Bread Machine Italian Bread - Easy Homemade Bread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What type of flour is best for bread machine bread? ›

Be sure to use a flour made from hard wheat, which means it's high in protein, and therefore high in gluten. The gluten combines with water to form the elastic strands that trap carbon dioxide given off by yeast, allowing bread to rise.

Too much heat or humidity might lead to a too-quick rise and a crevice near the center of your bread. Conditions that are too cold might delay proofing or rising, resulting in a super-dense loaf.

Making bread from a machine is marginally cheaper than buying it, as long as you eat bread frequently enough to offset the cost of the appliance. Specifically, I see this as an investment that's smart for households that go through bread quickly, like large families or homes with multiple roommates.

The Very Best: Instant Yeast

The yeast of choice in most restaurant kitchens and commercial bakeries, it's easy and convenient. Ever seen a bread recipe that asks you to mix the yeast with warm liquid and allow it to bubble first before using?

While bread flour is the best option, it can sometimes be used if you don't have bread flour. “Check the protein content,” advises Chef Jürgen, since it can vary from brand to brand, and an all-purpose flour that contains protein on the higher end of the range, 12 to 13 percent, will produce a better outcome.

Some attribute the demise of the bread machine to the fact that cooks were just disappointed by their results. Lara Pizzorno, the author of Bread Machine Baking, chalked it up to food snobs who regarded the machine as “the electric equivalent of The Bridges of Madison County” in a 1996 article in The New York Times.

Potato Flakes or Potato Water

Starch helps the dough by trapping the gas from the yeast in the dough and makes the bubbles stronger. This helps the bread to rise and be lighter and fluffier. If you are boiling potatoes, you can use the unsalted water in place of the water in your bread recipe to help out the yeast.

You can always substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour one for one in any recipe that calls for it. Your bread might not raise quite as high or have quite as much chew, if you are using all-purpose flour, but it will still be delicious and homemade and all the good things.

One disadvantage of using a bread maker as opposed to your hands is that the paddles are typically fixed, meaning they remain in the dough when baking, often leaving a hole in the middle of the loaf. Whilst this is not the biggest hinderance, it can be an annoyance to those who aim for gold standard loaves.

How much does it cost to make a loaf of bread with a bread maker? ›

Cons: Not always cheaper than a supermarket or bakery

Baking a multigrain loaf from scratch using a breadmaker or oven will cost about $3 in ingredients alone, which doesn't include electricity. Fiona estimates about another 12 cents for energy, taking your homemade loaf to $3.12.

"Bread machine bread flour" is the same thing as bread flour; both contain more gluten than all-purpose flour. If you don't have bread flour, you can make a substitution: 1 cup all-purpose flour plus 1 teaspoon wheat gluten (available at health food stores & some supermarkets) to make 1 cup of bread flour.

While bread flour is more than adequate for everyday breads, some professional bakers use high-gluten flour with a 14% protein content to provide extra strength to dense, chewy doughs like bagels and pizza dough. High-gluten bread flour gives milk bread it's taut structure and compact (but tender) crumb.

Self-rising flour is a combination of salt, flour and a leavening agent. While not traditionally used in conjunction with bread machines, self-rising flour can be used as a substitute for bread flour.

Yes, you can easily use all purpose flour in a bread machine. All purpose flour is used in many bread machine recipes, especially sweet “quick breads” such as banana bread, pumpkin bread, gingerbread, zucchini bread, etc. You can also use all purpose flour to replace bread flour in many sandwich-type breads (esp.