Cardamom Bread: Your New Favorite Bread Machine Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the best yeast to use in a bread machine? ›

Bread machine yeast and rapid-rise yeast are specially formulated for the bread machine and become active more quickly than active dry yeast. You can use active dry yeast in your bread machine, but it should be dissolved in water before being used.

King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, with its high gluten, is an excellent flour for bread machines. Numerous people have told us that their recipes worked in the bread machine using King Arthur, when they didn't work with other all-purpose flours.

Too much heat or humidity might lead to a too-quick rise and a crevice near the center of your bread. Conditions that are too cold might delay proofing or rising, resulting in a super-dense loaf. The bread machine works on a timer and hums along at its regular pace.

You add the ingredients, and the bread machine makes and bakes the bread in one handy appliance. Liquid ingredients are added first, then oils or fats, dry ingredients, and finally yeast (if your recipe calls for it). The machine will mix, knead, rise, and bake the dough to a beautifully soft bread with a crisp crust.

Fresh yeast, sometimes called cake yeast or compressed yeast, is a block of fresh yeast cells that contains about 70% moisture and is commonly used by baking professionals. It's pale beige in color, soft and crumbly with a texture similar to a soft pencil eraser, and has a stronger yeast smell than dry yeast.

While bread flour is the best option, it can sometimes be used if you don't have bread flour. “Check the protein content,” advises Chef Jürgen, since it can vary from brand to brand, and an all-purpose flour that contains protein on the higher end of the range, 12 to 13 percent, will produce a better outcome.

And It's not just cakes that benefit from a touch of vinegar, but also biscuits, muffins, and even bread. So when it comes to bread, it's the same concept – vinegar inhibits gluten formation which leads to a more relaxed and extensible dough, resulting in a less dense and chewy bread.

Yes! All-purpose flour has a 9% to 12% gluten content, while bread flour's gluten content falls in the 10% to 13% range. Even if your all-purpose flour lacks gluten, you can still use it in the bread machine. Again, the worst that will happen is that your bread will not rise as much as it would with bread flour.

Self-rising flour is a combination of salt, flour and a leavening agent. While not traditionally used in conjunction with bread machines, self-rising flour can be used as a substitute for bread flour. The process of making bread in a bread machine using self-rising flour slightly differs, as ...

Some attribute the demise of the bread machine to the fact that cooks were just disappointed by their results. Lara Pizzorno, the author of Bread Machine Baking, chalked it up to food snobs who regarded the machine as “the electric equivalent of The Bridges of Madison County” in a 1996 article in The New York Times.

What does adding milk do to bread? ›

The fat and lactose in milk help with tenderizing the crumb of the bread making it softer and sweeter. The crust of the bread also gets more caramelization. Be aware that bread made with milk should not be baked at too high of a temperature to prevent it from browning too much too soon.

Making bread from a machine is marginally cheaper than buying it, as long as you eat bread frequently enough to offset the cost of the appliance. Specifically, I see this as an investment that's smart for households that go through bread quickly, like large families or homes with multiple roommates.

Always turn off the bread maker at the socket when not in use.

Adding Ingredients to the Bread Machine

Manufacturers usually recommend adding the liquids first, followed by dry ingredients, with the yeast going in last.

Active Dry Yeast is an ideal yeast to use for artisan breads or no knead breads that require a slower rise time. It's also the preferred type of yeast for those doughs that proof in the refrigerator for extended periods of time.

Both active dry yeast and instant yeast are good to use for longer fermented doughs, while rapid-rise yeast and bread machine yeast are only designed for same-day baking. Be sure to check any recipe you're planning on making to see which type of yeast they recommend.

Not only does it skip the proofing/dissolving step, instant yeast simply ramps up more quickly than active dry. Dough made with instant yeast and shaped into a loaf will rise to its optimal height significantly more quickly than a shaped loaf made with active dry yeast.

Active dry yeast and instant yeast both help leaven bread and provide an airy, light texture, but they do so in slightly different ways and there's one major difference in how you use them: Active dry yeast needs to be dissolved in water before using, while instant yeast can be mixed right into dry ingredients.