Bread is a staple of life. We have all eaten it and some of us depend on it for daily food. A favorite sandwich for lunch, a crust of bread with soup for dinner or jam and toast in the morning are common ways we can all enjoy bread.
Bread comes in many shapes, sizes, textures, and flavors. Plain white bread, whole wheat, caraway seed rye, and twelve grain breads are just a few variations we commonly see on grocery store shelves. In addition to sliced bread for sandwiches, there are rolls and buns for hot dogs and hamburgers. Many stores have bakeries where many types of bread are made or delivered daily, including Italian bread, French baguettes, focaccia, salolio bread, rolls, muffins, cakes, and more.
When you take a little time to make your own bread, you can add the ingredients you like and leave out the ones you don’t. Making it homemade allows you to do it your way, and the bread can be hot and fresh when you’re ready to eat it. No preservatives needed with homemade bread. When it’s homemade, people can’t help but eat it!
A basic white bread recipe can be easily modified to taste. When using a bread maker, an audible alarm sounds at the right time to alert you to add special ingredients. At this point, the dough is still mixing, so the ingredients added at this stage will be mixed into the bread dough. Try adding raisins, seeds, or nuts for a healthy, nutty-flavored bread. Add cubes of mozzarella cheese, onion, and pepperoni to make pizza bread, or just add your favorite cheese to make cheese bread.
Whole wheat bread is just as easy to make with the right recipe. The important part to remember when using a bread machine is to use the correct program cycle when using wholemeal or rye flour. These flours are denser than white all-purpose flour and require more time to mix and rise. For example, making a whole wheat bread requires an additional kneading period and rising time that consumes an additional 50 minutes in a popular breadmaker, compared to making a similar white bread.
Read the manual for your bread machine. They’re mostly online now, in case you can’t find yours. The manuals show how to use the breadmaker and will have some recipes for you to try. You most likely already have the ingredients for a basic white bread.
