I was over at my mother's the other day and noticed her old bread machine in the corner. I asked her if I could have it and she was delighted to have it leave the counter. I have, in the past, used a bread machine with very good results and thought since I was at the moment the homemaker of the family why not? Unfortunately upon trying the machine I found it hopelessly froze up (it was at least 20 years old). I told Sue of the death of the machine; she said, "oh, we have one somewhere around here...".
A little side note here; I have been very busy cleaning out the cupboards in a very nice kitchen and have found all sorts of wonderful devices sharing room with the dust and..... Just hadn't run across the bread machine yet!
Well, after a little searching we found it!
Now, this one is also quite old BUT it works, and works well. It is not fancy, not very configurable, but it gets the job done. So, off I went to the store and bought 3 "in the box" bread machine loaf "kits". (well, what do you call them?). Tried a couple and had good results but it wasn't much fun. Soooo, off to the computer to find out what I could find out about honest to goodness HOME MADE BREAD MACHINE BREAD!! LOL! Well, good old amazon.com to the rescue (I just love that site!). I found a wonderful book, down loaded it to our Kindle and then linked the Kindle to my computer and away we went!
Well now! Everything you ever wanted to know about bread machine bread but were afraid to ask!! Using the machine, knowing your terms (gluten?), and just like that brand new cell phone of yours about 3/4 more than you will ever use!! Ha!
Breads from around the globe (ciabatta, pagnotta, pane toscana to name to many). Oh...my...gosh I am in heaven now!! Not only breads but pizza, cinnamon rolls, fruit cakes (NO!), jams and preserves you can do in your wonderful bread machine! Need I go on? (ok, quit the yawning!).
Many loaves later, guess what I discovered? Now, listen up, this is the quote of the year!!!
THE SIMPLEST WAY IS USUALLY THE BEST WAY
That's right folks! A good 'ol down to earth recipe for bread machine bread has them all beat (so far!). But, it's still going to be fun to keep trying to disprove this! Stay tuned!!
