Bread machine yields light, lovely loaves

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/05/2006 (7199 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NOTHING beats the aroma of fresh-baked bread, and thanks to the easy-to-use electric bread machine, baking it is a cinch.

Today’s recipes for breads prepared in the machine are courtesy of Carol Gudmundson of Riverton — whose Icelandic brown bread is in response to a request by Brenda Rathier — and Yvonne Carroll of Selkirk. Thanks also to June Curtis of St. Andrews and Janice Scott.

Now on to recent requests:

June Curtis is after a recipe she lost for homemade steak sauce similar to A1 or Heinz 57 sauce. The recipe contains tomato paste, Worcestershire and some spices.

Sharon Ackerman would love to recreate the “absolutely amazing” vanilla bean cheesecake served at Red Lobster. Can anyone help?

Tina Bouchard puts out a call for a creamy dill salad dressing.

Lastly, Sue Strell requests a recipe to duplicate Gunn’s Bakery’s delicious apple jacks.

Is there a long-lost recipe you’d like to get your hands on? Would you care to share one of your specialties? To respond to one of this week’s Recipe Swap requests, share a favourite recipe or send in a request, please write to Recipe Swap, c/o Ilana Simon, Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6, send a fax to 697-7412 or e-mail to ilana.simon@freepress.mb.ca. Please include name, address and daytime telephone number in case any ingredients or directions must be checked.

Bread machine Icelandic brown bread

310 ml (1 1/4 cups) water

60 ml (1/4 cup) molasses

10 ml (2 tsp) oil

60 ml (1/4 cup) brown sugar

5 ml (1 tsp) salt

425 ml (1 3/4 cups) white flour

250 ml (1 cup) whole-wheat flour

125 ml (1/2 cup) rye flour

15 ml (1 tbsp) bread-machine yeast

Add all ingredients to bread machine in order outlined above.

Set bread machine for dough cycle. Leave the dough in the machine for 1 hour longer to allow it to rise some more.

The dough will be sticky, but try not to add too much extra flour as you shape the loaves.

Form one large loaf or two smaller loaves and place on baking sheet. Let the loaf or loaves rise in warm oven until doubled in size.

Bake in 200 C (400 F) oven for 20 minutes.

Taste-tester notes: This Icelandic brown bread is delicious and fluffy, but I found it a little sweet. If desired, use 15 ml (1 tbsp) less of each the brown sugar and molasses. If you don’t have rye flour on hand, you can also use a multigrain flour mix such as Robin Hood Multigrain. Serve warm if possible.

Bread machine whole wheat bread

375 ml (1 1/2 cups) warm water

30 ml (2 tbsp) powdered milk

30 ml (2 tbsp) shortening

30 ml (2 tbsp) honey

30 ml (2 tbsp) molasses

7 ml (1 1/2 tsp) salt

625 ml (2 1/2 cups) whole-wheat flour

250 ml (1 cup) white flour

7 ml (1 1/2 tsp) bread-machine yeast

Measure all ingredients and add to bread machine in order outlined above.

Set bread machine to whole-grain setting.

Once the bread has baked (about 4 hours), remove from machine and turn on to a rack for cooling.

Taste-tester notes: This whole-wheat bread is also delicious. If you prefer a less sweet bread, you may want to reduce the honey and molasses to 15 ml (1 tbsp) of each. You can use butter or oil in place of shortening. Enjoy.