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 rye, and twelve-grain breads are just a few variations we commonly see on grocery store shelves. In addition to slices of 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, such as 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 at home allows you to do it your way, and the bread can be hot and fresh when you’re ready to eat it. No preservatives are needed with homemade bread. When it’s homemade, people can’t help but eat it!
A basic white bread recipe can easily be modified to taste. When using a bread maker, an audible alarm sounds at the right time to let you know to add special ingredients. At this point, the dough is still mixing, so any ingredients added at this stage will mix into the bread dough. Try adding raisins, seeds, or nuts for a healthy nutty bread. Add cubes of mozzarella, onion, and pepperoni to make pizza bread, or simply 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 whole wheat or rye flour. These flours are denser than all-purpose white flour and require more time to mix and rise. For example, making whole wheat bread requires an additional kneading period and rising time that consumes an additional 50 minutes in a popular bread maker, compared to making similar white bread.
Read the manual for your bread machine. They are mostly online now, in case you can’t find yours. The manuals show how to use the bread maker and will have some recipes for you to try. You most likely already have the ingredients for a basic white bread.
