I have two favorite smells in life. The smell of a freshly bathed baby. Be still my heart. The second favorite smell is homemade bread baking in the oven. Delicious.
While it might be cool to say that I make several loaves a week by mixing and kneading, I would be lying. I haven’t kneaded bread for quite some time.
But making several loaves a week with my bread machine is absolutely true. In just a few minutes of work, I can fill our home with the amazing aroma of bread and fill my family’s bellies with deliciousness.
There are several reasons why I bake our own bread. First, I can make a loaf of bread for a fraction of the cost of bread in the stores. It blows my mind that wholesome loaves are up to $4 a loaf! Second, I only put natural ingredients in my bread; no preservatives. Finally, it tastes so much better. We use our bread for toast, sandwiches, french toast…anything you would use bread from a store for.
This is the bread machine that I own. Nothing fancy but it gets the job done. I personally don’t like the short fat loaves but for the price, this baby does a fine job.
For a family of six, I wouldn’t even think about going less than a 2-lb bread maker. A loaf like that makes approx 12 slices of bread. Because I am not fond of the baking container and how bread machines bake whole wheat bread, I use the “dough” setting on my bread machine only. Then I bake the loaves in loaf pans in the oven. Of course you can do the whole process in your bread machine or us the recipe without a bread machine.
I have played with several recipes but we have finally developed our favorite which makes beautiful sandwich bread. I double this recipe to make two loaves since I don’t bake it in the bread machine.
Drum roll please…
Whole Wheat Bread
1 cups warm water
2 Tablespoons oil
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 cup bread flour
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoon yeast (1 package)
Put all ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed. Set on
dough cycle. When dough cycle is finished, take dough out and shape into
a loaf in a greased bread pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30-45 minutes (until doubled). Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown. ~~or~~ Set on whole wheat setting and allow bread machine to mix, knead, and bake.
Click to print the recipe.
Side note: When I first got my bread machine, my bread did not rise. I called the manufacturing company and they told me to add the salt with the yeast (although most recipes say not to do this). It did the trick. I have had no trouble since.
You might like these other bread recipes:
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I make most of our breads at home too. I let the bread machine mix and knead and do the first rise and then I shape and do a 2nd rise before baking. Our favorite: Honey Wheat or Honey Multigrain! Yum!
Jessy
Jessy – Would you mind sharing your recipes? That sounds delicious!