01 April 2009

in a pinch

Recently I've raved about my local bakery, Eileen's, and how I love buying my bread from them - supporting a local business and knowing my bread doesn't have the preservatives and other additives you find in packaged loaves. Well, my mother read my post and produced from her kitchen appliance arsenal a bread machine I can now call my own.

I admit that I've only experimented with one recipe: whole wheat bread. From other bread machine bakers I've heard it is notoriously hard to make good, soft bread with pure whole wheat flour (not adding in bread flour as well). But this flour that I can buy at my local Ukrop's store tends to produce a nice hearty loaf that slices well and freezes well. I'd have to say it is a bit dense using all whole wheat, but this way I only have to have one flour on hand and it's a great alternative to Eileen's in a pinch. At least it looks yummy, right?

4 comments:

John R said...

Another feather in Ukrop's hat!

Anonymous said...

That looks great! I was considering a bread machine but talked myself out of it because I assumed it wouldn't taste that good. Would you recommend this brand and if so, what is it?

Gretchen said...

It's an Oster brand bread machine and it has settings for particular kinds of bread (I've only used the whole wheat one) and then different settings for crust color (I found medium too much for the wheat bread and have been using the light setting). For me it was free, so well worth it, but it looks like they don't cost much anymore (oster.com). Not sure what size mine is but I can check if you'd like!

Janet said...

My mom loves her breadmaker. My favorite is her sourdough (which I don't normally like). You can make the starter yourself and keep it in the fridge for when you want it. Happy baking!!!