I tried an experiment tonight. The idea was to make a sort-of-ciabatta, but in baguette form. I also wanted a chewy interior, not a soft crumb. It kind of worked, but the process was weird. I made a slightly over 100% hydration dough, set it for 14 minutes kneading in the Magic Mill, went out to do an errand and left the dough to start rising in the mixer bowl, came back and poured the partly-risen dough into a steel workbowl and continued rising it over a heater vent. After about two and a half hours, I figured the dough was as risen as it was going to get. I floured two pieces of parchment paper, and poured the dough onto those in sort of long puddles. The dough was so wet, only a little firmer than porridge, that it was really hard to work. Even with floured hands, you can't handle it, but with a silicone spatula you can fold the edges over the top, then flour the top, lift the paper like a stretcher, and set each piece of dough-laden paper in a perforated metal trough similar to what dcarch showed in a prior baguette thread. Then into a pre-heated 550F oven, mist heavily, bake about 15 minutes, turn the heat down to 450F, mist some more, and bake for - I don't know - because I dozed off. Maybe 40 minutes or more total baking time. Ran to the oven, saw the loaves were not actually incinerated, and pulled them out. The loaves had oven sprung by over 2X, the internal temp was 212.5F, the crust was dark brown and thick, but the loose flour hadn't burned, and the interior was chewy, toothsome, faintly tough. Which was my goal. Not ideal for denture wearers. I can't post a picture because photobucket seems to have forgotten that I exist - weird. Next time, I'll knead longer, rise in a proper oiled bowl, let the poured loaves rise in the troughs, insert a probe thermometer, and bake to a higher internal temp - maybe 215-220F. Fun with bread. Actually the bread experiments have to slow down again, because our house guests are all gone and we just can't eat too much bread when it is just us. I have tried the no-knead bread but can't seem to get it right. I've not given up on the idea, but the score is 0-3 to date.

The recipe I have been using (I lost my mom's, my dad gave that book to someone else, but this one sounds right -- it's all in 3s), sounds like it might be something you would like to try. I was thinking the baking powder with the buttermilk might also be an improvement. My mom's had you cream the butter and sugar, add mashed bananas, sift the dry ingredients, then add alternately with the buttermilk. The new one I found said you could dump everything in the mixer bowl, blend and go. I have tried that and have also hybridized the process -- creamed the butter and sugar, then add the bananas and the other stuff. It all works -- just don't over mix it. 2 1/3 c all purpose flour 1 2/3 c sugar 1 1/4 c mashed bananas (about 2) 2/3 c softened butter or margarine 2/3 c finely chopped nuts (I use pecans (Texas and all), but walnuts work too) 2//3 c buttermilk 1 1/4 tsp baking soda 1 1/4 tsp baking powder 3/4 tsp salt 3 eggs You can use either mixing method and bake at 350. I make muffins more often than loaves lately -- you can bake this as mini muffins, standard muffins, loaves, a 13x9 cake or even layers.

lyfia - #1. Along with your new Zo, I'd also suggest a copy of the book, "Bread Machines For Dummies" by Glenna Vance and Tom Lacalamita. When I give bread machine classes I give this book to my students. It will give you a wealth of basic and advanced information, as well as being filled with lots of great recipes. I've never had a recipe fail out of this book. #2. Read the manual that comes with your machine and use some of the recipes in it. These recipes are designed for this bread machine and tend to be successful for newbies. #3. When converting your traditional recipes, you need to be careful how much flour there is in the recipe. The Zo V-20 and X-20 have a 5-cup flour capacity if you are going to bake in it. If you are mixing dough in it, you can use more flour than that. #4. ALWAYS check the condition of the dough during the first 5-minutes (or so) of kneading and adjust it accordingly. Don't be afraid to raise the lid and check the dough during the mixing/kneading stage. The dough should be formed into a very soft, sticky ball. If the dough is sticking to the sides or the bottom of the pan, you need to add more flour (1-2 T. at a time). If the dough is crumbly and not forming a ball, you need to add warm water. It is better to err on the side of a wet dough than a hard stiff dough. #5. If you choose to make a small 1# loaf of bread, I'd suggest you NOT bake it in the bread machine. The pan is designed to bake twice that amount and a 1# loaf is going to be really wide and not very high if baked in the machine. Choose 1.5 or 2 pound loaves if you bake in the machine. I generally make a 2#+ amount of dough and make it into two loaves. Or I'll make one loaf and use the remaining dough for 6 hot dog or 6 hamburger buns, 6 sticky pecan rolls, or an 8" pan of dinner rolls - all from one recipe of dough. #6. When baking outside the bread machine, I scale the dough (weigh it on a kitchen scale) to make sure I place it in the correct size bread pan, or if I need to divide the dough into two loaves they will weigh the same amount, raise and bake in the same amount of time. Failed bread recipes is often from using the wrong size pan for the amount of dough. I also scale the dough for dinner rolls, burger and hot dog buns so they are the same size and will raise and bake in the same amount of time. Jumbo size pan - 10x4-1/2" - 4-5 c. flour = 2+ pounds of dough Quick bread pan - 9x5" - 4 c. flour = 2# Standard bread pan - 8-1/2x4-1/2" - 3 c. flour - 1-1/2 # Medium pan - 7-1/2x3-1/3" - 2-1/2 c. flour = 1# Small pan - 5-3/4x3-3/4" - 1-1/2 c. flour = 8-ounces #7. If you use the quick cycle on your bread machine, you will need to use a fast-acting brand of yeast (SAF-Instant, Quick-Rise, Rapid Rise, or Bread Machine Yeast). Active Dry Yeast will not work properly in the quick cycle. I keep two kinds of yeast on hand to accommodate bread machine recipes - SAF-Instant and Active Dry Yeast. If I use the fast-acting SAF-Instant in a recipe that calls for Active Dry Yeast, I reduce it by 25%. The recipes in the ZO manual will call for one amount if using a fast-rising yeast, and another amount if using active dry yeast. Many bread machine cookbooks will have the different amounts for each type of yeast. #8. The bread machine is great for a baking marathon. I fill the pan and set the machine to "quick dough". As soon as the dough has finished kneading I remove the dough from the pan and place it in a dough-rising bucket. Load the pan with the next recipe and do the same thing. I can quickly make 3 or 4 recipes using this method. The trick is using the bread machine for mixing and kneading ONLY, but NOT for the rising. If you pre-measure everything, you can have a recipe kneaded every 20 to 25-minutes, or so. #9. Add "chunky" stuff (raisins, nuts, dry multi-grain cereal blends, etc.), at the "add-in" beep, otherwise the rough edges will cut the gluten strands of the dough and you'll have a short, squatty loaf. If you add raisins before the add-in beep, they will be pulverized during the kneading and blended into the bread. #10. Have fun!!! Bread is very forgiving, but also very humbling, so expect a few failures and a bit of a learning curve to get the hang of using a bread machine. -Grainlady

Hi again. Happy Mothers Day to all the Mothers out there. Thanks again for helping on my cleaning journey. I got the paperwork all done so cleaned in earnest today. The livingroom floor has held up, so the livingroom is pretty much guest ready. The office/guest room is just about done. The kitchen still needs more spot cleaning, though the recycling is gone, hurray, and the bathrooms need to be spruced up. I feel like I'm going to be done by when they come, which is easing the panic some. Plus my DH has taken tomorrow off and will tackle the too long lawns. As far as the recycling goes we have to do that in this town as they only take about four garbage bags a week, and with the recycling the garbage would add up to more than that. Housenewbie, re the ceiling, no fan, :( equals a yucky kitchen ceiling. It isn't white up there any more. :( Besides my sisters in law notice everything. Hopefully I'll have time to do some ceiling cleaning. I am doing as suggested for the first night of their visit anyway, and keeping the lights lowered, lol. Thanks Sue, for that idea. :) Sorry about your Aunt, intherain. She doesn't know what she's missing when concentrating on the superficial. Your DS is braver than I, lazygardens. I always feel that if I make a suggestion that someone cleans what they don't like that they will do it, and by doing so will make my meager efforts look really bad. Terrapots you said it, no friends or coworkers around to help in my isolated world. I'm a loner anyway and have trouble dealing with more than a few people in my life, but it does make trading help with others more difficult. Anyway, I think I'm doing okay, and hope they're pleasantly surprised at my neat, clean home. I'll enjoy it as long as it lasts. Thanks again. Yeona