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I bake bread everyday. Well there are days I don't bake but there are just as many days that I bake bread twice. I bake all our bread and bread products. I make half whole wheat bread as our daily bread. I have been making sticky buns, hotdog buns (my hotdog bun page), pizza dough, rolls, raisin bread and pita bread since I started making bread daily. I used the same basic recipe for most things. The way the dough is shaped and cooked changes what it becomes. A few years ago I tried bagels. After I had Colin I started making egg bread and an olie bollen type bread (fried raisin bread dough:-). Since Holly was born I started making many more different kinds of breads. I have been making sourdough regularily again after getting a great starter from my friend Karen. I've made bread sticks with toppings, even better bagels, bialys, egg onion buns, anadama bread, facoccio, cheese and garlic "bubble" bread and herbed breads. I bake our bread to save money, because it tastes better and its fun too!
Lots of people are surprise that I have the time to bake with 8 kids but I figured out a few things to make my daily bread making easier and faster. I spend 12 minutes of my time to make 3 loaves. Most of the time is waiting. This includes clean up too! I used to bake bread the old fashioned way and it was lots of work. Then I had a mixer with dough hooks but it was still lots of work and messy too. We bought a bread machine after visiting my grandmother. She was baking all her bread in her machine and we were impressed by it. After 3 months and 100 loaves the machine broke. They fixed it for free but it took 3 weeks to get it fixed. I didn't want to go back to "plastic" bread so I got out my mixer with dough hooks. I just dumped all the ingredients in the bowl and turned it on just like a bread machine. I let the dough rise and then shaped it into loaves rose again then baked. It wasn't much more work and it was so much better! Bread machine bread is really nice compared to "plastic" store bought bread but homemade is the best.
The kids liked my bread much better too. The bread machine bread had a very tough crust and an odd shape. I was hooked. That was 7 years ago and have been baking ever since. My first mixer broke but it was 7 years old and well used. I received a heavy duty Kenwood mixer next. I bought a grain grinder attachment and I wore out the motor grinding wheat. Yes I do grind my own wheat too. I bought a Kitchen Aid professional 5 years ago and its still going strong. I never expected it work so well. My husband attached the grinder to the drill press. It has a strong (and rarely used :-) motor.
If you want to try making bread for the first time try my "Bread for Beginners" page.
To make 3 loaves of bread using dough hooks I place ingredients in the mixer bowl in the order they are listed in. If I'm using "no need to dissolve" yeast I put all the dry ingredients in the bowl and mix lightly before adding the margarine and water. I almost always use old fashioned yeast since I can find it cheaper and I think it might be more forgiving but I'm not sure. The breadmachine taught me there wasn't much difference.
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3 cups water 3 tsp yeast (if using old fashion active dry yeast) 8 to 9 cups flour (half is usually whole wheat flour) 3 Tbsp powdered skim milk 3 Tbsp sugar 3 Tsp salt 3 Tbsp Margarine |
I turn on mixer using the speed and time recommended by the manufacturer. 2 of my mixers used the highest speeds and one used a low one. One took 7 minutes of kneading while my KA takes about 3. I usually start on the lowest speed so it doesn't make a mess If the dough is sticking to the sides while kneading I add about 2 Tbsp more flour. I find stiff doughs much easier to work with but if I have unabsorbed flour I add a Tbsp of water. While the mixer is mixing on low I get a cup of hot water and put it in the microwave for 2 min. I find the microwave a great place to rise the dough (unless I feel like nuking my tea :-). As soon as I get the microwave started I turn the mixer up to kneading speed. When the water is ready usually the dough is too. For white bread I knead it a bit less. I knead the dough by hand for 15 secs to make the dough nice and round. The dough is well kneaded and doesn't need the counter to be floured so no mess.
I never grease the bowl or the top of the bread. I heard it wasn't good for the dough and since it made more work I happily skip that step. I put the bowl in the microwave with the cup of steamy water and let it rise for an hour and 15 minutes. Most recipes say to rise the bread twice in the bowl but I rarely do. I don't notice a texture difference. Its possible that the bread keeps better but we eat it up in a day or 2 so its not an issue anyway. If I was going to keep bread longer I would freeze it. I scoop the dough out of the bowl then knead it a couple of turns to get a bit of the air out. I cut the dough in 3 and shape into loaf shapes while getting the rest of the bubbles out. I used to knead all the air out before cutting but the dough would "tighten up" and be harder to shape. I used to do the pan rise in the micro when I made just 2 loaves at a time but now I use a rubber maid tote. I let the dough rise 50 min to 55 depending on the temp in the house. I bake the bread at 325 for 25 minutes as my new oven has a "quick bake" fan. I used to bake it at 350 for 27 minutes
