Tara’s Tips: Bread Machine

Use bread flour when making bread.

If you don’t have bread flour simply add 1-2 T. of wheat gluten to unbleached all-purpose flour. This adds protein also.

Use high quality flour. Off brand flour (generic, Hy-Vee, store brands, etc.) usually produces loaves that are about half the size of Gold Medal, King Arthur and Hodgsen Mill flours. Although they are generally cheaper, the quality and taste are mediocre. I use many specialty flours (organic, white/wheat mix) found at health food stores and have had the best luck with these.

Use the correct amount of salt. Salts such as sea salt or kosher salt have a better flavor, in my opinion.

Have the bread ready at least 1 hr. before you serve it. If you cut the bread to soon, it may collapse the loaf.

Try the delay timer mode on your machine. I start my bread before I go to bed. The bread cooks overnight and my family wakes up to the smell of warm bread.

Time Saver Tip: Pre-mix your bread in an assembly line. Add all dry ingredients of your favorite recipe to a large, plastic baggie. When it is time to make bread, simply pour the bag into your machine and add the wet ingredients. Less mess, less time. I do about 35 bags at a time. This will last about 3-4 months at our house. It takes approximately 30 lbs. of flour, 1 box powdered milk, less than 5 lbs. of sugar, 1 container of salt. Total cost is approximately $12 with leftover ingredients. Each loaf of bread is approximately 35¢. Total time to pre-mix is about 1 hour. Store the finished bread in the baggie that the mix was in.