Any bread machine experts out there?

14 years ago

It's been a while since I have been here! I looked for the cookware forum, which is where I thought this should go, but I didn't see it right off, so I am posting it here.

My mother-in-law bought me a bread machine about 15 years ago, and I promptly gave it to a friend because I was a stay-at-home mom at the time, and was into making my own breads by hand, and I loved the whole process and didn't have any use for the machine. Now, I am too busy for making my own bread and have been thinking I would like to have one for a while now, but due to personal circumstances could not afford one. A couple of weeks ago I bought a Toastmaster Bread and Butter Maker machine for $5 at a garage sale!

I found some instructions online, and it says that it makes up to a 2 lb loaf, with up to approximately 4 cups of flour. Now, I have been experimenting, and so far, not a lot of luck. The person I bought it from told me that she used the Krusteaz mixes with success, so I bought one just to try. It worked, but the loaf was a little small and didn't fill up the pan. Also, while I might resort to a mix once in a while, I wasn't that thrilled with ingredients of the mix, or the bread that came out of it. I would like to be able to make a variety of breads, with whole wheat/white mixtures, or sweeter breads, or white bread... I just can't seem to get it right!

I made one recipe that called for 4 cups of white flour, and I thought that would be safe, but it puffed all up and glooped over the sides of the pan, filling about the top third of the cavity, and the bread was a total failure. It took me several days to clean it up.

Today I tried using the idea out of the Ratio cookbook. 5 parts flour, to 3 parts liquid by weight, as a starter. I used about 3/4 cup of WW flour + the remainder of the 500 grams of flour was about 2 2/3 cups and three teaspoons of vital wheat gluten. So, we're under 4 cups still. I added 300 grams of water, a couple of tablespoons of softened butter, 2 1/4 teaspoons of dry yeast, a small handful of sugar...

I did this during the day, while I am home, instead of at night like before, so I could keep an eye on it. I am glad I did.

On the first rising, it lifted the lid. I pinched off a good chunk of the dough, and let it "punch" down, then during the second rising I checked again. It was lifting the darned lid!

I pinched off a big old chunk of the dough, and started the whole thing over again. The machine thinks it has dry ingredients, so it is stirring it again. Why do I have this fear that this dough is going to keep growing at a faster rate each time, and that I will have all of the torn off hunks in the freezer and they will add up to more than what I originally put in the thing? :p

What I want is some recipes that I can make up and put in baggies or jars, so that I can add the liquid, butter mix and some yeast at night and just forget it. I am having a hard time here. Are the instructions just wrong about the size of the loaf? Am I using too much of something? Like I said before, I don't want to spend hours messing with this every time. If I had time to do that, I would just make the bread by hand.

Any suggestions? Any knowledge of this particular machine? Any sanity anyone is willing to pass along? I am starting to feel like I could sure use some. :)

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Comments (11)

jem199
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Are you scooping your flour out with the measuring cup or spooning it in? I learned that you should use a large spoon to spoon your flour lightly into the measuring cup, then use a butter knife to scrape it level. If you are scooping it directly into the measuring cup, you are packing in almost twice as much flour as needed.

I'm not sure about the mixes, but I love these two books:

Bread Machine Magic by Rehberg and Conway
The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook by Hensberger

I have a Breadman machine and love it!

Hope this helps,
Janet
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sunnyco
Original Author
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I will look into the books at the library. I am scooping the flour loosely with a measuring cup (I always stir the container first to fluff it up and give it a tap or two. Not sure why, this is just how my mom did it. lol), and this last time I weighed it to get the ratio with the water right. I eyeballed the 3/4 cup of whole wheat and the 2/3 or so white, measured with a 1cup measure, and the rest I went across the top with the back of a butter knife blade.
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Buehl
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hmmm....I've never had a problem with recipes.

You said you found directions online...did it include recipes? Usually, directions for a breadmaker include a variety of recipes designed to fit that breadmaker.

Here's one my dad adapted for a breadmaker (he was the breadmaker!) I don't remember how big a loaf it makes since I haven't used it in several years (not since I was diagnosed w/Celiac Disease).

White Bread

3 cups bread flour
1 pkg yeast
1-1/2 Tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 Tbs margarine (I always used butter)
2 Tbs dry milk
1 cup + 2 Tbs water (I always used very warm water: 105 - 115 degrees F)

Honey Wheat Bread

(This one, IIRC, was a little large, but I don't remember it overflowing or lifting the lid!)

1-1/2 to 2 cups bread flour (play with it to see what amount works best for you; I used 2 cups)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 pkg yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105 - 115 degrees F)
3/4 + 1/8 cup warm milk (105 - 115 degrees F)
3 Tbs honey
1-1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 Tbs margarine (I used butter)

Bake this one a little longer...use one of the "darker" settings.

Note: This is a cool rise recipe, but it works in a bread machine as well.
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Buehl
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I always dip & scoop and then level...I don't "add" any later if there's a slight settling when leveling.

Be sure to use accurate measurements, so use the correct size measuring cups & spoons...don't "eyeball it" or guess. That can make a difference!
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lowspark
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I know nothing about bread machines but you might try posting over on the cooking forum. LOTS of experts over there, and I might add, they are very nice and willing to help.

Here is a link that might be useful: cooking forum
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sunnyco
Original Author
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Oh, for cryin' out loud. lol

I got my wires crossed. I thought I WAS in the cooking forum. I will copy and paste my message over there, and we can just let this one go where messages go to die.

Thanks for the recipes though! I copied and pasted them, and I will give them a try.

Signed,

Super Dufus Sunny
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sunnyco
Original Author
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Here is a link to the new thread in the COOKING forum, in case anyone else wants to say anything. Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: Cooking Forum
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User
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
You need to get the user manual ... see the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Manuals for toastmaster HERE
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rjr220
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I'm about ready to head off to bed, so I am too lazy to pull out my recipes, but you know, just thought I'd log on one more time . . . .

Whenever I use my bread machine, I end up with brick bread (what my family calls it) unless I use buttermilk. Trailrunner would be sooo happy. I have a recipe that I make with WW flour and oat bran . . . I'll pull it out tomorrow and put it down for you. But really, I'm going to log off and go to bed . . . . maybe I'll read a few more posts.
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chicagoans
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I am the non-expert so I will just give you one hint of what NOT to do:

Don't add raisins! I like raisin bread so I added a bunch of raisins to the dough. Maybe it was the wrong timing, but as the machine kneaded the dough, the raisins worked their way out and fell on the heating thingy. Lots o' smoke and a sticky mess. I ended up tossing the machine (not to mention the bread.)
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clergychick
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Have you made butter in your machine yet? I'm assuming from its name that it can do it. My mother has an old machine that doesn't work for bread any longer, but she makes wonderful butter in it! It's a must-have for any special occasion in our extended family. Who knew that freshly churned butter could be so much better? (Well, we didn't, but now we do!)
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Any bread machine experts out there?

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jem199

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Any bread machine experts out there?

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