I finally took the plunge and invested in a bread maker. Not just any bread maker though! I did the research and found the one I thought would be best for a family of five who also happens to need plenty of gluten free loaves. I invested in the Zojirushi BBCC-X20 - love it!! I tried several recipes for home made bread, including several from Bette Hagman's cookbooks. I was beginning to doubt my choice of attempting to make quality gluten free loaves at all. While shopping in the gf section I noticed Glutino had a basic white bread mix. I purchased it and was pleasantly suprised at the texture and flavor. Although it was similar in texture and taste to bread we have purchased in the grocery, it still lacked something......... I tried adding honey and the flavor improved a bit, however the bread browned a bit too quickly. So, I decided to improvise! I started with the basic sandwich bread as I mentioned above.
I followed the directions for basic use, using the water option (in lieu of milk), butter and yeast. In the Zojirushi maker the ingredients need to be added as follows:
1 3/4 cups water (lukewarm)
4 TBSP melted butter
2 TBSP sugar (I use Sugar in the Raw)
2 tsp salt
1/3 cup onion
1 1/4 cups cheddar cheese (I use Tillamook)
Add the bread flour on top (do not mix)
make a well in the top of flour (be careful it's not too deep - the yeast needs to stay dry)
Add yeast
Set maker to basic bread, medium crust, press start
3 hours and 45 minutes later - DELICIOUS - and the entire house smells fabulous!! If you can't wait for it to cool completely - spray your bread knife with Pam and enjoy your fresh baked bread - my family devoured the loaf!!
If you have any bread recipes, I would love to have them!! Please share - and know I will be sharing as I experiment :)
Happy baking!
Kelly
