Tips for baking bread?

[WaterRat]

I use my breadmaker to make the dough as well, then I take it out for the second rising and baking. If I want to make more than one loaf, I do it by hand. But since there's just DH and me, one loaf is all I make.

I'm trying to drastically limit grains (trying a gluten-free experiment), and I'm really missing my breads. I may have to experiment with some of the gluten-free flours.

There are several good websites on gluten-free cooking glutenfreegirl is one I read a lot - she has lots of good veggie recipes as well as those for gluten free baking.

[melwolfe]

I bought a cuisinart breadmaker last week and finally was able to try it out last night. I made a whole wheat bread that tastes fine but it's a little heavy, any suggestions or ideas to make it lighter? I really want to try and make a good sandwich bread as my hubby packs lunch every day in the summer.

[zenor77]

Originally Posted by melwolfe

I bought a cuisinart breadmaker last week and finally was able to try it out last night. I made a whole wheat bread that tastes fine but it's a little heavy, any suggestions or ideas to make it lighter? I really want to try and make a good sandwich bread as my hubby packs lunch every day in the summer.

I add 2 Tablespoons of vital wheat gluten per loaf to my whole grain bread recipes. You can find it in the bulk section of most stores that carry bulk flours or you can sometimes find it in the baking aisle. It's a little expensive compared to other flours, but you don't use much and it improves the texture of 100% whole wheat bread a lot!

I make bread almost every week and sometimes I do it by hand, but usually I use my kitchen aid mixer. It depends on the recipe I use. If I'm making a four loaf batch I have to do it by hand (I usually make 2 loaves and make the rest into burger buns.) Kneading by hand is so soothing and therapeutic.

[melwolfe]

If I didn't work I would love to do it by hand but I just don't have the time at this point. I am however really trying to eat healthier all the way around. Bought a yogurt maker too, can't wait to go home and try the yogurt. I put it in the fridge before I left this morning!

I did add vital wheat gluten, but maybe it needed more or maybe I just need a different wheat bread recipe............Oh well, this was only the first batch so I'll keep trying. The texture wasn't bad per se, it was just kinda heavy, tasted good though, so we can have a slice with dinner tonight but just not quite right for a sandwich ya know?

[WaterRat]

Melwolfe - you can also trying using a combination of white and whole-wheat. My DH doesn't digest ww well, so I usually do 1/3 white, 2/3 ww, and it comes out fine.

[mizski]

I can't have soy & most commercial/bakery breads have soy flour (plus a lot of other things I don't want). Trying to find soy/additive free whole grain breads was next to impossible so I started baking my own.

I tried making bread from scratch years ago and as I remember it was very time consuming and a lot of work. Being a bread baking novice I finally bought a Zojirushi mini bread machine that makes little 1# loaves. I LOVE it!

I bought the Zo Mini & the two bread machine cookbooks by Linda Rehberg from amazon.com (I went thru the 3FC site so they get the points/credit for the sale.) A bit on the pricey side but research showed Zojirushi bread machines to be superior to many other brands. It is simple to use (the hardest part is measuring out the ingredients) and all my breads have come out perfect. The bread machine cookbooks are fabulous with tons of recipes for healthy whole grain breads and breads that have fruit or veggies in them plus traditional breads/rolls/pizza crust, etc. I really like the small 1# loaves as I can make different kinds without having a lot of bread hanging around if I had a big loaf machine. It was money well spent.

p.s. The Zo mini also makes dough, cookie/cake/pasta dough & fresh fruit jam/jelly.