1 Text Reference
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…
Yields
1 servings