Homemade bread using a bread machine

Overview

When I buy a bread machine, I want to use the simplest method to make delicious and reliable bread. However, I often cannot make satisfactory bread using the formula and operating methods provided by the manufacturer. Either the bread is too brown or the crust is too hard. After consulting experienced friends and practicing, I found that using a classic recipe and grasping a few key nodes in the production process can make soft and delicious bread relatively easily.

Tags

• baking
• butter
• egg
• golden image high gluten flour
• white sugar
• yeast
• milk
• salt

Ingredients

Steps

1. 1 Get your bread machine and kitchen scale ready. I use ACA's AB-SN6513M stainless steel bread machine, which has 16 menu items, and mainly uses three independent functions: quick dough kneading, fermentation and baking.

   

2. 2 Have materials ready. Basic ingredients: high-gluten flour, milk (or water), eggs, sugar, yeast, salt, butter. These are the basic ingredients of the formula. Weigh them according to the ingredients details above. If you want to increase the color of the bread, you can also prepare some coconut paste, bean paste, meat floss, honey beans or raisins, etc., about 30 grams.

   

3. 3 In the order of liquid first and then powder, pour all the weighed basic ingredients into the bread bucket except butter. This step and the previous step can be completed in one go. 40 grams of butter cut into small pieces for easier softening. To add color to the bread, beat the eggs evenly in a small bowl, leaving a little of the whole egg liquid aside. If you want to add raisins to bread, soak a few raisins in water and set aside. If you use the reservation function to make bread, pay attention to placing the salt and sugar in the opposite corners, and poke a small hole in the middle of the flour to put the yeast in to avoid direct contact between the salt, sugar and yeast, which will affect the fermentation of the dough. The preparations are now complete.

   

4. 4 Automatic dough kneading for the first time (30 minutes). Start the quick dough kneading function in the bread machine menu. The default time is 20 minutes, which can be manually increased to 30 minutes. After pressing the start button, the first automatic dough kneading program will start. There will be a prompt sound after the program is completed.

   

5. 5 Add butter and knead dough automatically for the second time (10 minutes). Same as the previous step, this time add softened butter, adjust the dough kneading time to 10 minutes, and press the start button to enter the second automatic dough kneading program.

   

6. 6 Shape and wrap the bread into patterns (this step can be omitted if you want to make patterned bread without any ingredients). Take out the mixed dough and remove the mixing stick from the bread bucket. Divide the dough into three or four parts, and simply knead it into three or four small pieces of dough. Use a rolling pin to flatten each piece of dough. Note: You can leave the stirring stick inside, but there will be a big hole at the bottom of the shaped bread, which makes it inconvenient to pour out the baked bread.

   

7. 7 In this step, according to personal preference, you can spread black sesame walnut powder, bean paste, soaked and drained raisins, meat floss, etc. You can play freely. After circling and pinching the edges of the dough sheet, put several dough rolls together like twists and put them back into the bread barrel.

   

8. 8 Enter the fermentation process (about 60 minutes). Press the fermentation function button of the bread machine. The default time is 1 hour. Generally, this time is sufficient in spring and autumn. It can be shortened when the temperature is high in summer and extended when the room temperature is low in winter. Wait until the dough has fermented to twice its original size and is 2 cm away from the mouth of the bucket. No manual intervention is required during this time.

   

9. 9 Enter the baking program (50 minutes). After the fermentation in the previous step is completed, press the bake button. The default is 50 minutes. This time is basically sufficient. There is no need to intervene during this time. You can do other things. Note: 1. Before baking, you can brush the prepared egg liquid on top of the fermented bread, and then sprinkle with some grated coconut, which can add a lot of color to the finished bread. 2. Usually homemade bread is easy to have a hard crust. You can wrap tin foil on both sides of the bread barrel with the shiny side facing outward. This can bake evenly and burn well.

   

10. 10 The bread machine will automatically sound a reminder when baking is complete. At this time, you should wear anti-scalding gloves in time, take the bread machine out while it is hot, pour the bread out, and let it cool on the grill. Note: 1. Do not eat freshly baked bread immediately because the yeast in it has not yet stabilized and eating it is not good for your stomach. 2. After the bread is basically cool, put it in a fresh-keeping bag, preferably a special cellophane bread bag (sold very cheaply online). 3. Do not store bread in the refrigerator. Store it indoors if it can be eaten within two days. If you cannot finish it, slice it and freeze it. Just take it out and thaw it when you want to eat it. 4. There are also tips for cutting bread into slices. You don’t necessarily need to use a serrated knife, but the knife must be fast. Put the knife on the fire and burn it before cutting. This can prevent the cut bread from falling into pieces and cut it thinly and evenly.

    

11. 11 Now a soft, delicious and beautiful bread is ready. After making a few, the bread will get better and better. It seems that it takes more than 3 hours to complete a loaf. In fact, only one or two steps need to be done manually. Starting from weighing the ingredients and shaping the packaging, if you want to make it simple, you can also omit the packaging step. The other steps are automatically processed by the bread machine with a few buttons. You can do other things at the same time.