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Baking Bread
The simplest way to learn how to bake bread is to follow a basic recipe. The following recipe
is easy and the bread is delicious.
Before you begin, make sure you have the following measuring equipment:
- Liquid measuring cup
- Dry measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
You will need the following ingredients:
- Water
- Butter/Margarine
- Salt
- Bread fl our (be sure to buy bread fl our,
preferably for bread makers)
- Dry milk
- Sugar
- Active, fast rising yeast
Measuring ingredients
The most important secret of making bread is exact measurements, that’s the key to
successfully baking bread.
With wet ingredients, use ONLY measuring cups with the cups/ounces marked clearly on the
side. After fi lling the measuring cup, place it on a fl at surface and view it at eye level to make
sure the amount of liquid is exact. Then, double check.
With dry ingredients, always “level off ” the measurement with the back of a knife or a
spatula to make sure the measurement is exact. Another helpful tip is to never use the
cup to scoop the ingredients (for example, fl our). By scooping, you could add up to one
tablespoon of extra ingredients. Fill the measuring cup with a spoon before leveling off .
Order of adding ingredients
The SECOND most important secret of making bread is putting the ingredients into the
breadmaker in the EXACT order given in the recipe.
This means:
- FIRST, liquid ingredients
- SECOND, dry ingredients
- LAST, yeast
Also, make sure ALL ingredients are at room temperature, (between 77°–85° F) unless
otherwise noted in the recipe.
Note: Temperatures too cool or too hot can aff ect the way the bread rises and bakes.
It’s a good idea to start with all new, fresh ingredients (especially fresh fl our and yeast).
Now, let’s try a simple (but really good) recipe.
Traditional White Bread 2 lb. loaf
Ingredients:
1 & 3/8 cups water
2 tablespoons softened butter or margarine
4 cups bread fl our
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons dry milk
1 & 3/4 teaspoons salt
2 & 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
Instructions:
1 Carefully measure 1 and 3/8 cups water. Remember, use water that is room
temperature. DO NOT use very hot or very cold water. It’s a good idea to view the
measuring cup at eye level to make sure you have measured exactly 1 and 3/8 cups.
2 Pour the water into the bread pan.
3 Carefully measure 2 tablespoons of butter or margarine that is at room temperature.
Add this to the bread pan. This takes care of all of the liquid ingredients for the recipe.
Next comes the dry ingredients.
4 Measure 4 cups of bread fl our. Make sure not to “overpack” the fl our into the cup.
To avoid over packing, a good trick is to fi ll the measuring cup to overfl owing, then
tap the side of the cup with a knife or spatula to remove air pockets. Level off the
measuring cup with the knife or spatula. Pour the fl our into the bread pan.
5 Measure 2 tablespoons of sugar. Again, make sure to level off the tablespoons for
an exact measurement. Add the sugar into the bread pan.
6 Measure 2 tablespoons of dry milk. Level off the tablespoons of dry milk like all of the
rest of the dry ingredients. Add the dry milk to the bread pan.
7 Measure 1 & 3/4 teaspoons of salt. It is especially important to measure the salt
precisely because too much salt, even a little, can aff ect the rising of the dough.
Add the salt to the bread pan.
8 Before adding the yeast, use your fi nger to form a well (hole) in the fl our where you
will pour the yeast. Yeast must NEVER come into contact with a liquid when you are
adding ingredients. Measure (again, leveling off ) 2 & 1/4 teaspoons of yeast and
carefully pour it into the well you made in the fl our.
9 Carefully snap the baking pan into the breadmaker.
10 Close the lid of the bread machine and plug the power cord into the wall outlet. The
following things will happen. The machine will “beep,” and the lights of the display will
turn on. The time setting will say “3:25” hours.
11 Repeatedly press the “Crust Color” button to select the kind of crust you want. For this
recipe we recommend “Medium”. Depending on the crust color you select, the arrow
will be pointing to either light, medium or dark.
12 Press the “Start/Stop” button and your machine will start making bread. You will hear
the breadmaker begin to mix the ingredients.