I've been making bread since I was 7 years old, and I always kneaded it by hand. when carpal tunnel syndrome became so intense that it hurt to knead bread, I stopped baking bread and relied on the store bought stuff. Enter Deb (Momto4kids) who had an unused bread machine, like many others here do. She sent it to me and I've made all my bread, buns, rolls, pizza dough for the kids, bagels, you name it. I love the darned thing and use it at least a couple of times a week. It's a Zojirushi and it's been a workhorse, I haven't encountered a dough that it can't knead, even the whole grain types that tend to be substantial. I never bake in it though, I don't mind the holes but I don't like the crust, it seems more like it's steamed than baked. I also always check the dough for hydration, sometimes it needs more flour, sometimes more liquid, depending on a lot of factors. I still check to make sure it "feels right", that's the only way I can manage to make bread. I also make any recipe that suits me, I don't use recipes made just for bread machines. You just have to know how much flour your particular machine can handle and make that much dough. Elery's 9 year old grandson was here from California and stayed with us for 2 days. I let him use the bread machine to make pizza dough and he loved it, said it was the best pizza he'd ever eaten. I didn't tell him about my pizza preferences, just ate his pepperoni and italian sausage pizza and told him it was the best I'd ever had. So I vote yes, drag out the machine and make some dough. Make bagels or pretzel buns or dinner rolls or pizza dough, it doesn't even have to be traditional bread, and it's all better than the stuff you get from the store! Annie

Teresa's Struan recipe is a favorite in our house. Oatmeal bread you say? On my! Annie's Maple oatmeal bread is to die for. makes the best peanut butter sandwiches in the world! Struan Soaker 3 Tbs. polenta (corn meal) 3 Tbs. rolled oats 2 Tbs wheat bran 1/4 cup water Dough 3 cups unbleached bread flour 3 Tbs brown sugar 1-1/2 tsp salt 1 Tbs. instant yeast 4 Tbs cooked brown rice 1-1/2 Tbs honey 1/2 cup buttermilk (I make my own by putting 1 Tbs vinegar in milk) 3/4 cup water Topping 1 Tbs poppy seeds Mix together the ingredients for the soaker. Cover and allow to soak for at least half an hour or as long as overnight. In a larger bowl, combine the dry ingredients, then stir in wet ingredients and soaker. Add more flour or water until the dough can be formed into a ball that is tacky but not sticky. Place the ball of dough on a clean work surface and knead it for 10-12 minutes, then return it to the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to ferment until doubled in size, appr. 90 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, de-gas it gently, and split it for two loaves or shape it as is for one large. Place the loaves in greased bread pan(s), spritz or sprinkle water on top, and sprinkle a handful of poppy seeds on top. Cover the pans loosely with plastic and allow the loaves to rise until doubled in size again, appr. 90 minutes. Bake the leaves at 350 for 40-55 minutes, until the internal temp is around 190 degrees. When ready the loaves wil be quite brown on top and will make a hollow thud when tapped on the bottom. (Note, this takes 45 minutes in my oven, and I tent the top with foil at about 35 minutes or it gets darker than we like) Maple Oatmeal Bread 3-3-1/4 cups flour 1 pkg dry yeast 3/4 cup prepared coffee 1/2 cup quick cooking rolled oats 1/2 (scant) cup real syrup 2 Tbs. butter 1 tsp salt 1 egg Combine a cup of flour and the yeast. Heat coffee, oats, syrup, butter, and salt until just warm and butter is almost melted. Add to flour mixture along with egg. Beat with mixer on low for 30 seconds. Beat on high for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir as uch of the remaining flour as you can. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, knead in enough remainng flour to make a moderately soft doug that is smooth and elastic (3-5 minutes kneading) Shape dough into a ball, place in lightly greased bowl, and turn over once to grease surface of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size, about an hour. Punch down dough, cover and let rest 10 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly grease a loaf pan. Shape dough and place nto prepared pan, cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double in size (30-45 minutes). Bake at 350 about 30 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pan immediately and cool on a wire rack. Note* This bread takes closer to 45 minutes to bake in my oven. Tent if gets too dark) Note* I just throw all the wet stuff into a breadmaker, then then dry stuff on top and make dough that way. Then I remove the loaf, shape and rise again, then bake.

This English Muffin Bread is tasty, low in calories and has no added fat. I make it often, but not in a bread machine. Here is a link that might be useful: English Muffin Bread

Emily, I'm sorry you had trouble. I think that too much flour might have been the problem. I know the recipe calls for 6 cups of flour, but whenever I make any kind of bread, I always hold back at least 1 or more cups. I only add more flour if I think the mixture is too, too wet. I forgot that I kind-of ran into the same problem you're describing. Even at the five cup stage, the flour mixture seemed more like a kneading dough than a batter. So I remember (now) adding about 1/4 -1/3 cup additional water to make it more batter-like. When I got the batter into the pans, I was so worried about over-proofing the dough. I didn't want to pop the pans into a hot oven and then watch the bread deflate. So I think I could have let the dough rise in the pans longer. I'm sorry you had trouble. Forgive me for not mentioning anything. This old gray mare's brain ain't what it used to be. I need to make a note on my copy of the recipe too or else the next time I make it, who knows what I'll remember. I hope you'll try the bread again. It really did turn out well. My biggest problem right now is that my husband keeps wanting to have "toast" snacks.