a rainy day is good for...
pear slices dipped in caramel.
knitting.
snuggling.
and for toast and tea in the afternoon.
After reading about Stefani's journey for a good daily bread, I thought I'd share mine. (my recipe not journey- her journey is much more entertaining.)
This is my super basic almost whole wheat everyday bread machine recipe. Now this is not fancy dinner party bread. It's toast in the morning or sandwich in the lunch box bread. Because of this bread we've just about stopped buying grocery store loaves altogether, which I think is a good thing.
Put these ingredients in your bread machine in this order:
1 1/2 C. warm water
1 1/2 T. olive oil
2 T. molasses
3 C. whole wheat flour
1 C. bread flour
1 1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. active yeast
4 t. vital wheat gluten
Choose the large, normal loaf setting and push start. 3ish hours later- tada! Wholesome warm bread. : ) If I need to make this bread to go somewhere, I set the machine on the dough setting, punch it down, knead it a few times and put it into a bread pan to rise again and bake in the oven. No one has to know you used your machine at all...
If you have a bread machine and never use it, before you give it away or sell it at a garage sale, you must discover the magic of the dough setting. It may just change your mind.
Comments
thank you for the recipe! enjoy all the knitting, snuggling, pears and biscuits, dear a!
Posted by: Veronica TM | October 22, 2008 04:47 PM
a very good bread indeed! I fully attest to its deliciousness having tasted a slice or two in the past! :)
Posted by: Rachel | October 22, 2008 05:50 PM
ahhh, i'm just going to sit here and look at your day & forget about mine. bread. i could a whole loaf right now.
Posted by: hrsj | October 22, 2008 06:06 PM
nothing like homemade bread. except, maybe, for pear slices dipped in carmel!
Posted by: emily | October 22, 2008 06:56 PM
(finally delurking. i've been reading you for a while. it's feels like such a confession if you wait too long to introduce yourself...)
anyways... thank you for the recipe! i have been on a long and arduous quest to find a good bread recipe and i'm excited to try this one out. and in a bread machine? that's just a bonus!
love your photos, as always.
Posted by: sarah | October 22, 2008 10:55 PM
Wow, love the colours of the tree in the top photo. Its a really miserable, wet and windy day where I am in the world and I'm off work because of a bad back and feeling a teensy bit sorry for myself - but those pics cheered me up. And I'm going to have some tea and toast after my chores to make me feel warm!!
Posted by: Clare | October 23, 2008 03:25 AM
Mmmmm..... Trying this today. :)
Posted by: Crystal | October 23, 2008 10:57 AM
Yeah~ a new recipe for bread!!!! I love
this type of bread~ I love to put some
butter into a blender with some honey,
then blend....you get whiped honey butter!!!
Yum! Toasty Heaven! With tea or coffee!
mmmm........ oh darn now I am hungry!
LOL! I love your day! Sounds good to me,
I don't do those things nearly enough!
Love your photos! Thanks for sharing your
day with us!
Rane and kids.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Posted by: Rane | October 23, 2008 09:55 PM
If you have just about stopped buying grocery store loaves, then that's the bread I've been looking for, my friend. T makes good homemade bread -- but he sort of makes it up as he goes, and it's always very heavy and dense and best eaten warm with butter and not so great for sandwiches and such. And one of my cello students gave me a high-end (zojirushi) bread machine that they found at a thrift store for $3 (they already had one that they'd paid full-price for so they snatched it up knowing what it was worth and that someone they knew would want it). So, this is just the thing that I needed!!!
Posted by: Grace | October 24, 2008 09:24 AM
Oh, that sounds like a good day. We're having weather in the 90s here - I'm being cheated out of an Autumn. I just can't get into the right frame of mind for the upcoming holidays - my body clock is all messed up.
Posted by: Lil' d | October 24, 2008 10:33 AM
Thanks for the recipe! I'll try this one. I need to get some gluten. The last time I tried wheat bread, it was DENSE.
Posted by: amy h | October 24, 2008 12:43 PM
Thanks for the recipe, I will have to give it a try. I have tried to make bread in my machine I couldn't tell you how many times. Every time it always come out 1/4 loaf instead of the full thing. I think it has something to do with the yeast, can never get it right. I will have to give it another try....
Posted by: Hannah | October 28, 2008 01:12 AM
I dusted off my bread machine after probably 8 years sitting on a shelf in my garage. I've been wanting to do this since reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver this past summer, and your recipe was the prompting I needed. Thank you! It is delicious!
Posted by: Ana | November 7, 2008 11:37 PM