Hot Cross Buns and Greek Easter Bread come to mind, and Greek Easter Bread is a basic enriched Danish dough with anise flavoring or aniseed, and formed in a braid in a circle. #1. Find out how much the flour capacity is for your bread machine before using a non-bread machine recipe. For instance, my Zojirushi bread machines (V-20 and X-20) have a 5-cup capacity if I'm going to bake in it. The old Zojirushi S-15 had a 4-cup capacity. If I'm only use it to mix/knead the dough, I can use a larger amount of flour for a recipe - BUT - I take the dough out of the bread machine as soon as kneading is complete and proof it in a dough-rising bucket - NOT the bread machine. 2. As chas045 pointed out, check your dough. Check the condition of the dough during the first 5 minutes of kneading and adjust it for hydration at that time by adding more flour or adding more liquid - whatever is necessary - if the dough doesn't form a soft tacky ball. The amount of flour necessary for any bread recipe is just a good (or bad) guess. If the recipe called for high-gluten bread flour, and you used all-purpose flour, it would take more all-purpose flour (or less liquid) because of the lower gluten (protein) content in all-purpose flour. Gluten soaks hydration like a sponge, so you have to adjust to those differences if you switch from one flour type to another. 3. Do a search on-line for a bread machine recipe for "Easter bread" and try to locate one that is similar to what you are wanting to make and one that will work in your bread machine. Have a blessed Easter! -Grainlady

First, thank you all for your input. Really appreciate your comments and suggestions. Second, my answer: Why do I wear black while working with white flour? Simple. My mind is warped. Have you heard of Mr. Abby Normal? I have his brain. :-) If I wear black, the white flour will show up better. I will know exactly where to dust them off. You canâÂÂt do that if you wear white. (Applause! Applause! Applause!-- :-). Yes, this method uses very little dry flour, and the serving tray idea makes it better. You will notice that even when I flip the entire tray upside down, there was no problem. LetâÂÂs face it, pizza is the easiest thing to make. There is no skill involved. Make/buy the dough, make/buy the sauce, spread the sauce and dump some toppings, use a correct pan, and bake it at the correct temperature. A ten year old kid, as many have, can make a very respectable pizza the first time. I have been observing the home pizza making âÂÂindustryâÂÂ. The biggest challenge for most people is in the shaping of the dough. I feel that a properly shaped pie will add to the enjoyment. Many people can somehow maneuver to get some kind of malformed pie if they are making a small one. But to make a full size commercial pie, it gets very tricky. With this method, as you can see from the video, there is no skill involved. 4 minutes for a well shaped full size pie is not too bad. I can actually get one done in a little more then two minutes. My record was ý hour for 8 full size pies (two baking cycles, 40 minutes) for a backyard party. Used lotâÂÂs of wax paper to stack the dough. Ann is correct that a rolling pin is used often as well as many other methods. There are thousands of instruction videos out there. Except the real profession techniques which all require lots of practicing, and I have yet to come across quick and easy ways to make a good size pie with good results by an inexperienced pizza maker. Using a silicone bake matt, again you can see from the video, unlike using a bare rolling pin very little dusting with flour is needed. Especially I like wetter dough for my pies. And if you use a serving tray like I did, very little counter space is needed for a full size pie. Try turning a large pie on your kitchen counter. Clean up is a snap with the tray. A restaurant size serving tray is a great thing to have for many other uses. BTW, you can also do a Sicilian pizza with this method. ItâÂÂs a dumb azz, a no pizzazz, no jazz pizza making method with Finezze (Applause! Applause! Applause!-- :-). dcarch Oh, Teresa, the tattoo is not a rocker. It is a skull design with this caption âÂÂBORN TO RAISE DOUGHâ arlinek, I didnâÂÂt see your post until now. I will answer later. Just got back from work. I need to eat first.

I'm home now. My parents eat early, and they know about my dough. So I left it out to rise. It didn't rise much, so I have it in the oven now, on low heat, to (hopefully) finish rising. Not having done this before, I figured I had too much dough for 1 loaf pan, so I divided it between 2 loaf pans. I made dough for a 2-lb loaf (4 cups flour). Maybe I shouldn't have divided it? And that's why it didn't rise as much as I would like? Oh well, this is all an experiment. So we'll see when it's all done.

I can't address the bread machine part, but sprawl is usually a sign of weak or broken gluten, therefore my first guess is that you're not getting a good enough knead for the weight of the loaf. Are you using bread flour? If so, which kind? The protein content differs and could help you if you're not already using high protein flour. This isn't whole wheat, right? That's another whole problem (the bran cutting the gluten). You're also probably using instant yeast, which is normal for bread machines. One of the issues with it can be that it rises so fast the gluten doesn't have enough time to develop, which would make it fine in the machine, where the dough can cling to the sides of the bucket, but killer if you're trying to make a boule without any support. Since you're not baking in the machine, another thing to try is using active dry yeast, rather than instant, and just using the machine for mixing and kneading (not programmed rise). Letting the dough rise slower helps the development of the gluten.