I have made a lot of the basic recipe. Have made the dough into cinnamon rolls, focaccia (sp), rolls and pizza. The Light Whole Wheat recipe, have made rolls and pizza plus the boule. Friday I made the Vermont Cheddar dough and baked a loaf this afternoon. The is a very nice softer dough. I didnt have sharp cheddar, but had a mild. It worked, but the cheese taste was not strong. I would like to try this dough with some other stronger tasting cheese also. We loved the softer texture of the bread. I may try and do the rolls for some of the remaining dough. After hubby tasted this bread...he said do you really need to buy a Dutch Oven for the other bread, I like this one. Well see :)

Lars - You open the lid of the bread machine after it's been going for about 5 minutes and check the condition of the dough by looking at it or touching it, and adjust the hydration accordingly, if necessary. What you want is a nice soft, sticky, well-formed ball. Just as in traditional dough making, it's still about the "feel" of the dough. Ingredient measurements in bread recipes are always just a good guess because protein count in wheat/flour and the moisture the flour has absorbed during storage all affect the dough. Flour is usually very dry during the dry winter months, and contains more moisture during humid weather and amount needed often changes because of that. A hard dry dough will end up a bread "brick", so it's necessary to add liquid. If the dough is crumbly and not formed in a ball, add more water. If the dough is loose, sticking to the sides or bottom of the pan, add a bit more flour. From years of experience, I know if I add dry multi-grain cereal or oatmeal at the add-in beep (towards the end of the kneading cycle), it's best to have a dough ball that is a little slack because the dry ingredients will absorb the additional hydration during fermentation. I want a slack dough if I want a holey type of artisan bread. I also want a slack dough for English Muffins to maintain that traditionally holey crumb. I also add chia gel (chia seeds + water) to all my loaves, and I always have to adjust the hydration because of this addition. I also use a liquid sweetener instead of sugar (agave nectar) and it's possible to need a little flour because of the additional liquid from the agave nectar. Hydration requirements changes because of the protein level of the flour, and that will vary with each bag of wheat I purchase, or bag of flour. I recently purchased some hard white winter wheat that is 13.1% protein. That tells me I'll need to some liquid because the higher protein level (gluten) will absorb more hydration. It's just a machine that does the work in bread making. It still needs a human to assess the dough condition. -Grainlady

In case you're interested in adding international recipes, here are my two favourite meatball recipes, one from Germany and the other from Mallorca, Spain. (Poached meatballs in lemon & caper sauce.) Here is a German dish which originated in Königsberg, former capital of eastern Prussia, now part of Russia and called Kaliningrad. Having a pleasant, mild flavour, these meatballs are also a low calorie dish as they are cooked in water. They're well known in most German households and are often a family favourite. Ingredients: 1/2 lb finely ground veal (225 grams) 1/2 lb finely ground lean pork (225 grams) 1 large onion - peeled and finely chopped 8 finely chopped + 2 finely chopped later for sauce (total 50 grams) 2 TBS capers finely chopped + 1 TBS whole capers later for the sauce 1 lg egg, beaten 3 slices firm crusts removed, soaked in water juice of 1/2 lemon - or juice of whole lemon if it is very small 2 bay leaves 2 whole cloves (aromatic spice cloves) 1/2 TBS oil for frying onion 2 TBS flour mixed with water salt & freshly ground pepper 1. Sauté onion gently until golden and put aside. 2. Mix the two ground meats with 8 of the chopped anchovies, 2 TBS chopped capers, beaten egg and the soaked bread which has been squeezed dry. Then mix in the cooled fried onion and some salt and pepper. 3. In a wide saucepan put 3 3/4 cups of water and add some salt, the lemon juice, bay leaves and cloves. Bring to the boil. 4. Meanwhile form large meatballs with hands and place on a plate - about 14 meatballs. If water boils, turn off until all meatballs are formed. and bring it slowly back to the boil then lower heat and let simmer gently for 30 minutes. Turn meatballs once or twice during this time. 6. When cooked, remove meatballs with slotted spoon to a casserole and keep warm. Mix flour and cold water to a paste and add to the cooking water, stirring to thicken. Add the last two anchovies, chopped fine and 1 TBS whole capers. Bring to the boil and simmer 2 - 3 minutes. Pour and serve with boiled potatoes and green beans. I actually had more sauce than what appears here in the photo. I kept the rest in the pot on the stove for keeping hot. Note: They turned out very well. My lemon was VERY juicy and as I used all the juice, it was a bit too much. Go easy on the lemon juice if it is a large lemon. SharonCb ************************************* Here's a favourite dish from the Island of Mallorca, Spain. - 4 servings 700 grams ground veal (I use 1/2 pork & 1/2 veal) 3 eggs - beaten 1 medium onion - minced 2 cloves garlic - minced flat-leaf parsley - lots 2 teasp oregano 2 teasp thyme 2 teasp sweet paprika powder 2 teasp salt fresh ground black pepper cooking oil 3 medium very ripe tomatoes - (skinning is optional) chopped 1/2 cup milk & 1/4 cup water flour 4 - 6 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chips (french fries) Utensils needed: - small frying pan about 6 inches diameter - medium or large frying pan or chip fryer - earthenware or ceramic stovetop casserole with lid 1) Mix meat with beaten egg, minced garlic, 2/3 of the chopped onion, salt & pepper, herbs and paprika. Add a few stalks of parsley chopped fine. Mix all together. 2) Pour about 1 cm oil into small frying pan and put on medium heat. Put some seasoned flour (s&p) on a dinner plate and using a small spoon, scoop out meat mixture and begin forming meatballs with help of floured hands, rolling them in flour as needed. Put them on floured plate and when you have six and oil is hot, put them carefully using spoon into the small frying pan to brown. 3) After two or three minutes turn meatballs over using a small spoon. Continue forming more meatballs. 4) As meatballs brown, remove and put them into casserole dish, adding the fresh ones to the pan, six at a time. 5) When done, strain out any burned bits in the frying pan oil and put in the rest of the onion with the tomato, as well as a handful of minced parsley. Cook on medium heat. 6) After a few minutes add the milk and water. Taste and if tomato flavour is too sharp add a pinch of sugar, also some salt. Pour sauce over meatballs in casserole, (optional is pour it through a sieve for finer sauce) put on low heat with lid and simmer very gently 20 minutes, checking and turning them over once. 8) Prepare potatoes and in oil in large frying pan or chip fryer begin making the french fries a few at a time, salting them and keeping them hot in oven. Put a few chips on top of the meatballs, add a bit of chopped parsley and serve at table with extra chips on each plate. Source: Adapted from 'Cocina selecta Mallorquin' SharonCb

Chloebud, thanks for the endorsement. I went on an exploration just now. I think most of my bread books came during the twice delayed mid-remodel of my kitchen, 15 years ago. Some gifts, some me wanting to at least read about it since I couldn't bake. I've found most of them I think, but not the two I used the most, Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice and Daniel Leader's Local Breads (it of the never-ending errata). One of the rest, a Jewish one, was with some favorite to browse cookbooks on the coffee table, and another couple in the corner shelves with cookbook overflow. Turns out I have a Jewish Baker book and a Jewish Bakery book, one of which is in the kitchen. There, I found proportionally more bread books than cook books, but I need to rearrange them, because I don't often use the bread books. They were handy when I was making 100% whole wheat (it turned out to be unhealthy for us!). They include Crust & Crumb, Laurel, Rose, etc. The old classics. And a few modern ones. I have to admit, my new daily bread go to, which is a wander off of my own recipe for spicy pickle bread, is very accommodating, and obviates the need to go looking for something else.. Sometime, I might want to try making specific breads again, but for now, I like the minimal effort daily bread. It's a 100g each water and flour and a tsp. yeast preferment, with a few dollops of discard, optionally. Bulk starts with 350g-ish of strong flour (14% protein) which could be bread, pizza or pasta flour. Different flavors and textures, but whatever wants using at the time, or a mix. Whatever discard wants using (mixed flours inc. ww). Seasoning (salt, natch, but turns out that pepper is delicious in bread too!, plus any herbs and spices that might go well). Produce mix-ins in lieu of water, about a cup and a half, tops. Water and/or flour to adjust while kneading until it's the "well stretched glutinous lump" my mother taught me and pulls away just so, as she taught me. Bake in a covered vessel, cold start (or 200°F start), 425°F on convection bake, for about an hour, test with Thermapen One before removing from vessel. Limited washing up water used. Infinitely changeable flavor and texture. My answer to the 5 minutes a day bucket of dough taking up so much space in the fridge, not tiring using the machine to knead rather than the kneads and stretch and folds by the timer for my go-to sourdough. So I haven't cracked a book in forever... I do have good recipes already for pita, hamburger buns, pupusas, shortcake, waffles, biscuits, etc.