[Sca-cooks] partly on-topic, partly off: bread

[Johnna Holloway]

On Jan 25, 2010, at 10:46 AM, Ian Kusz wrote:

> On the making of bread.  Someone's going to buy me a used bread  
> machine,
> something called a "Welbilt."

> First, my sister said that when she'd used a bread machine, the  
> outer inch
> or inch and a half was unusable, as it was stale.

Machines vary a great deal. I've not had that problem with my machine.

I would suggest a trip to the library and check out a number of bread  
machine books.

I really like Electric Bread still. Read the owner's manual. If it  
doesn't come with one,
go searching for one. Some of the machines use a special cup for  
measuring.

What you have to do is start out and just make bread and take notes s  
you go along.
Some breads and recipes are better than others. Keep track of the ones  
you like or the
ones that work really well.


> I've heard (from you lot, I think) that some flours are not high  
> enough in
> something (gluten?) to rise.

Skip the all purpose flour. Buy and use the bread flours. Those can be  
mixed with
whole wheat flour to make whole wheat loaves.

There's also this book Rustic European Breads from Your Bread Machine  
which might provide
you with more rustic breads.

Johnnae