Baking Homemade Bread

[Yvonne Smith]

How i wish that @BethG would show up here; she and @John Brunner were our hero’s and geniuses when it comes to baking bread, and most other baking ! !

Anyway, carrying on….. after reading so much about the dangerous things we have in our bread here in the United States that are restricted in many European countries, and how healthy real bread made without all of the preservatives and junk can be; I decided to find the bread machine and try making our own bread.
I had a great chat with Copilot about bread-making flours, and using a bread machine to bake them with, ordered some Bob’s Red Mill Artisan bread flour, and now have my first loaf in the kitchen baking for this evening.

From what i read, many people are now buying bread flour produced in Italy, or some other country that has better and safer flour; but since I expect to have a learning curve with this, I decided it makes sense for me to start with a good quality flour, but not an expensive one at this point, and copilot recommended the Red Mill flour for my endeavors.


Here is a picture that shows the difference in the bread we Oldsters had back when we were kids, and how the same bread is made now.

 

[Tony Page]

I wish Beth and John were here also.

Many years ago I did bake a lot of bread using a B machine. They had a receipt and technique to set a timer so bread would be made first thing in the morning. You'd wake-up to the smell of fresh bread baking.

We have been talking about getting another bread machine, maybe someday.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

Back sometime in the 1980s I had a good bread machine. I bought another much later on, and it was slightly fancier but it never did a good job so its sits stored in a kitchen cabinet.

I like the idea, but I have cut way back on bread anyway. So these days I try to find bread with a short ingredient list topped by whole grain flour.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

The bread actually came out great, on my first try ! The recipe from copilot was simple and easy to follow, and it made a large loaf of bread.
I think that those older bread machines were much better than the new ones are, @Jacob Petersheim .
I had an old one for many years that was a simple machine, thrift store bargain, and worked fine; but (silly me), I decided to get one that Amazon had on sale a few years ago.
It is a Chinese nightmare !

The direction book was too small to read, and written in Chinglish, so hard to understand what i could read.
The machine itself has a teeny-tiny 2 inch box with all the menu choices, and no light on it, so it is almost impossible for me to even read without a flashlight.
Plus. After I downloaded the online manual, I discover that is also makes yogurt and ferments food, and one of the settings is “fruit” with no clues what that even does.
I didn’t buy the thing to make yogurt …..I bought it to make bread. Grumble, grumble. Anyway, besides that, everything went fine, and i will be making more bread.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

While my kids left behind a lot of my computer and audio gear, etc., when they moved us here, some of the things in found in the storage unit were Cindy's never used bread machine, a pressure cooker, and several other items she had for her kitchen, like her KitchenAid Stand Mixer (minus most of the attachments, naturally...) that I gave her for Christmas years ago. I would use it, but that things is so heavy I had trouble lifting it years ago, there's no way I can do it now.

Something I do use is her Wolfgang Puck 2 piece "Springform" cake pans. This is what they look like, but not the set I gave her that I got at Kohls.

The set I gave her had two of the square ones, a 12" one and a 10" one. They're great for making homemade pizza... I get some instant pizza dough (yeah, I hear you snickering, Yvonne) and it fits in the 12" pan perfectly, add sauce, cheese, meats, peppers, etc., and it's delizioso! That is assuming I feel up to making it. If not, we like Tortizza just as well. I use two Mission "Carb Balance" flour tortillas for crust. (7 carbs each!)

But I might have to see if I could figure out how to coax a nice loaf of whole grain bread out of that bread machine.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

While my kids left behind a lot of my computer and audio gear, etc., when they moved us here, some of the things in found in the storage unit were Cindy's never used bread machine, a pressure cooker, and several other items she had for her kitchen, like her KitchenAid Stand Mixer (minus most of the attachments, naturally...) that I gave her for Christmas years ago. I would use it, but that things is so heavy I had trouble lifting it years ago, there's no way I can do it now.

Something I do use is her Wolfgang Puck 2 piece "Springform" cake pans. This is what they look like, but not the set I gave her that I got at Kohls.

The set I gave her had two of the square ones, a 12" one and a 10" one. They're great for making homemade pizza... I get some instant pizza dough (yeah, I hear you snickering, Yvonne) and it fits in the 12" pan perfectly, add sauce, cheese, meats, peppers, etc., and it's delizioso! That is assuming I feel up to making it. If not, we like Tortizza just as well. I use two Mission "Carb Balance" flour tortillas for crust. (7 carbs each!)

But I might have to see if I could figure out how to coax a nice loaf of whole grain bread out of that bread machine.

What is instant pizza dough, @Axel Slingerland ? Is it a mix (like biscuit mix), or something you buy already prepared, like the pie crust that just lay out in the pan ? I remember buying the Appian Way pizza mixes, and those were great ! Just mixed everything up,, added your toppings, and bake, and there was pizza.
Now, I usually either buy the frozen kind with the cardboard crust, or i make a dough with self-rising flour, and then add the toppings and bake in the toaster oven

If you decide to use Cindy’s bread machine, here is the simple recipe that Copilot gave me, and it is super easy to do (or I would not even be attempting it). Once i get the basic bread making thing going on, I want to make some with more things added, but for now, even having a loaf of edible bread is a win for me.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

Bread machine easy recipe. This is using the Red Mill flour, but you can use any brand of bread flour. I was looking for something with no GMO, and pesticides, and Red Mill is a good brand.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

My big problem with the bread maker I have is that I almost always got a result nearly burnt on the bottom, wet and doughy above that, and maybe half at the top sort of edible. Bleh!

No amount of fiddling seemed to make it right.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

Oh, yes, i can totally relate, and that is why I wanted a really simple recipe, and basic baking settings. This one uses the default setting of the bread machine (which I didn’t discover until after trying to read all the menu and choose the right settings), and it had just the right amounts of everything to actually make a good loaf that didn’t come out like a blob of bread cement, or some other unwanted result.

I was chatting with my daughter in the Netherlands, and she said her bread machine is here at her house in Huntsville, where my son and daughter-in-law are currently house-sitting.
My DIL is going to bring me Robin’s machine on Monday. Anything Robin has should be easy to use and have actual English directions, and then I am going to re-home the one i have now.
Try using this recipe on whatever basic white bread setting your machine has, and see if it does not turn out a good loaf, @Jacob Petersheim .

 

[Yvonne Smith]

This morning , I asked copilot about adding some whole wheat flour to the bread next time. He said to start with a small amount and see how it does, because the whole wheat makes a denser loaf of bread, and also needs a little more water or liquid. Since the recipe is 4 cups of flour, next time, I will try exchanging one cup for WW flour, and see how that goes.
Actually, I probably won’t make any more bread before Monday, when I get Robin’s bread machine, so I think I will repeat the original recipe in her machine and see how it turns out, and then start making modifications.
I also ordered a little plastic container to put the bread in and keep it fresh, since it doesn’t fit in a regular bread bag.

 

[Marie Mallory]

How i wish that @BethG would show up here; she and @John Brunner were our hero’s and geniuses when it comes to baking bread, and most other baking ! !

Anyway, carrying on….. after reading so much about the dangerous things we have in our bread here in the United States that are restricted in many European countries, and how healthy real bread made without all of the preservatives and junk can be; I decided to find the bread machine and try making our own bread.
I had a great chat with Copilot about bread-making flours, and using a bread machine to bake them with, ordered some Bob’s Red Mill Artisan bread flour, and now have my first loaf in the kitchen baking for this evening.

From what i read, many people are now buying bread flour produced in Italy, or some other country that has better and safer flour; but since I expect to have a learning curve with this, I decided it makes sense for me to start with a good quality flour, but not an expensive one at this point, and copilot recommended the Red Mill flour for my endeavors.


Here is a picture that shows the difference in the bread we Oldsters had back when we were kids, and how the same bread is made now.

View attachment 886

So true, now and then I make what I call 'mama's bread, a quick flour, water pan greased with peanut oil. Also use buttermilk if we have it.
I buy pumpernickel rye from store sometimes, I seldom eat bread, too much work out for one piece of bread. So I don't eat much meat at all, never cared for a lot for meat, so no problem.
Even online sometimes I'm training dogs or cooking so much to do so little energy.

 

[Marie Mallory]

Bread machine easy recipe. This is using the Red Mill flour, but you can use any brand of bread flour. I was looking for something with no GMO, and pesticides, and Red Mill is a good brand.

View attachment 891

All the work around here we need things quick and simple, this one seems more my logical but I'd love to try yours too.

 

[Marie Mallory]

I'm am not getting things done anymore like I did just a couple months ago, vines are back with a vengeance and other chores not as prompt as before.
It really bothers me to see vines, guess I am obsessed.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

I have made a quick bread with self-rising flour and yogurt (or kefir) before, and it also works fine for making flatbread cooked in the skillet.
I am not into the long process of actual bread-making, so the bread machine saves all of that. It is just a matter of dumping everything into the machine and turning it on.
They do not cost all that much for new ones, but are usually under $10 at a thrift store or yard sale, and have probably barely been used.

 

[Marie Mallory]

I have made a quick bread with self-rising flour and yogurt (or kefir) before, and it also works fine for making flatbread cooked in the skillet.
I am not into the long process of actual bread-making, so the bread machine saves all of that. It is just a matter of dumping everything into the machine and turning it on.
They do not cost all that much for new ones, but are usually under $10 at a thrift store or yard sale, and have probably barely been used.

That sounds like my kind of cooking. I'll sure check a bread maker out, thanks. For about 20 years I didn't eat bread or crackers at all, since I started back it has always been open sandwich one slice, been about 22 or more years since I;ve eaten a 'sandwich'.

 

[Tony Page]

That sounds like my kind of cooking. I'll sure check a bread maker out, thanks. For about 20 years I didn't eat bread or crackers at all, since I started back it has always been open sandwich one slice, been about 22 or more years since I;ve eaten a 'sandwich'.

I wish I can do without bread. Just about everything I eat, I use bread.
When I go to the bakery or bread store I stock up on a variety of bread, to the point in which my wife and daughter complain that I take up all the freezer room.

While i'm going for radiation treatment I believe the diet has minimal bread. I've been trying to think of a way to stretch my cheeks, so I can stuff bread in there like chipmunk. HA, HA

 

[Marie Mallory]

I wish I can do without bread. Just about everything I eat, I use bread.
When I go to the bakery or bread store I stock up on a variety of bread, to the point in which my wife and daughter complain that I take up all the freezer room.

While i'm going for radiation treatment I believe the diet has minimal bread. I've been trying to think of a way to stretch my cheeks, so I can stuff bread in there like chipmunk. HA, HA

Tony when I got diabetes the metformin make me sick and I didn't want to have to take shots, so I used diet and exercise to treat it for past 23 years or more. I'm sure if I live long enough there will come a time when I'm not able to use weights ot dance,etc, to treat it.

 

[Don Alaska]

Years ago, when I was single, I baked my own bread. I struggled a bit at first, but I got some "lessons" from the baker at the hospital I worked at at that time, and things began to improve. She told me I was not kneading enough, so she instructed me to picture the dough as the people who had frustrated me or angered me in the previous few days. It worked like a charm! I continued to bake bread into the first decade or so of married life, but we just couldn't keep up with bread consumption with 6 kids and everything else going on in our lives at the time. I was given a bread machine, and I tried using it, but wasn't taken by the results. I did enjoy using it for cinnamon bread when I could start it in the evening and awake to fresh cinnamon bread for breakfast. Eventually though, even that fell by the wayside and the bread machine moved to the garage...then to the thrift store. My wife cannot eat grains, and I eat one loaf of bread every two weeks or so, so it isn't worth messing with now.
@Yvonne Smith it sounds like Copilot is fast becoming your best friend. A little spooky....

 

[Yvonne Smith]

You are right that I do enjoy using the copilot AI to get answers online, @Don Alaska ! Usually, you just use the search engine and look though the results until you find the information you are looking for, which might be right away, or it might take some digging though the answers on the results pages.
So , if i just want to know something really simple, like “compare the nutrition between parsley and cilantro” (as an example), then it is quick and easy to just ask copilot instead of looking through the different search engine results.

My DIL was upset because the gmail app only lets you delete one email at a time, so I asked copilot about it, and he gave me a couple of workarounds that she can use to delete more junk email at a time.
I don’t ask about things where i know it will be biased, because they mostly have “woke” programming; but for home and cooking information, I really like it.

 

[Krystal]

I miss Beth and John too! I miss their humor, knowledge, and forum friendship. I hope they are well.

I have made bread since I have been in my 20's. I use to make it by hand, when my hands were stronger. Now I make the dough in my stand mixer using the dough hook so it can do most of the kneading for me. I save my hands to shape the dough into what kind of bread I want to make. One day, I may have to get a bread machine.

I make bread of some kind a few times a month. A couple of days a go, I made dinner rolls and hamburger buns. Today, I made some bread so I could turn it into bread crumbs to freeze. I use my food chopper to chop up the bread into crumbs and then I bake them in the oven to dry them out. I use bread crumbs in recipes such as; meatloaf, meatballs, and to coat chicken breasts, when I bake them.