Just what I was hoping to hear! Thank you.

Do you have a bread machine? I have a KitchenAid mixer and a food processor but I always use the bread machine to make bread & pasta dough. Bread machines are designed for the job and the clean-up is a lot easier. (just leave the leftover sticky dough bits to dry & they easily flake off.)

I did have a bread machine, but rarely used it because I wasn't particularly pleased with the results, so I gave it away last year. Of course, now I want to make lots of bread. But since the bread machine is a one trick pony (IMO), I think I'll get much more use out of the food processor.

Donna, my bread machine is just an inexpensive mass market one...probably about 15 years old. It works great for making dough but there is a bit of a learning curve in judging how much moisture you need. Have to tweak it as it's mixing & kneading. I've only baked in the machine a couple/ three times and that was years ago.

A big part of the reason I use the bread machine is to limit the wear & tear on my old Kitchen Aid (Hobart made) and Cuisinart processor (one of the original Robot Coupe machines.) I love them both and have no desire to replace them with newer machines. A lot harder to replace them than a bread machine.

You don't say what model Cuisinart you bought. I use mine at least twice a week to make bread...or rolls. Mine is a 7 cup model. The basic recipe I use is 3 3/4 cups of flour ( can be a mix of flours or perhaps some cereal) 1 1/2 tsps salt and 2 or 3 teaspoons of yeast....or less if I want to give it a long rise. Then I slowly pour 1 2/3 cups of ice water through the feed tube with the motor running. Taking about 30 seconds to do so. If it doesn't form a ball and clean the sides of the work bowl, I add a little more water a teaspoon at a time. Then let the dough revolve 30 times...keeping my hands on the work bowl to be sure ti doesn't get too warm and kill the yeast.
dump out, let rise, knock down, rise again, shape, rise and bake.
You can sub some white flour for whole wheat or rye, or oatmeal, or corn meal or a combination. You can add molasses, honey, brown sugar, white sugar, sub some butter and an egg for some of the water, you can use half milk instead of all water, you can use beer...you can add nut and/or dried fruits ( but after or the steel blade witll chop them up very fine....but that's OK too)

Linda, I bought a 14-cup, model DFP-14BCNY. I've made a couple of different white breads. The Japanese Milk Bread is to die for. Also made a couple of different French breads (those are DH's favorite). I've made several versions of cinnamon rolls, trying to find THE one, supersoft roll. A fun experiment. Today I made two batches of cinnamon rolls (same recipe) and had both kids and their families over for corned beef and cabbage. Our anniversary is on St. Patrick's Day and it was on a weeknight and I work full-time, so I didn't have time to cook that night.

donna_loomis - will you share your recipe for Japanese Milk Bread? Thank you.

Dandyrandylou, I looked at lots of recipes for the Japanese Milk Bread and may try several more, but maybe not. The easiest one was actually from Martha Stewart's website and was SO good. I did make one change to the recipe though. It states to let the loaf cool before slicing. Couldn't do it! There is NOTHING like that first slice of warm bread loaded with butter, LOL.

I haven't made the Japanese milk bread yet but want to try it. Thanks for letting us know which one you had success with (eating it warm, if not still hot, is half the fun of baking bead!). I haven't made bread dough in a processor either, so I can't help you wiith that.

Do you have a sourdough starter? My go-to cinnamon roll is a sourdough one. Comes from America's Bread Book by Mary Gubser -- except she does a single rise and I do two. I like them larger and lighter.

Lascatx, I do not have a sourdough starter. I'm not a big sourdough fan, but DH is. Don't you have to keep feeding it?

Donna, wild yeast (i.e., sourdough starter) does not have to produce sour bread. Less starter and a longer rise makes sour. More starter and a shorter rise does not. Once you have a well established starter, it can sleep in the fridge for months, or can be dried and dormant for years. You do have to plan ahead and feed them a few times before using if you don't use them regularly, however.

What she said. I keep starter in the fridge snice I don't use it that often. I pull it out and feed it once or twice before using (maybe even 3 times if it has been too long and the starter is sluggish). I also keep some dried -- first because I shared it with others and had some leftover and then because once, while dealing with some parent issues at a really busy time, I kept my starter out and tried to keep feeding it, thinking I would find that time to use it. Then I forgot about it and it got really ugly. No rescue past that point, so I have made a point of having some dried. I have also been told and read that you can store starter in the freezer, but I have not kept it that way.

I use my sourdough for pizza crust, cinnamon rolls, waffles, pancakes and breads. In fact, I think I will take it out and make come pizza crust. I do a first rise and then shape and put in the refrigerator where they can keep (tightly wrapped) for several days. Beth Hensperger has a Farmhouse sourdough (it goes by another name in another book) that uses sourdough and yeast, so it's a good way to use weak or discarded starter that might not carry a rise on it's own, but it's also a nice way to use it and get a nice flavor that isn't sour. It calls for a stick of butter, IIRC, for two loaves and is a buttery taste rather than sour. I've made it with half butter and half yogurt -- milder butter flavor and mild tang that is more like buttermilk than sour. All yougurt and no butter is a little more tang. I prefer at least half butter. I've made sourdough scones (those did have a little tang) and have seen recipes for sourdough chocolate cake, biscuits, noodles -- all kinds of things, so you can definitely use it for more than bread.

I noticed in my email that King Arthur sent out an email with sourdough pizza crust -- think I will go get my starter out.