Ari's Bread Machine Notes And Basic Bread Recipe Recipe

Here are my favorite tips and basic bread recipe:

1. Don’t by those tiny packets of active-dry yeast. Get it in bulk in a
health-food store. They charge at least 10x more for those tiny packets —
you’re paying almost entirely for the packaging. (Store yeast in the
fridge.) 1 packet = 1 TB.

2. Wheat gluten is very useful in helping the dough rise. I add around 1
TB per cup of non-bread flour ingredients.

3. Oil is NOT necessary and actually detracts from the taste. All you
really need for good bread is flour, salt, yeast, and water. Everything
else is optional.

4. The best breads are simply a mix of flours (whole wheat, rye, oats,
corn, buckwheat, rice, or whatever you like). Remember thought that wheat
flours are necessary for the gluten content, unless you add gluten
separately. Adding fruits and herbs and flavored liquids are interesting
but I prefer “pure” breads. I prefer graham flour over regular whole
wheat.

5. Each machine is different and my recipes are usually not exact — if
the dough looks sticky and isn’t forming a ball then it’s too wet: add more
flour; if it looks dry (ball doesn’t have a relatively smooth surface, for
example) add more liquid a tablespoon or two at a time.

OK, so with all that idealism taken care of here’s my basic bread recipe:

1 TB active dry yeast 1 1/2 cup bread flour 1 1/2 cup graham (whole wheat)
flour 1/2 cup rye flour (use the coarse grind, preferably) 2 TB wheat
gluten (sometime called vital wheat gluten) 1 tsp salt 1 TB honey 1 2/3 cup
water

Add ingredients in order suggested by your bread machine manual.

This is intended for a 3 cup bread maker, if your machine is smaller just
scale it accordingly. Similarly, your bread maker may suggest using less
than 1 TB yeast.

For a particularly festive bread try adding 1 TB basil 1 TB tarragon 1 tsp
rosemary chopped garlic…