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

My stacked 200 series oven and combi-steam are 45" together, with about an inch of trim between. (I think the sizes are the same as the current models.) There is a tank version of the combi-steam if you don't want to plumb it, though having the plumbing means descaling once in a very blue moon (like years) and otherwise forgetting about the water. You do have to have space nearby for the trap and valve if you plumb. Mine does go down through the floor to the main drain which starts at the cleanup sink, and meets the prep and combi- at the island, then runs through the laundry. If it's not easily retrofitted, it's probably not worth the bother. I did get a little "pizza stone" (quote marks because it's thin) to fit in the combi- but I have it purposefully high, and I haven't gotten around to trying to bake in it. For crusty breads and toothsome pizzas, I use the dedicated pizza stone and electric coil that are an extra you can buy for the regular oven. Rhome410 isn't enthusiastic about hers (and she liked her Wolf ovens better than the Gaggenau before they failed), but I think they're fantastic! The thing about the combi-steam is that it doesn't do anything you can't achieve by other means. It's just easier. For a lot of things that people want steam on, like crusty roasts and breads, I've always said, "Just put a ramekin of water in your regular oven." I've only recently gotten into the crusty bread thing, and I was a little concerned with the pizza stone in its required bottom position since all the instructions say that the steam pan should be below, but when I put my ramekin of water on a high shelf with the bread on the stone, it gets as nicely crusty as one could wish. I haven't compared to the alternative method, but it compares well to bakery/restaurant crust. The greatest tricks the combi-steam does are regenerate and steaming. Regenerate mode lets you put in a composed plate to heat up. Meat, veg, starch, it all gets warm without getting overcooked or weird. I decided I didn't care how much it cost when I was microwave steaming vegetables for salad for the holidays and my very favorite glass pot broke. It was too much cold/hot/cold/hot stress. I hate steaming on the stove. There is no work to making vegetables for a couple dozen people in the combi-steam. Prepping, them, yes, but steaming them is a bagatelle. Almost an afterthought. It also makes excellent poultry. I once did three turkey half breasts and three thighs for Passover. Dead easy. The combi- will hold my 17" Pyrex dish and my 8 qt. Graniteware roaster (with foil on--the lid doesn't fit easily), so most years it gets either the kugel or the brisket. My "goose pot", when I go for the whole turkey has enough room around it in the big oven for a few baked potatoes, or other small oddities, but the combi- year, I put the potatoes on the edge of the turkey pans and they came out fine. (I have a couple of non-meat eaters.) The first fault I've found with my regular oven is that with the fan on (which includes with the pizza stone setting), the hot air hits the door and reflects at a particular angle, so the right front edge of the bread gets a little browner. Not enough to bother me, but not as even as baking without the fan. The oven will do fan only, fan and some or all of bottom heat, bottom heat only, and top and bottom heat. And that's just for baking. :) You get to choose. And, yes, unless you can find a good closeout, Gaggenau will cost you more than anything else, and the combi-steam is a premium beyond that. More than you wanted to know? I'm still holding good thoughts for the recovery of your Miele. :)

robin, I adapt non-bread machine recipes to use in the bread machine all the time, I've never found one that didn't turn out, so I don't see why it wouldn't work the other way around. I'd mix all the wet ingredients, beat in the dry ones, then knead until it feels right, probably the obligatory 7-10 minutes. Let rise, knock down, shape, rise and bake. Although 350 is my "universal" temp I'd do bread at 375F for 25 or 30 minutes, depending on the shape of the loaf. make sure your liquid ingredients are warm, but not too hot, so you don't kill the yeast. And no, I never proof today's yeast and I haven't experienced any problem, as long as the yeast isn't outdated. Heck, you know my theory on bread. People have been baking it in one form or another for centuries in everything from fireplaces to the most expensive ovens, or on hoes over a fire. Toss everything in a bowl, mix, knead, rise, bake. It'll be good. That recipe, BTW, looks really good, I think I might try that myself as soon as my loaf of high protein honey wheat is gone. Annie

What kind of bread? Free form or panned? Be sure to check your user's manual for more information. The quick answer is, you bake bread to an internal temperature and take that temperature with an instant-read thermometer. For a panned loaf somewhere between 190-200-degrees F. (it will be more moist at 190 and dryer at 200). The internal temperature is the only accurate method for checking for doneness. Thumping on the loaf, or checking the color aren't accurate methods. -Baking breads at a lower temperature (325-350-degrees) creates a thicker, chewier crust. -Baking breads at a higher temperature (375-425-degrees) produces a thinner, crisper crust. -The temperature most commonly used for baking breads is 375-degrees F., but it's also common to use 350 or 400-degrees. -A sweet bread or a quick bread is baked at a lower temperature - 350-degrees F. -400-425-degrees F (or higher) is used for breads with low or no sugar, such as French or Italian bread. -I would check a loaf of bread containing 3-cups of flour after 25-30 minutes. Oven temperatures often vary. -Be sure to cool the loaf on a rack until it's completely cooled before slicing. If you slice into a hot/warm loaf of bread you will destroy the crumb and it will appear to be gummy or under-done. -Cool to an internal temperature of 90-100-degrees F, then wrap to keep the crumb from drying out. The longer you leave the bread unwrapped at room temperature, the drier the crumb will be. The moisture in the crumb will migrate through the crust. -Grainlady