the baking aisle.
Don't buy packets of yeast. Buy a jar. Buy it in the flour aisle, NOT the bread machine aisle. You can also get a great price on bulk yeast at warehouse stores.
1 packet of Quick Rise Yeast = 2 1/4 tsp.
Add the salt as listed in the recipe. Don't skip it.
Bread recipes are formulas that are affected by weather, ingredients, altitude... and each machine is slightly different. If a recipe doesn't work, don't be afraid to try again with a different recipe or to tweak it! Flour and water are cheap - but a good loaf of bread is priceless!
Don't commit to bringing a ton of baked goods to your church social until you have a tried-and-true recipe - you've made it at least 2-3 times with great results.
Kolache/Dinner Rolls in the Bread Machine
Basic Dough
1 c. warm water (110 degrees F) 3 c. bread flour
1 egg, slightly beaten 1/4 c. white sugar
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine 3 tsp. Quick Rise or Bread Machine yeast
1 tsp. salt
(Do not add gluten)
Add ingredients in order listed for your machine. Mine is a Sunbeam, and you add wet ingredients, then dry ingredients, then make a well and add the yeast. Set for "Dough" setting.
For rolls:
When dough is done, grease a 9x13 pan or muffin tins. Turn your oven on to 200 degrees, for 5 minutes or so, and then turn OFF. (You just want it to be warm) Remove bread pan and punch dough down. Grease your hands -this dough is soft. Pull off golf-ball sized chunks and roll into a ball. If you use muffin tins, you can make 3 little balls together to make cloverleaf rolls. I just put the golf-ball sized dough barely touching in the 9x13 pan. Let rise 1 hour in warm oven, until doubled in size. Then turn your oven on to 350 degrees and bake 15-30 minutes (ovens vary). Take them out when they are brown. It should sound hollow if you tap the top with your fingers. Rub a stick of butter or brush with melted butter/margarine while still hot. Remove from pan to cool. Makes 18-24 rolls, depending on size.
For Savory Sausage Kolaches:
Get a package of sausage links (hotdog size). I use Bar S. Make dough in breadmaker. Divide dough into about 9-10 portions. Wrap around sausage, pig in a blanket style. You can wrap the whole thing, or leave the ends of the sausage out. Place in warm oven, let dough rise 1 hour. Bake 350 degrees 15-20 minutes until golden.
Serve with sauerkraut, good mustard, and horseradish. (You can cut the sausages in half and make 18-20 kid sized ones too).
For Breakfast Kolaches:
Roll into balls (golf ball sized) and put on greases cookie sheets. Put in oven to rise, 20 minutes. While they are rising, make filling:
Cherry - Chop up cherry pie filling (I use a Pampered Chef chopper) to make cherry bits.
Apple- Apple pie filling, add cinnamon and sugar, chopped up; or cook finely chopped apples in a little butter, ci
nnamon, and sugar until soft.Cheese: 1 block very soft cream cheese, 1/2 c. white sugar, 1 egg yolk. Beat with mixer.
Traditional fillings are Poppy Seed (buy it in a can in the pie filling aisle) and Prune... but my family doesn't like that. Plus husband dear works construction, with random drug tests, so Poppy seed isn't the best choice! You can fill with just about anything, but avoid commercial jams and jellies, or very runny fillings like blueberry - they won't work. Homemade fruit spread, made without juice, will work fine. You can make the fillings ahead, too, they'll keep in the fridge for 3-5 days fruit, 2-3 days cheese.
Melt 1-2 tbsp. butter or margarine with 1 tsp. white sugar.
Take risen rolls out of oven. Grease your fingers, and punch a hole in the middle of each roll. Make it deep - but don't punch all the way through the dough. Put a teaspoon of filling in each roll. Brush dough with melted butter. Let rise for another 20 minutes, then turn on oven and bake until golden, 12 minutes or so.
Cool on racks. You can freeze the dough, just bring to room temperature and rising time might take longer. Or you can freeze these after they've been baked.
Here's some links to get you started - happy baking!
Bread Machine Manuals (Sunbeam and Oster are identical; also try googling your machine with "+ free manual"
Bread Machine Recipes
Bread Making Troubleshooter
Home Baking Association
HillBilly Housewife - Bread machine recipes, and how to stretch a yeast packet
Backcountry bread baking, includes info on grains, and tortilla recipes too.
And for those interested in nutrition:
Sue Gregg and the Two Stage Process (.pdf file)
Weston A. Price Foundation and Nutrition facts for Wheat
(I don't grind my own wheat yet, but even baking your own bread is better than storebought)
White bread and Kidney Cancer
Dr. Mercola on bread and Kidney Cancer (he's very anti-grain/vegan eating, but has great links)
Now, ladies, bread is dangerous, so don't sue me if you use your breadmaker: ;)
1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.
2. Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.
3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations.
4. Every piece of bread you eat brings you nearer to death.
5. Bread is associated with all the major diseases of the body. For example, nearly all sick people have eaten bread. The effects are obviously cumulative:
6. Evidence points to the long-term effects of bread eating: Of all the people born since 1839 who later dined on bread, there has been a 100% mortality rate.
7. Bread is made from a substance called "dough." It has been proven that as little as a teaspoon of dough can be used to suffocate a lab rat. The average American eats more bread than that in one day!
8. Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and osteoporosis.
9. Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.
10. Bread is often a "gateway" food item, leading the user to "harder" items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cold cuts.
11. Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 80 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.
12. Newborn babies can choke on bread.
13. Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 400 degrees Fahrenheit! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.
14. Most bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.
In light of these frightening statistics, we propose the following bread restrictions:
1. No sale of bread to minors.
2. A nationwide "Just Say No To Toast" campaign, complete celebrity TV spots and bumper stickers.
3. A 300 percent federal tax on all bread to pay for all the societal ills we might associate with bread.
4. No animal or human images, nor any primary colors (which may appeal to children) may be used to promote bread usage.
5. The establishment of "Bread-free" zones around schools.
For the Kids:
Bread of Life worksheet/coloring
Bread from your Backyard
A great "unit study" of planting to finished loaf of bread.
Bloggy first hand account of wheat harvest ( I haven't browsed the entire site, but there are some good pictures in the Oat Harvest posts)
Jesus feeds 5000 (loaves and fishes) links, crafts, lesson plans for preschool (Evangelical Christian)Little Red Hen lesson plan and crafts for preschoolers
Tags: Works for Me Wednesday, Nutrition, Crafts and Cookery
