Author Topic: Bread Machine recipes?  (Read 10734 times)

MoneyCat

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1752
  • Location: New Jersey
Bread Machine recipes?
« on: May 26, 2014, 08:52:57 AM »
We just bought a bread machine off Craigslist and I'm eager to get some production out of it after reading MMM's posts about the success he had with his own machine.  It seems to be a bit of a challenge, starting out.  I am having some trouble finding decent recipes for wheat bread, for instance.  The recipe that came with the machine asks for a 1/4 cup of honey per loaf.  If I am paying for a quarter cup of honey for every loaf, that becomes so expensive that it will completely negate the purpose of getting the machine in the first place.  I tried a recipe off the internet instead and I couldn't even get the dough to rise.

Anyone have any decent bread machine recipes for wheat bread that I could try?  If it helps, it's an old Welbilt machine that makes 1 1/2 lb loaves.
« Last Edit: May 26, 2014, 08:56:45 AM by MoneyCat »

blueeyetea

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 28
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2014, 10:18:56 AM »
If your bread didn't rise, it could have been that your yeast was no longer active - not necessarily the fault of the machine.   I'd suggest you look up the manual of the bread machine with the manufacturer, since they often contain recipes to start.  Then get yourself a recipe book from the library specific to bread machines.   

Then this one has a lot of positive reviews:   

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Best-Bread-Machine-Bread/Detail.aspx?evt19=1#


lb

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 25
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2014, 11:06:06 AM »
This is the recipe we use. Make sure to use quick acting  (bread machine) yeast that rises better. We found the bread can also rise better with different kinds of powdered milk - the Carnation brand rose better than the Nestle Klim. Also if you use hot water rather than warm you can kill your yeast and it won't rise.

The lime juice is to help with acidity; you can sub lemon juice or probably even vinegar but I've never tried that. Adding gluten powder (get it from the bulk section) will make a chewier loaf. You can omit all the seeds if you like and sub all whole wheat for the rye flour, but this is what we eat for all toast and sandwiches.

Whole Wheat and Rye Bread with Seeds Recipe for Bread Machine:

INGREDIENTS (add the wet ingredients to the machine FIRST):
1.33 cup + 2 Tbsp WARM water
1 Tbsp olive oil
~1 tsp lime juice (~1/4 lime)


Add the following to a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly before adding to the bread machine:
3 Tbsp flax seeds
3 Tbsp pumpkin seeds
1-2 Tbsp MILLET (if you want)
sesame seeds (if you want)
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1.5 cup whole wheat rye flour
1.5 Tbsp milk powder
2 Tbsp gluten
1.5 tsp caraway seeds (if you want)
1.5 tsp salt
2 Tbsp + 1 tsp sugar
2 tsp yeast
 

MoneyCat

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1752
  • Location: New Jersey
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2014, 11:31:06 AM »
If your bread didn't rise, it could have been that your yeast was no longer active - not necessarily the fault of the machine.   I'd suggest you look up the manual of the bread machine with the manufacturer, since they often contain recipes to start.  Then get yourself a recipe book from the library specific to bread machines.   

Then this one has a lot of positive reviews:   

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Best-Bread-Machine-Bread/Detail.aspx?evt19=1#

Thanks for the suggestions and the recipe.  I am buying all ingredients at a warehouse store to save money and I think part of the problem has been adjusting the amount of yeast since I am using bulk yeast instead of special baker's yeast.  I'm baking a fresh loaf right now using that recipe and it seems to be rising a lot better.

brycedoula

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 103
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #4 on: May 26, 2014, 11:39:38 AM »
I have a Fleischmann's Yeast bread recipe book from years back. It has both handmade & bread machine recipes in it. Never has a recipe in that book treated me badly!

Perhaps the Fleischmann's website would be helpful for you:

www.breadworld.com

MoneyCat

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1752
  • Location: New Jersey
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2014, 11:56:37 AM »
I have been keeping an eye on the machine while doing other chores today and noticed something that might explain why the bread didn't seem to rise the first time around.  After the dough rose, the machine mixed the dough again, which collapsed everything and now it is sitting in a dense mass in the bottom of the machine.  Anybody know if this is normal?

Mega

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 176
  • Location: Burlington, Ontario
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2014, 12:28:46 PM »
Buy wheat gluten. Add one tbs of wheat gluten for each cup of flour and take one tbs out of each cup, if using USA flour. If Canadian, just do two tbs. This will change your brick loaf into a light and fluffy delight. But it will make it physically larger.

Buy instant yeast. It really does make a difference. I tried upping dose of regular yeast and it didn't help.

You should be able to buy both of these at a local bulk goods store, at reasonable prices. (Instant yeast was the same price as regular at Costco, but only half the weight. You use so little that the cost difference per loaf is negligible)

Check out the recipies on All-recipes. They are pretty good. Try your hand at a cheap white bread for your first couple of loaves until you are comfortable.

If you can find it, try the white bread from Hamilton Beach 29882C manual. Very simple, quick and good. The Italian one in there is excellent as well.

The second kneed is normal. That is when you add fruit / nuts

deborah

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 15961
  • Age: 14
  • Location: Australia or another awesome area
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #7 on: May 26, 2014, 02:22:31 PM »
I have a book called Bread Machine Magic by Linda Rehberg and Lois Conway. When they were testing their recipes on various bread making machines, they noticed that the Welbilt machines needed 1 extra tablespoon of liquid for a 1 pound loaf and 2 for a 1.5 lb. The book is very good.

Argyle

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 904
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2014, 03:21:05 PM »
I use regular yeast in my bread machine and there's no problem.  There certainly was a problem the one time I used out-of-date yeast, but otherwise no issues.

The machine does let the dough rises and then collapses it and lets it rise again, just as happens when you make bread by hand.

Are you opening the machine to see what happens?  That may disrupt the temperature it needs for the bread to rise.

I have a book full of recipes from the manufacturer (different manufacturer, though), and those have worked better than the recipes from generic bread-machine books. 

All the recipes use either molasses (for whole wheat type breads) or sugar (for white), never honey.  I imagine those would work well for you too.  I tried cutting down on the amount of molasses/sugar, because I know Americans make breads too sweet.  You can cut down on the amount a certain extent, but not more than 1/3.

MoneyCat

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1752
  • Location: New Jersey
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #9 on: May 28, 2014, 08:26:53 PM »
Well, I tried switching recipes from the bread machine manual from the wheat bread to white bread to see if it made a difference.  It seems to be rising a little better, but it's still not rising to the top of the pan.  I really hope it's not a problem with the yeast, because I bought the yeast in bulk at the warehouse store, so I have about two pounds of it.

I tried experimenting a little with the water temperature for one loaf-- by adding warm water instead of cold -- but that was a disaster and I ended up with a flat rock hard mess.  Maybe this weekend I can try getting some gluten to add to the dough to see if that makes a difference.  So far, I am really disappointed by this experiment in bread making.

Argyle

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 904
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #10 on: May 28, 2014, 08:58:42 PM »
Buy a little packet of store-bought yeast and try it with that, just one time.  Because your problems sound very, very reminiscent of what happened when my yeast was too old.  It would be infuriating if you'd been sold no-longer-good yeast, but it's better to know than not to know. Our local store regularly sells bulk yeast that is no longer good.  So if that's the problem, you should let them know, and also they should give you your money back.

Wesmon

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 46
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #11 on: May 28, 2014, 09:10:04 PM »
Hi.
Make sure you are using bread flour.
Make sure you are not confusing fluid ounces for ounces of weight.
Follow the recipe EXACTLY. Using a tiny bit too much or too little of something will throw it off.
Do not open the door while it's processing, that will ruin the temperature control.
My white bread is typically fluffier than my whole wheat bread.

My 2 cents worth.

Argyle

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 904
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #12 on: May 28, 2014, 10:56:16 PM »
For what it's worth, I have always used all-purpose flour in the bread machine, and it's worked fine.

But I agree -- don't open it up in the middle.  That will cause problems.

chicagomeg

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1196
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #13 on: May 29, 2014, 08:48:41 AM »
We just bought a bread machine off Craigslist and I'm eager to get some production out of it after reading MMM's posts about the success he had with his own machine.  It seems to be a bit of a challenge, starting out.  I am having some trouble finding decent recipes for wheat bread, for instance.  The recipe that came with the machine asks for a 1/4 cup of honey per loaf.  If I am paying for a quarter cup of honey for every loaf, that becomes so expensive that it will completely negate the purpose of getting the machine in the first place.  I tried a recipe off the internet instead and I couldn't even get the dough to rise.

Anyone have any decent bread machine recipes for wheat bread that I could try?  If it helps, it's an old Welbilt machine that makes 1 1/2 lb loaves.

I use Agave Nectar in place of Honey; I get a huge bottle of it at Sam's club for like $6 or $7. It makes at least 20 loaves. Also, Sam's Club has a crazy good price for bread flour: $8 for 25 lbs. I got these nice food safe buckets from King Arthur Flour to store the 25 lb. bag in, plus three more that each hold 5 lbs that I keep on the counter (for all purpose, wheat, and bread flour).

This is the recipe I use:

1 1/8 c. water (make sure it's warm; I used cold a few times before I realized it was keeping my yeast from rising)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. honey or 1/4 c. agave nectar
1 1/2 tbsp. shortening
2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. bread flour
1 tbsp. dry milk powder
2 tbsp. gluten (really really helps the whole wheat flour rise properly)
1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast

Argyle

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 904
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #14 on: May 31, 2014, 05:47:00 PM »
My recipe is, from the booklet that came with my machine, is:

1 teaspoon yeast
1 1/4 cup white flour
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon milk powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon molasses
1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
1 cup water (I put it in cold, the machine heats it up)

mm1970

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 10880
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #15 on: May 31, 2014, 06:32:32 PM »
I've had a couple of bread machines.  What I learned is that what comes with the machine is the one to use.  When we tried recipes from our old Breadman in the newer Panasonic, they were complete bricks.  So the flour/ water ratio has to be just right.

So maybe surf the web for a bigger book on your machine.  Or just use it for dough.

I've had some bricks too, because I use my machine only occasionally.  Bricks are usually:
1. old yeast.  I buy it 2 lbs at a time at Costco, keep it in the fridge, but then...recently...I got bricks.  how old is that yeast? 
2. old flour.  I use bread flour.  it ages
3. too much water.  If I am not careful to fill the measuring cups correctly (I have to "tap" mine to pack it down), the ratio is off and I get bricks.  Learned that from my spouse, who had much better technique than me at first.


Leisured

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 696
  • Age: 79
  • Location: South east Australia, in country
  • Retired, and loving it.
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #16 on: June 03, 2014, 01:38:31 AM »
MoneyCayt, it sounds that you bought a second hand machine with no instruction book. The instruction book will have recipes, a well as telling you how the machine works, which would have helped when you saw the machine knead dough, then 'punch it down'. Punching down is normal. You might find the user's manual on the internet.

I agree with others that what works in machine A need now work well in machine B. I do not know why.

Accuracy is essential. Buy measuring cups for cooking, and a little plastic jug with graduations.

I use a cooking brush to smear olive oil over the internal surface of thee bread making, er, steel bowl, or whatever it is called. The olive oil allows the loaf to slide out more easily after baking. I add a slice of butter, no accuracy needed, the equivalent of a tablespoon, to make the loaf slightly creamy. Then I add 200 ml of water, and two measuring cups of bread flour. I fill each cup, then use the back edge of a table knife to make the flour level in the measuring cup. I use a teaspoon to make a small well in the top of the flour, and add a heaped teaspoon of bread yeast.

If you are delaying the start, then you will need to ensure that the yeast cannot make contact with  the water, to avoid activating the yeast ahead of time.

Hope this helps.


MoneyCat

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1752
  • Location: New Jersey
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #17 on: June 03, 2014, 01:53:30 PM »
I just baked a 100% whole wheat loaf using the recipe from the machine's manual and a packet of quick rise yeast instead of the regular yeast I bought before and I ended up with about 2/3 of a loaf.  Not that much difference.  Next, I am going to try adding some gluten to see if that changes things.  I am getting really tired of making white bread, because there is not much nutrition in it and it is hurting my stomach with all the sugar.  I'm getting a little frustrated.

Argyle

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 904
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #18 on: June 03, 2014, 01:55:32 PM »
I wonder if your machine is simply not working right.

MoneyCat

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1752
  • Location: New Jersey
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #19 on: June 03, 2014, 02:28:50 PM »
I wonder if your machine is simply not working right.

That could be.  Or maybe I'm just not doing this right.  This is all pretty new to me.  Well, I guess I'll keep at it because I believe in perseverance.

Argyle

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 904
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #20 on: June 03, 2014, 07:42:01 PM »
My machine has never not worked right.  I got it used too.  Once a loaf came out considerably shorter than it should have, but that's because the yeast was very old.  And the loaf was still edible.

Bread machines are designed to be easy, idiot-proof even.  Because the whole point is ease of use.  Otherwise we'd just hand-make it in the traditional way.

If it's taken some time and experimentation and you're still not getting good loaves, and the yeast is good, I'd strongly suspect the machine.  Really they're pretty simple to use.  Unfortuantely this experience is making it seem as if they're hard!  I'd go to the local Goodwill and spend $10 on a "new" machine.

sleepyguy

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 669
  • Location: Oakville, Ontario
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #21 on: June 03, 2014, 09:24:16 PM »
We have a sunbeam ($50-70) one that we use a lot!  I keep to the super basic stuff as my son only likes that.

1cup + a smidgen water
3 cups of bread flour
pinch of salt
some sugar
some of cooking oil
bit of butter
bit of bread yeast

as you can tell i don't really measure stuff :)

3hrs later... good stuff!

Bbqmustache

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 221
  • Age: 2019
    • Financial Literacy Conversations
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #22 on: June 04, 2014, 05:19:57 AM »
If your bread machine did not come with instructions, just Google your make and model with the word "manual" after the make and model.  You will likely be able to download a PDF copy of the instructions for free.

Here's a dessert bread recipe we really enjoy.  And I cannot stress enough that you begin almost any bread recipe with bread flour, regular enriched flour will not work well for bread.  Happy baking!

Chocolate Toffee Bread

Ingredients:

   1 package yeast
   3 cups bread flour
   ½ cup sugar
   ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
   1 egg, unbeaten
   ¼ soft butter (room tempreture)
   ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
   ½ teaspoon salt
   I cup WARM milk
   1 package of toffee chips

Have all the ingredients at room temperature (except the milk).  Add all of them except the toffee chips to your bread machine in the order recommended.  Set the cycle for sweet bread, start the cycle and wait for your machine to beep, signaling the time to add the chips (ours did it at around 3 hours away from finish).

And please wait until it's cooled a bit to taste it.  Enjoy!

CommonCents

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2363
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #23 on: June 04, 2014, 08:16:17 AM »
The order of putting in ingredients matters.  My bread machine requires the liquid in first, followed by the dry ingredients.  Totally counterintuitive!

Zora

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 35
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #24 on: June 04, 2014, 08:49:44 AM »
Anybody have advice on milk powder?

chicagomeg

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1196
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #25 on: June 04, 2014, 09:47:22 AM »
Anybody have advice on milk powder?

What do you mean? Where to find it? I bought mine at my usual supermarket in the baking aisle; no problems finding it.

Mititem

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #26 on: January 16, 2015, 11:32:46 PM »
I want to buy Waring Pro WMK600 Double Belgian-Waffle Maker for myself as I am very much fond of food and baked items.. Please help me in finding the best one. I have heared some good reviews about this waffle machine ..Is that worthy enough to buy ? As it is a lil bit costly too..

Thanking in advance..!!

kathrynd

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 412
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #27 on: January 17, 2015, 03:54:26 AM »
We just use the basic white bread recipe for our machine.
Costs about 60c a loaf (Canadian)

We use water,
 white all purpose flour,
 regular yeast (keep it stored in the fridge)
vegetable oil
salt,
white sugar

Bbqmustache

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 221
  • Age: 2019
    • Financial Literacy Conversations
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #28 on: January 17, 2015, 04:35:53 AM »
I want to buy Waring Pro WMK600 Double Belgian-Waffle Maker for myself as I am very much fond of food and baked items.. Please help me in finding the best one. I have heared some good reviews about this waffle machine ..Is that worthy enough to buy ? As it is a lil bit costly too..

Thanking in advance..!!

You can get a decent one without outlaying that kind of moola.  Try the Oster Flip Belgian waffle maker.  $39.99 at Amazon with free shipping.  Less than half the price of the beauty you mentioned. 

Pigeon

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1298
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #29 on: January 17, 2015, 07:36:19 AM »
I recently got a machine for free from a relative, and I've been learning how to use it. The recipes from the manual work better than those from other sources. I tend to use recipes as a suggestion, but I must follow these exactly. Bread flour works much better than all purpose.

I also bake bread by hand and have for years. The bread made by hand is generally better and I have more choice in recipes. But the machine is really handy. It takes five minutes to set up and then I walk away and come back to a nice loaf of fresh bread.  The machine is very nice to have, especially since I got it for free.

Whole wheat bread is tricky no matter how you make it. I prefer recipes that only use part whole wheat flour.

Mititem

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #30 on: January 25, 2015, 10:23:42 PM »
Thank you so much for your help Bbqmustache.. I have got Waring Pro WMK600 Double Belgian-Waffle Maker .. No doubt this is one of the best latest waffle maker known to me so far.. Now my kids are very much happy by all this ..

MoneyCat

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1752
  • Location: New Jersey
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #31 on: February 22, 2015, 02:30:19 PM »
We were snowed in today so I tried wheat bread again, but this time I used mixed one cup of bread flour with two cups of whole wheat flour and used agave nectar instead of honey.  It turned out perfectly.  Even my wife loves it and she's really picky about bread.  I guess 100% wheat won't work with this machine, but 67% wheat is perfectly fine.  That's really good because this machine was really frustrating me when it is meant to make things simpler and save money.

One way it has definitely saved us money is by producing the best pizza dough we've ever tasted.  We haven't ordered a pizza in months, because what we can produce at home is miles better than what we can get from the pizzeria on the corner.

GeneralJinjur

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 54
Re: Bread Machine recipes?
« Reply #32 on: February 22, 2015, 04:00:30 PM »
Congratulations on your 67% wheat bread!  When my mom was a young Mustachian in the 70s, she made all our bread by hand.  Being a health nut, she also insisted on as much wheat as possible.  Because gluten by itself was pricey, she always used some white flour along with mostly wheat.  We also had bees and the honey that went into our bread came from our backyard.

I am on my third bread machine since the early 90s.  One trick I use is to check the dough a few times in the first 5-6 minutes of mixing.  If it needs extra flour or water, that is the time to catch it and fix it.  The dough needs to be a nice complete ball early in the cycle.  Also, following the order of adding ingredients isn't that big of a deal if you are cooking it right away.  I have found that keeping the oily outside bottom of the bread pan (the part that spins the dough hook) dry and free of soapy water when I am washing extends the life of the bread pan.