jasdip: You can leave the milk powder out. According to my research the milk powder is for "fragrance" and most of the recipe translated from Japanese and Chinese say "optional". I buy small tin of whole milk powder from Wallyworld for about $1.50 (brand NIDO) - I keep in freezer. We use the NIDO to make DIY evaporated milk because we can not use carageenan (sp??) which is in canned evap milk. I've become addicted to using this water roux/tang zhong method. I think the folks who make the Challah at our local grocer must use this method because the bread has about the same texture. Cheers, DL

The yogurt shouldn't be a problem reacting with yeast. Yeast actually works best in a mildly acidic environment, which is why ascorbic acid is often mixed with dry yeast products. To improve the rise of breads containing wheat germ and whole wheat flour (which contains wheat germ), I always add an acid ingredient to counteract the gluten-damaging effects of glutathione in the wheat germ. Bacteria (in yogurt and also present in bread dough made without yogurt) produces those tasty acids in bread dough that improve the flavors of bread when we refrigerate it. The acidity already present in sourdough starters help sourdough breads keep longer, inhibit mold growth and also slows staling, and you'll see the same qualities in breads made with yogurt. -Grainlady

Hey Lucy, a couple things. The proof setting is 125 degress...WAY too hot to be proofing anything. That said what I do when the house is really cold is turn on the proof setting and let it run for a few minutes while watching the temp. and turn it off when it reaches 90. The problem also with the proof is that a fan is blowing in the oven which would dry out things that are rising unless you cover them well. The reason that Alton has you using the hot water is just to get a quick rise of the rolls. So you can either set any old bowl of hot tap water in there with the rolls...nice moist warmth to rise them in, or you can use the proof but cut it off before it reaches 125 and let your rolls rise or a combo of both and set the warm water in there....I wouldn't use boiling just your usual hot water from the tap and turn on the proof and then cut it off and you will have warm and humid. Oh also do cover the rolls as they rise or you will get a dry skin on the top of the dough. You can brush then lightly with with oil or spray with PAM to keep them from drying out...this is the same as when you place a ball of dough into an oiled bowl and then turn it over to coat the top. Hope this wasn't too long. c PS please post pics !

If you're lucky, you've only begun your bread journey. ;-) It certainly depends on what you consider "bread".... because it's more than one thing from a single book. Before going gluten-free, all my breads were made with freshly-milled grain/seed/bean flour - which is a whole other branch of the "bread world" than lean breads (Italian and French breads) made with commercial flour (bleached/unbleached), water, salt and yeast and learning baker's percentages (http://www.kingarthurflour.com/professional/bakers-percentage.html). Lean breads were hardly ever on my bread rotation due to the lack of nutrition and the high-glycemic impact. I'm into whole foods. Back then (and also now, except gluten-free versions), I made all our bread, and not just loaves, but English Muffins, hamburger/hot dog buns, flatbreads, EVERYTHING - from freshly-milled flour. And that included the joy of receiving a type of starter called "Everlasting Yeast" , and a cryptic hand-written recipe for using it, from a 90+year old friend (which was used by her mother and given to her and her sisters when each one "set up housekeeping" after they each married) and learning how to make naturally-leavened breads, another distinct branch of the bread making world. After taking a lot of bread classes, and having taught even more (I taught "Bread-In-A Bag" alone over 50 times - http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/fn_bread_2006-01.pdf) which I taught to both children and adults for anyone just getting started; and I don't know how many bread machine classes over 2+ decades, the part I enjoyed the most was the science, and that's why I dearly loved the first 100 pages on the subject from CookWise by Shirley O. Corriher. Everything else after that was just good reading, with a few tips and tricks included here and there. I checked out every video and book on the subject from the library. I studied the subject for years, met with milling experts to learn all I could from seed to loaf, went on tours of wheat fields, received bags of wheat from farm family and friends, worked with a local mill using extremely high-protein wheat and testing it (the same mill that makes King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour for this region, and developed recipes for a sorghum mill..... I have a bevy of mills and teach classes on grains and milling. To quote Jerry Garcia/Grateful Dead, "...what a long, strange trip it's been." Even though I made good bread before all this education and self-education on the subject, along with the large personal library of books on bread making I accumulated (which I've given to my brother, who is an excellent bread maker), they all helped me make better bread, and a larger variety of breads from around the world. It also helped my judging skills when I judged breads at County and State Fairs. -Grainlady