Cookbook Review: 300 Best Bread Machine Recipes

After tucking away my bread machine for the summer, it felt right to take it out and try out some new recipes. Last week I received a copy of 300 Best Bread Machine Recipes for review and jumped right in. While drooling over all the dessert breads and fresh pasta ideas (huh, how did I miss that before that I could make pasta dough in my machine?), I opted for a simple and basic recipe. A 100% whole wheat made vegan. The end results? One of the nicest loaves of bread I have baked. Rustic without being dense, the flavor being mild, made to be the layers of a luscious sandwich. To me, this is sandwich bread. And being able to have bread in a traditional shape has been nice. I am very appreciative of the bread machine Kirk surprised me with for our anniversary this past summer. The Zojirushi BB-CEC20 Home Bakery Supreme 2-Pound-Loaf Breadmaker is a real step up from my previous Breadman. I am hoping Kirk’s tummy can take homemade yeast bread again…after trial and error I think it comes down to avoiding heavy amounts of vital wheat gluten and allowing the bread to sit for a number of hours before eating. Hot bread seems to kill both our stomachs, once cool it is OK. Who knows why? The yeast? Maybe.

Look at that delightful interior – This book is well worth it if you love to bake!

Also…I found something very helpful in the book. Many bread recipes call for dry milk. It adds a lot to bread but with me not buying most dairy items anymore….I saw a next to the recipe about using milk instead of the water + dry milk called for. Oh duh. Gee, the obvious can go past me at times. So I used unsweetened almond milk. Worked perfectly. Use white whole wheat flour if you have it, it is lighter in texture than regular whole wheat.

100% Whole Wheat Bread (Adapted from pages 26-27)

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups unsweetened almond milk
• 1½ tsp fine sea salt
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar, packed
• 3 Tbsp neutral vegetable oil
• 3¾ cups white whole wheat flour or whole wheat flour
• 1¾ tsp dry active yeast

Directions:

Add ingredients in order (or as called for in bread machine directions). Set for whole wheat, 2 pound loaf.

Remove promptly after baking, let cool fully on a wire rack before slicing. Store loosely wrapped in a bread bag.

Makes one 2 pound loaf.

~Sarah

FTC Disclaimer: We received a copy of the book for potential review.

PS: I posted a great recipe for semi-raw Pistachio Halva bars yesterday on my other  blog, TrailCooking. Check them out, they get even better tasting after an overnight stay in the fridge!