I really love to bake homemade bread, but it is time consuming and I don’t always have time for it. My mom bought me an awesome bread maker a few years ago and I have been using it whenever time is tight ever since. I have gone through a lot of bread maker recipes and this one is our favorite for basic bread.
You will need:
1 3/8 cups room temperature water
2 tablespoons softened butter
4 cups King Arthur Bread Flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons dry milk
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
2 and 1/4 teaspoons yeast
Measure the water and the butter into your bread machine’s pan. Layer the dry ingredients on top. Put the yeast in the machine last. If you are going to use a delay start of any kind, it is really important that the yeast is not touching the water. The best way to do this is to form a little well in the flour, similar to the way you do with mashed potatoes and gravy, and place the yeast in there.
In my opinion, most bread machines tend to bake bread a little longer than necessary, so I always select the lightest crust setting on my machine, even if a recipe suggests something different.
I think it is always a good idea to use specific bread flour when baking bread and I love King Arthur flours for just about everything. They make everything from all purpose and organic whole wheat to almond and hazelnut flour, even a gluten-free flour. I love that they have a flour for every recipe and every family. We love to use whole wheat pastry flour for a lot of things and when we lived in Texas we had a hard time finding it. King Arthur.com has it all there, convenient and easy to find.
How about you, do you ever use a bread machine?
(This post was sponsored by King Arthur Flour. All opinions and recipe are 100% my own)
mmm that looks so good, definitely pinning
I need to pull out my breadmaker more.
Did I miss the name of your bread making machine? I don't have one. Have you ever done the math on what a loaf of your homemade bread costs vs. store-bought bread?