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How To Bake Easy
Focaccia With Your Bread Machine
This is just about as easy as it gets for
some really good homemade focaccia. Make the dough in
your bread machine (or with a stand-type mixer). It
doesn't take a lot of time and it's a great project to
tackle with the kids.
Here's how:
Start
with a lean, white bread machine mix, or use the recipe
below. By lean, we mean one that is low fat and doesn’t
call for fresh eggs. A buttermilk bread mix is perfect.
Easy Bread Machine Focaccia
Bread
Ingredients
1 1/4...
Focaccia, bread, how
to, recipe, Italian, crusty, crusty bread
This is
just about as easy as it gets for some really good
homemade focaccia. Make the dough in your bread machine
(or with a stand-type mixer). It doesn't take a lot of
time and it's a great project to tackle with the kids.
Here's how:
Start with a lean, white
bread machine mix, or use the recipe below. By lean, we
mean one that is low fat and doesn’t call for fresh
eggs. A buttermilk bread mix is perfect.
Easy
Bread Machine Focaccia
Bread Ingredients
1
1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups
bread flour
1 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2
teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dough conditioner
1
4-gram yeast packet
Add the ingredients in
accordance with the manufacture’s directions or mix in
your stand-type mixer. Set the bread machine to the
dough setting. If you are using a stand-type mixer,
after mixing, let the dough rise until doubled.
Punch down the dough, shape it into a ball, and then
cover it with plastic wrap. Let it stand for 15 minutes.
In the meantime, mix together the following ingredients
for a topping:
Topping Ingredients
2-3
tablespoons parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon basil
1/2
teaspoon oregano flakes
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2-4 tablespoons good quality olive
oil
Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat
the oven to 375 degrees F.
Gently place the
round dough on a large greased baking sheet and press it
into an oval 9x15-inches. Make 1/2-inch deep
indentations in the dough with your fingers one to two
inches apart.
Pour two to four tablespoons of
olive oil over the dough, letting it run down into the
indentations. Spoon the topping mixture evenly over the
dough.
Bake the bread for 20 to 25 minutes or
until the top turns golden brown. Remove the bread to a
wire rack to cool for ten minutes before serving warm.
Makes ten to twelve servings.
Notes: You can use
this as a pizza crust or vary the toppings or spices to
taste. Try onions, mushrooms, or spinach. If you don't
have olive oil, you can use melted butter or a good
quality vegetable oil.
Copyright 2003-2007, The
Prepared Pantry (http://www.prepraredpantry.com ).
Published by permission
How To Bake
Multi-grain Bread
A quick perusal of your baker’s shelves
will tell you how popular multi-grain bread is. But it’s
not hard to bake—you can make your own. You can use any
recipe and add the cracked grain mixture though
traditionally, a whole wheat recipe is used. The
following instructions and recipe will tell you how.
With most cereal mixes, 1/3 cup to 6 tablespoons of
cereal per loaf is about the right ratio. If you want
soft cereal bits in your bread, soak the cereal for an
hour in hot ...
multigrain multi grain, bread,
whole wheat bread, rolls, how to, baking
A quick
perusal of your baker’s shelves will tell you how
popular multi-grain bread is. But it’s not hard to
bake—you can make your own. You can use any recipe and
add the cracked grain mixture though traditionally, a
whole wheat recipe is used. The following instructions
and recipe will tell you how.
With most cereal
mixes, 1/3 cup to 6 tablespoons of cereal per loaf is
about the right ratio. If you want soft cereal bits in
your bread, soak the cereal for an hour in hot water
before starting the bread. It’s not necessary but a nice
touch. If you are baking bread in your bread machine on
a three hour cycle, the long cycle will tend to soften
the grains without pre-soaking.
Because both the
bran in the whole wheat and flour and the sharp edges of
cereal tend to cut the gluten strands as they develop, a
couple tablespoons of added gluten is a good idea.
Always use a quality, high-protein content bread flour.
Your bread will never be better than the flour that you
use.
Hi-Country Seven Grain Bread Recipe
This recipe uses a seven grain cereal mix. You can
certainly use other cracked grain mixes or cracked
wheat. Because different grain mixes and different grain
sizes absorb water differently, be prepared to adjust
the water to flour ratio in the recipe. (With our flours
and cereal, in our kitchen, this is exactly the right
water to flour ratio.)
Ingredients
3/4
cup seven grain cereal or other cereal or cracked wheat
1 1/2 cups hot water
6 tablespoons butter
3 cups
good quality bread flour
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons wheat gluten
1 teaspoon dough
conditioner
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons
salt
1/4 cup baker’s high heat dry milk
1 7 gram
packet of instant yeast
1 cup warm water at 105 to
110 degrees
Directions
1. Mix the cereal
with the 1 1/2 cups hot water. Set aside for two hours
to absorb the water and soften.
2. Melt the
butter in the microwave and set it aside to cool. With
shortening or butter, grease a large bowl for the dough
and
2 large loaf pans (9 x 5-inch). If you are going
to make hearth loaves, grease a baking sheet and
sprinkle it with cornmeal.
3. Measure the flours
into a large bowl by whisking the flour so that it’s not
packed and then spooning it into the measuring cup
followed by leveling the top with a straightedge. Add
the gluten and conditioner and stir to combine. Stir in
the sugar, salt, and dry milk.
4. Put about 1/3
of the flour mixture in the bowl of your stand type
mixer equipped with a dough hook. Add the yeast. Add the
1 cup water at the indicated temperature. With the dough
hook, run the machine for thirty seconds to mix the
water with the flour to create a slurry. Add cereal and
water mixture and the rest of the flour mixture. (The
cereal and water mixture should be 105 to 110 degrees.
If it has cooled beyond that, reheat it in the
microwave.) Add the melted butter.
5. Mix at
medium speed for about four minutes or until the gluten
has formed and the dough is elastic. The dough should be
soft but not too sticky. To reach the right consistency,
you may need to dribble a little extra water (maybe one
tablespoon) or flour as the dough is kneading. Place the
dough in the prepared bowl and cover it to keep the
dough from drying while it rises. Let it rise until it
doubles.
6. Gently deflate the dough and form two
loaves either as free-standing loaves on a baking sheet
or sandwich loaves for your bread pans. Cover the loaves
and let them rise again until the dough is soft and
puffy, about doubled in size.
7. Preheat the oven
to 350 degrees. Bake the bread for about 35 minutes. The
time will vary depending on your loaves, the pans, and
your oven. The bread should make a hollow sound when
thumped on the bottom. The internal temperature of the
loaves should be 190 degrees.
Remove the loaves
form the pans and let them cool on a wire rack. Cool
completely, or nearly so, before slicing.
Copyright 2003-2007, The Prepared Pantry
(http://www.prepraredpantry.com ). Published by
permission
How To Choose The
Perfect Bread Maker
Bread makers are extremely popular. The
average person can make delicious, homemade bread quite
easily with a bread maker. Even with the ease of a bread
machine, you must still use caution when adding the
ingredients, even if you use a mix. You can make a
variety of shapes and sizes of loaf with a bread
machine. Many people use a bread machine to simply mix
the ingredients then bake the loaf in a traditional
oven. Sizes range from one pound to two pounds or more,
and you will...
bread, bread maker, kitchen
gadgets, make bread, kitchen
Bread makers are
extremely popular. The average person can make
delicious, homemade bread quite easily with a bread
maker. Even with the ease of a bread machine, you must
still use caution when adding the ingredients, even if
you use a mix. You can make a variety of shapes and
sizes of loaf with a bread machine. Many people use a
bread machine to simply mix the ingredients then bake
the loaf in a traditional oven. Sizes range from one
pound to two pounds or more, and you will most likely
choose between a square or round loaf pan.
Some
bread makers will have a preheat cycle to heat the
ingredients before baking. If you want your bread to
rise properly, choose a bread maker that does not heat
before time to bake the bread. Bread makers will
generally have separate settings for different types of
bread. There may be settings for wheat or French bread,
and you will be able to choose the doneness of the bread
such as a light, medium, or dark setting. There will
also normally be a regular or rapid bake cycle. It is
desirable to have a window in the top or side of the
bread machine to allow you to see the progress of your
bread while it is baking.
There are a variety of
options from which to choose in bread makers, so you may
first want to consider how much space you have to store
your new machine. Bread makers come in a variety of
sizes, so choose one that you can store easily. You
should choose the capacity of the bread maker based upon
how big your family is and how much bread they eat. You
can choose a bread maker with a delay timer which will
allow you to place the mix in the bread maker before you
leave home each day and the bread will be ready when you
return. If you want your bread maker to prepare the
dough but not cook it, you will need to find a bread
maker with this feature. Choose a bread maker that will
alert you when it is time to add additional ingredients
such as fruit or nuts. You will also want a "keep warm"
feature in case you are gone when the bread is finished.
Look for crust control features and special setting for
fruits, nuts, cheese, and vegetables.
Study the
warranty very carefully to make sure you will be able to
get service and replacement parts if necessary. Keep in
mind that if your family consumes a small amount of
bread now, once you purchase your new bread maker that
consumption is likely to increase dramatically. Choose a
slightly larger size that you anticipate needing.
Remember that the keep warm feature is great, but if you
leave the loaf in the bread maker for an extended period
of time it may become soggy and flat. A bread maker is a
wonderful addition to your home. Nothing compares to the
smell of freshly baked bread from your very own kitchen.