AM, my Zo has a special setting for quick breads, so I'm assuming it's a quick mix, no rise and a bake cycle. I haven't used it because I just don't bake that many quick breads. I think whether you allow your kids to use an oven and at what age depends on the kids and on your "worry level". I used the stove and oven way before I was 12. Amanda did too, but she was a very responsible and meticulous child. Ashley was/is prone to being distracted. I've come home more than once to find something turning to charcoal in the oven because she forgot it was there and went somewhere with a friend, or (more likely), that she baked something but forgot to turn off the oven and it had been heating, empty, for several hours. sometimes she turns the oven on, gets distracted and decides not to bake, but forgets to turn the oven off. And, because I am a worrier, I worry all afternoon that something is in the oven or on the stove and I'm going to come home to a house full of smoke, which has happened more than once. Anyway, if you have bread machine recipes, I'd try one of those and see how the machine works. I do have a couple of bread machine cookbooks, I can check when I get home tonight. Annie

Old flour makes horrible bread. I have a 6- to 12-month rule for unbleached/bleached flour, so I wouldn't use a mix that was older than 12-months. On most "troubleshooting lists" for failed bread, old flour is often a reason, so replacing the yeast is just one problem. As my grandmother used to say, "Wasted food is the most expensive you'll ever buy." Another problem. There have been cases of illness from old flour products. I believe the one I heard about was from pancake mix. Not sure if it was aflotoxin (mold) or something else, but it can be deadly. If in doubt, throw it out. Food safety 101. -Grainlady

When it comes to bread recipes (machine or manual), the flour measurements are just a good guess (and sometimes they're not even "good"). Gluten amounts in flour will vary from bag to bag and brand to brand; and gluten is a main determinate for proper hydration. If your flour is stored in the bag in a humid kitchen, then there will be more moisture in the flour than someone who stores flour in an air-tight container in the dry environment of the freezer/refrigerator - as a secondary source for some hydration. If you change the type of flour called for in the recipe - from all-purpose to high-gluten bread flour (or vise versa) - or you substitute part of the high-gluten flour for a low-gluten flour (rye, spelt, kamut, barley, oat, etc.) - you'll also need to alter the hydration. As others shared, you MUST check and adjust the hydration as needed. Start checking it about 5 minutes into the mixing/kneading. You want the dough to be formed into a soft, sticky ball. A solid ball is going to be too dry. When you touch the dough ball with your finger, a tiny bit should stick to your finger. A dry or stiff dough ball will result in dry bread just like making bread by hand. You can also switch from sugar to honey and you may find you have a crumb that is more moist. I'm another who never bakes in the Zo - it's just my main tool for mixing and kneading. I won't even let the dough rise in the machine - I'd rather control that in a dough rising bucket. Sometimes I want a long slow cool rise, which you can never get in a bread machine. I use freshly-milled flour, so allowing a timed rise in the bread machine tends to over-proof the dough. Freshly-milled flour doesn't have the extensibility commercial white flour has. Bread machines were designed to use commercial flour in them, and I never use commercial flour. I also bake breads to temperature - checked with an instant read thermometer. -Grainlady

OK, so if I wanted to make it without using a bread machine (I don't have one). Tell me if this sounds right. Mix dry ingredients. Pour in yeast and water. Knead for 5 minutes in stand mixer. Put in greased bowl. Let it rise until doubled in size. Punch it down and shape it into a loaf pan. Let it rise until it's crowing over the top of the pan? I have some rye sitting in the freezer that I used for a sourdough starter so I guess I could grind a 1/2 cup of that for rye flour.