Asking for trouble?

If you followed my six-part series on the twenty pounds I lost in the last ten weeks -- and the 19 I still have to lose before I reach my goal -- you might think I'm crazy for this:  I just bought an automatic breadmaking machine via Craigslist.  (I paid $50 for it, $10 of which was an incentive for the very nice seller, who lives an hour away, to meet me near my house instead of near hers.)

But really, it makes sense.  We spend something like ten to fifteen dollars a week, sometimes more if there isn't any on sale, on expensive high-quality whole wheat bread, most of which is eaten by children.  The kids eat an enormous amount of toast for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch, and often toast or sandwiches for snacks.  I put bread and butter on the table once in a while too, because it's quicker than making rice or potatoes.   And I almost always serve sandwiches when it's my turn to make lunch for my friends' kids.   

I don't bake my own bread because, um, I don't feel like I have the time.  I make pizza dough, and I make quick breads, including an Irish soda bread that is sturdy enough to make sandwiches with; I'm hoping the bread machine offers a way to get yeast bread with the kind of time commitment I'd expect from a quick bread.  

The only reason I haven't bought one yet is because I've been avoiding bread for years now, and I always feared that a bread machine would entice me to eat bread.  So... now that I am not doing the low carb thing, and am concentrating my efforts on reasonable portions of all kinds of food, and am having unprecedented success, I thought... maybe it's time to welcome homemade bread into my house again.

I still have about 5 loaves of store bread in the house that I want to use up, so it'll be a week or two before I'm ready to try it out.  This gives me time to find a place to keep the darn thing and to collect some recipes.  So... if you know a good first-timer bread machine recipe, especially a 100%-or-nearly-so whole wheat recipe, please share.  Double points if you can tell me how to manage soaking the flour for 12 hours, Weston A. Price style, before starting the machine.

UPDATE.  Greg gives me a recipe in the comments. 

Per most of the advice I've read online, I used a packaged bread machine mix (a Hodgson Mill "honey wheat" bread) for the first loaf.  It turned out pretty good.  A little bit lopsided.   I guess I'll make French toast for breakfast and then try Greg's recipe tomorrow.

Comments

[Amy F]

Do you have Marilyn Shannon's Fertiity, Cycles, and Nutrition? I use the whole wheat recipe she has in there. I'll type it out if you don't have the book.

[bearing]

I have it, and will look, thanks for the tip!

[Greg]

Back when the office was in a coworker's basement, we used to make bread nearly every day. Here is the perfected recipe:

1c. water
1T. olive oil
4T. honey
3c. whole wheat flour
2t. salt
3t. yeast
(1/4c. sunflower seeds or chopped nuts)

This made a pretty dense loaf with the standard settings of the bread maker we were using.

After some experimenting, we were able to get a much lighter loaf by starting a 2 1/2 hour cycle, letting it run for about 20 minutes to mix the ingredients, turning it off to let the dough rise for 40-60 mins, then starting a new 2 1/2 hour cycle and letting it run through.

[bearing]

Greg, was that for a 1.5 pound loaf, or a 2 pound loaf?

[bearing]

OK, after carefully perusing the manual for the machine, it says it has an "extend rise" option. The extend rise is only 20 minutes max, but the whole cycle (with the extend rise) is 4 hours 10 minutes, so maybe it'll work.

I think the "lopsided" was because I didn't check the consistency of the dough and it should have had water added to it. But I'm just guessing.

[Greg]

I don't ever remember checking the weight of the finished loaf.

There was some bread baked that was not particularly edible, but once we got the recipe tuned to the machine, it was consistently excellent.

I'd probably start with the built in cycle (less work!) and experiment from there.

[bearing]

Well, Greg, I'm trying it your way now -- per Hannah's recommendations upon tasting the finished loaf, I let it go through the first knead cycle, took the bread out and let the machine cool down, then put it back in and started again. This should double the first knead time.

After I'd already started, I realized -- duh! -- I could have put it in for the "Dough" cycle and then put it in again for a "Wheat Bread" cycle. This would have been a little more standardized.

My husband the shortening expert thinks I should have used coconut oil instead of olive. Did you ever do that? I mean, since it was your family who turned me on to coconut oil in the first place, it sort of makes sense. :-)

[bearing]

Hm, now all the machine is doing is spinning the dough ball around and around. Pure rotation, no shear. I don't think that counts as "kneading."

Oh well, we'll see how it turns out!

[Angie]

Hey guys, looking to buy a new Kitchenaid Stand Mixer for my mother-in-law. Not sure which one to get....any ideas???