I’m going to put myself on the spot, and I’ll explain, how to make bread using the bread maker. Because understanding things are fundamental to doing them well and daring to modify them successfully.
The bread is basically, the mixture of flour, water, and yeast (natural as the sourdough or artificial as any we can buy). There are basic steps to making bread which you can click here to learn.
Kneading The Bread
The bread maker is responsible for mixing the ingredients well and integrating it. The kneading process is fundamental to obtain a good crumb, and there are many techniques of kneading by hand that isn’t relevant if you are using a machine. We should leave the kneading to the bread machine, for the time being.
First Yeast Action
In this stage, the yeasts begin to feed on the sugars and other components of the flour and grow, swell and sponge our bread. Gluten is also developed, which is essential for a rich, tasty and fluffy crumb.
Depending on the outside temperature and other considerations such as the amount of yeast and the type of fatty ingredients that we have mixed, we will need more or less time.
Second Kneading On The Bread Machine
This second kneading is usually lighter than the first; Its purpose is to degas the dough before giving it the final shape we want the bread to have. Again the Cuisinart breadmakers, for example, take care of it. We will have to be aware of when the process ends if we want to extract the kneading blade. It is not essential (if we do not, we will know that there are a couple of slices or three that will come out with a hole), but if we want we will have to do it as soon as this second kneading ends before the second leap begins.
The Second Yeast Action
Once again the yeasts come into action, to make our dough grow. I could talk much about when the bread is at the optimum time to be baked, but as we are talking about making bread in the bread maker, we will let it work and, for now, we understand that the preset times are optimal for the same temperature.
Final Bread Baking
This is the final phase that will give us back a toasted, tasty, juicy, delicious bread! And that will leave our house smelling like fresh bread. When the breadmaker finishes baking, take out the bread and let it rest on a rack, this is essential so that the crust does not soften.