Bread Machines Can Be Your Friend

I make homemade bread every four days at our house. It is easy because I have a bread machine. I have a 15 year old model (Breadman Ultimate). It does not matter what brand you have as long as you follow a few rules. If you have one on a shelf collecting dust, you will not believe how easy it is to serve your family bread without any preservatives. I will admit that if you love homemade bread.....you will need to purchase a wooden slicer and bread box. Even a fourth grader and a kindergarten child can do this recipe. I have proof....

These are my grandchildren. They love to make bread. The first time we made bread one of those cuties ask "How can you put ingredients into a printer and get bread?" I then realized how much my bread machine looks like a printer. 

I promise that this white, sandwich bread takes 5 minutes to mix up and pop into the machine. Look at the ingredients....IT IS CHEAP! You leave it alone and in 3 hours you have hot bread. It beeps when it is done....your model may get the bread done a little faster or slower. Get the bread pan and pop out the bread.....use a sharp knife to remove the mixing blade from the bottom of the bread. Then you have a loaf of scrumptious hot bread.

My Favorite 1.5 lb. White Bread (great for toast and sandwiches)
1 cup of water heated to 100 to 110 degrees (instant read thermometer works....15 seconds in microwave works for my microwave) 
3 tablespoons of white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil (NOT olive)
3 cups of BREAD flour (all grocery carry bread flour....King Arthur Bread Flour is best)
2 and 1/4 teaspoon of yeast for bread machines (keep in fridge)

HERE IS HOW YOU MAKE BREAD THE EASY WAY

Measure your cup of water and heat it in the microwave around 15 seconds... just do not get it hotter than 110 degrees. I use an instant read thermometer. Dump the water into the bread pan. Do NOT grease the bread pan. 

Add  3 tablespoons of sugar into the pan. Add 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt into the pan. Pour your 3 tablespoons of oil into the pan. Put 3 cups of bread flour into the pan. Then make a line with a spoon across the flour. Add 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast for bread machine (keep yeast in the fridge) across the line on top of the flour. 

Pop this pan into your bread machine. Make sure the setting are WHITE BREAD, 1.5 LB LOAF SIZE, AND LIGHT CRUST SETTING. Hit start. Now flour is a funny thing. You never know exactly how much water you need. Once you hear the machine mixing your dough, check on it. My dough needed a couple more tablespoons of water. I added two extra tablespoons of water from the tap.  I used a spatula to get the flour out of the corners (while the machine was running)....be careful but it is easy. Then I had a lovely big ball of dough without flour sitting in the corners. Done. Now all you have to do is wait. If you do this at dinner time when you come home, you can pop it out before you go to bed. 

Once the bread is done. Use some mitts and turn the bread pan over. Then put the bread sideways on a board and use a sharp paring knife to cut out the paddle from the bottom of the bread. Be careful it is hot. Then you can cool the bread on a wire rack. If you cut it hot....and I always do....it will not be as pretty. I got this great Amish inspired bread slicer from Amazon. I also have a bread box that glides so that it can fit a changing size loaf of bread. These bread slices fit in the toaster and makes great sandwich bread. 

The right tools make slicing bread simple.