Bread Baking Success in the Bread Machine (or Oven)

Celiac.com 10/29/2022 - The bread machine is a great tool for everyone’s kitchen, dorm room or camper, but what happens once you plug the machine in and add the ingredients?

Some people, like one of the testers for Delicious Gluten-Free Wheat-Free Breads, simply add all the ingredients to the bread pan, close the lid, hit the programmed buttons and walk away. An hour or two later they return to a great tasting, freshly baked loaf of gluten-free bread. These free-style bakers do not worry if an edge of the loaf shows flour that is not totally mixed together or if the bread crust is not totally smooth with a nice rounded top.

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Then there are people who love to peek, prod and perfect their bread baking techniques into an award winning loaf of bread. Perhaps you fall somewhere between these descriptions. Either way, you will enjoy these Best Bread Baking Tips.

Peek

You can ‘peek’ at how well your bread machine is mixing the dough by either lifting the lid, or looking through the window. Reasons to peek include: adding of liquid; adding nuts or seeds during the beep; simple curiosity or you just can’t keep your hands off the equipment. Another reason to peek is to verify the bread is rising, or to determine if it has risen enough. Try to not raise the lid during the rising cycle. If your machine has a small window, shine a flashlight into the window to avoid raising the lid.

Prod

You may wonder why some people ‘prod’ the dough. Think of it as another term for helping the dough to mix. The ultimate goal is to have the dough appear silky and spread to the sides of the bread pan with just a hint of a bump or dome over the paddles. In some of the recipes you may even see paddle marks in the dough.

Perfect

Hints for perfecting the bread:

• Before you remove the bread from the pan, verify it is done. Tap on the top of the loaf. It should sound hollow. The bottom should also sound hollow. This works for both bread machines and oven made bread.
• Sometimes paddles stick inside the loaf when removing the bread from the pan. Do not worry. Use a toothpick to loosen the bread from around the paddle. Do not use a knife as it will remove some of the non-stick coating from the paddle.
• If you leave the paddle inside the bread until it cools, stick a toothpick with a flag on it (purchase at your craft store) into the top of the loaf. That will remind you to remove the paddle before you start cutting.
• Wait at least two hours before cutting your bread to allow the bread to finish baking. This is called carry over baking.
• Use an electric knife or serrated bread knife for cutting the bread •Save the bread crumbs from cutting for meatballs, meatloaves or to sprinkle on salads.

Lastly, double wrap and freeze the bread you will not be eating within the next couple of days. The best method I have found for thawing and warming up the bread is to pop the slices into a 150°F oven for a minute or two. You will be pleased at how fresh the bread feels and tastes.

Portuguese Sweet Bread

from Delicious Gluten-Free Wheat-Free Breads by LynnRae Ries.

One taste of this bread and you will know why it is recognized as one of the great traditional breads.

Wet Ingredients:

• 3⁄4 cup eggs
• 3⁄4 cup water, more or less as 
• needed
• 1⁄2 cup sweetened condensed 
• milk – NOT evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1⁄2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients/Flour Mixture:

• 1 cup white rice flour
• 1⁄2 cup tapioca starch flour
• 1⁄2 cup potato starch
• 1⁄2 cup cornstarch
• 1⁄2 cup sweet rice flour

Other Dry Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 cup dry milk powder
• 1 teaspoon egg replacer
• 1 Tablespoon xanthan gum
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 
• (optional)
• 2 1⁄2 teaspoons yeast

Directions:

Put ingredients into the bread pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer (usually all the wet ingredients go in first, then the dry and the yeast is sprinkled on top). Set your machine for Dough (to mix and rise) and then to Bake. Walk away or Peek and Prod. This bread will remind you of the Hawaiian Sweet Bread or Pan de la Luce.