My Bread Maker

  It is time to admit the deep and devoted love I have for my … breadmaker.

                Growing up, my mother hand-made cinnamon swirl raisin bread every fall.  I’m not sure how many loaves she used to make, but enough always occupied the freezer to give away as last minute gifts to teachers and friends in addition to those as planned gifts and Christmas morning breakfast.  I used to help her with the steps that my little self could do.  While I remember how to do it, I also distinctly remember how long it took.  Between kneading and rising (and kneading and rising), she was making bread long after I lost interest.

                I’m grateful that she taught me how to make bread (in addition to so many other things!) because I can fully appreciate how awesome bread makers are.  I truly think that everyone should learn to make bread from scratch (no boxed mixes!) and by hand (knead it yourself!) before ever getting one of these machines.  However, once you do, you will love it.  YOU WILL LOVE IT.

 Homemade bread used to be a holiday treat or day long project.  My husband and I now eat homemade bread every day.  I make one or two loaves a week.  I give them away as gifts.  I recently made homemade soft pretzels.  I can’t wait to make cinnamon buns.  I should buy stock in the yeast and bread flour companies. 

Okay, let’s start with what model I have.  My wonderful husband surprised me with the Cuisinart 2 lb Bread Maker (LINKY) for my birthday.  The KitchenKapers down the street was selling both the Cuisinart model and an Emeril Lagasse one.  The store workers both claimed that the Cuisinart one was better (for reasons that escape me now) and – bonus! – it was cheaper than Emeril one.  Sold, sir.

The machine comes with its own recipe book (LINKY) and, so far, I have not strayed too far from the book.  Sometimes I add in slightly different ingredients, but mostly I’ve followed the book.  I think I’ve now made about 30% of the recipes.

What is in the book?  My word.  The machine comes with ten different cycles: White Bread, Whole Wheat Bread, French/Italian Bread, Quick Bread, Low-Carb Bread, Gluten-Free Bread, Dough, Artisan Dough, Sweet Bread, and Jams.  Each one of those cycles has several different recipes.  My favorites so far are plain white bread (I’m so boring), Challah (so good!) and Granola Bread (yum!).  Each cycle is designed specifically as far as kneading and rising times to cook each type properly.  The shortest cycle is about 2 hours (sweet breads) and the longest is about 4 hours (whole wheat breads).

All the recipes call for bread flour, which simply has more gluten than all-purpose flour.  (There is a whole science to kneading that revolves around gluten.  Perhaps I’ll make a post about it on my easy science blog, Amedeo!)  You can use all-purpose flour, but I try to buy the right stuff.  Everything else is quite self-explanatory as far as yeast, butter, eggs, milk.  All very ordinary stuff!

Holy moley.  I just realized I can make something called “Chocolate Chip Cookie” Bread with this machine.  I’m off to try that.  Stay tuned for more!  I’m going to dedicate a whole section to my breadmaker and its goodies!