This Bread Machine Dough Recipe Makes the BEST Homemade Bread! (2024)

FAQs

What is the best flour to use in a bread machine? ›

Just be sure to use a flour with a high protein content. King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, with its high gluten, is an excellent flour for bread machines. Numerous people have told us that their recipes worked in the bread machine using King Arthur, when they didn't work with other all-purpose flours.

Homemade bread contains no chemicals, artificial additives, preservatives, or enzymes. These are often used in store-bought bread to make them stay fresher for longer and enhance the taste.

Because I was trying the machine with a money-saving mindset, I appreciated that I didn't have to buy any specialty ingredients to get consistent results. In terms of taste, the bread was good—very good—but not necessarily life-changing.

While bread flour is more than adequate for everyday breads, some professional bakers use high-gluten flour with a 14% protein content to provide extra strength to dense, chewy doughs like bagels and pizza dough. High-gluten bread flour gives milk bread it's taut structure and compact (but tender) crumb.

The Very Best: Instant Yeast

Instant yeast is the only yeast I ever use in my baking. Always have and always will. The yeast of choice in most restaurant kitchens and commercial bakeries, it's easy and convenient.

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

Perfect Your Yeast Levels

Carbon dioxide is responsible for all the bubbles that make holes in bread, making it lighter and fluffier. Because gas is created as a result of yeast growth, the more the yeast grows, the more gas in the dough and the more light and airy your bread loaf will be.

The usual reason why bread becomes too dense is due to using flour with low protein content. When your loaf is spongy and heavy, you might have also put too much flour into it or made the dough in a cooler or too warm setting. Bread baking may seem simple.

Some attribute the demise of the bread machine to the fact that cooks were just disappointed by their results. Lara Pizzorno, the author of Bread Machine Baking, chalked it up to food snobs who regarded the machine as “the electric equivalent of The Bridges of Madison County” in a 1996 article in The New York Times.

What is the disadvantage of bread maker? ›

One disadvantage of using a bread maker as opposed to your hands is that the paddles are typically fixed, meaning they remain in the dough when baking, often leaving a hole in the middle of the loaf. Whilst this is not the biggest hinderance, it can be an annoyance to those who aim for gold standard loaves.

You add the ingredients, and the bread machine makes and bakes the bread in one handy appliance. Liquid ingredients are added first, then oils or fats, dry ingredients, and finally yeast (if your recipe calls for it). The machine will mix, knead, rise, and bake the dough to a beautifully soft bread with a crisp crust.

Avoid the fridge: Refrigeration can actually accelerate the staling process of bread. Instead, keep the bread at room temperature in a cool, dry place. Use a bread box: If you have a bread box, it's an excellent way to keep the bread at an ideal humidity level, maintaining its softness.

Can I Use Bread Flour Instead Of All-Purpose. Bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour, but it can be used in place of all-purpose flour and vice versa. However, keep in mind that the higher protein content of bread flour may result in a dry dough or batter, so you may need to add water.

Even if your all-purpose flour doesn't have enough gluten, it's okay to use it in the bread machine. Again, the worst that will happen is that your bread won't rise as much as it would have with bread flour.

So yes, you should use bread flour in the recipe. It has higher protein than all-purpose flour and will help your bread rise better and hold its shape.

Strong or bread flour has a higher protein level that plain flour. It is this protein that contributes to the strength of the gluten. However, this is where it gets complicated. Looking for flour labelled as 'strong' or 'bread' flour is a good idea when you are just starting out on your bread making journey.