This week’s cooking projects from my collection of recipes included yet more pickled eggs, a successful experiment with my lemon squares using my aunt’s shortbread cookie dough as the base, more bran muffins for my mom, and, earlier in the week, plain white bread in my automatic bread machine, to make slices of bread to freeze and keep in the freezer.
A white bread cycle producing the same product using the same ingredients has been default programme and the first baking programme in all my bread machines. However, please check the settings on your bread machine to be certain to choose the white bread setting.
This recipe closely tracks the recipe for plain white bread that came with the first bread machine I purchased in 2001.
An important aspect this recipe is to add the ingredients in the order listed, particularly the water and milk mix first, then the flour, and then the rest, especially if you will be using the delayed baking function. Also, the original source recipe stressed the importance of keeping a certain distance between the salt and the yeast.
Note that in making this recipe for this post, I turned on the bread machine to run right away on the standard white bread cycle that takes three hours; however, many machine models offer a delayed start function, for instance to allow for the preparation of the ingredients the night before, and having the bread ready at a later time the following morning.
Making the bread:
Six ounces of water were measured out in a measuring cup:
Six ounces of milk were measured out, and added directly to the water in the measuring cup:
The microwave oven (1200W) was set to one minute:
… and the water and milk mixture was warmed up in the microwave oven:
The warmed up water and milk mixture was transferred to the (cleaned) bread machine basket:
Four cups of flour were measured out:
… and the flour was transferred to the bread machine basket, fully covering the water and milk mixture:
Four tablespoons of sugar were measured out:
… and the sugar was transferred to the bread machine basket, on top of the other ingredients:
A teaspoon and a half of salt were measured out:
… and the salt was transferred to the bread machine basket with the other ingredients:
Margarine was taken out, and two dollops of margarine were spooned out of the container:
The margarine was transferred to the bread machine basket with the other ingredients:
Three quarters of a teaspoon of bread machine yeast was measured out …
… and the bread machine yeast was transferred to the the bread machine basket:
At this point, all the ingredients were in the bread machine basket, and the bread machine basket was placed in the bread machine:
The white bread setting was chosen (programme #1 on my bread machine), and for a two pound loaf; the programme was started, without delay:
The lid was shut, and the bread machine was allowed to do its work.
Three hours later, the bread was ready …
The baked bread was gingerly shaken out of the bread machine basket:
The baked bread loaf was placed upright on a trivet to allow it to cool:
A baking tray was taken out:
Once the bread had cooled, I began slicing the loaf of bread …
… using a bread slicer with a guide, to allow for consistent slices of bread:
The bread slices were placed on the baking tray:
A sheet of plastic wrap was placed on top of the layer of sliced bread:
The loaf was fully sliced, and the bread slices alternated with plastic wrap:
The tray of bread slices was placed in the freezer:
The crumbs created from the slicing were placed into a container with other bread crumbs and dried bread pieces, for future use in other recipes:
… and when the bread was frozen, I placed the bread slices in freezer bags:
The bags of bread slices were placed back in the freezer to have for when I want to make sandwiches and the like.
Yummy!