Can you help with bread machine recipes?

[sahmmie]

I've decided to make all of our own bread from now on and I've been experimenting with my bread machine which sat in a cupboard for 10 years! It still works (amazing) but I am not thrilled with the recipes included in the manual. I want a whole grain bread. The only one in the book is whole wheat which is fine but I am finding it to be a little heavy. Can you share any of your bread machine recipes for whole grain breads?

Also, is it always necessary to use dry milk in bread recipes? I'd prefer not to use powdered milk but it appears in every recipe I've found.

Thanks so much for your help!

[WorldsBestMom]

Keep looking through this forum. I am sure I have seen some questions about bread recipes don't remember where though.

[elanorh]

My favorite bread machine cookbook is The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook (Hensperger). Are you making 100% whole wheat bread, or is it a mixture of whole wheat and bread flour? Are you using gluten in your recipe?

The 100% whole wheat recipe in the above cookbook does not call for powdered milk (I don't think) although some of the recipes in the book do.

[sahmmie]

Thanks. I'll keep searching this site.

I never thought of getting a bread machine cook book. Thanks for that suggestion! No, I'm not using gluten (adding it I mean, but I'm not using gluten free flour), and yes, I'm trying to make whole wheat bread. I'm assuming bread flour is not whole grain.

[allnaturalmom]

I will second the Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook. Great book! IIRC, though, it does call for gluten in many of the recipes. FWIW, I have omitted the added gluten in most of the recipes I tried from the book w/much success.

Also, I don't ever use powdered milk.... I sub regular milk in place of the water in the recipe. You cannot do this if you use the delay start feature on the bread machine.

gl
hth

[sahmmie]

Originally Posted by allnaturalmom

I will second the Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook. Great book! IIRC, though, it does call for gluten in many of the recipes. FWIW, I have omitted the added gluten in most of the recipes I tried from the book w/much success.

Also, I don't ever use powdered milk.... I sub regular milk in place of the water in the recipe. You cannot do this if you use the delay start feature on the bread machine.

gl
hth

Thanks. What is the added gluten for? What does the milk do for the bread? Could I substitute half the water with milk? (I usually do not use the delay function).

I am going to order the book from amazon, but my kids need (or want) bread ASAP so I will have to keep trying until it gets here.

[elanorh]

Bread flour is white flour, you're correct. And quite a few of the recipes do have bread flour in them, rather than a 100% whole wheat recipe. But there are a few which are straight whole grain(s) too.

The gluten is vital wheat gluten, and she uses it in most of her recipes because she says it makes up for the difference between hand-kneading bread, and machine-kneading bread. I know my breads have turned out much better now that I'm using gluten. At first I was really frustrated with my bread machine (used the machine's recipes).

And, yes, you can use milk instead of water to sub for not using the powdered milk in your recipes, as long as you're not using the delay timer. Milk or other dairy in recipes provides more richness, and often the bread keeps a bit better than a 'lean' bread with little or no fat (ie a French bread, or one with just a couple Tbsp. oil in it).

ETA: She has information boxes throughout the book and there are a few where she talks about the ratios of gluten to the type of flour, etc. and modification of your own bread recipes for use in a bread machine, if that's helpful for you.

[sahmmie]

Oh, thanks. That helps. I look forward to getting the book and trying out some of her recipes. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!