Wednesday 17 October 2007

Let the machine do it!

My bread machine came out with this loaf yesterday :)

It did most of the job, while my elder boy and I only took care of the measuring and adding in the ingredients in the right sequence. After 3 hours, out came this beautiful loaf!


It's a Crunchy Peanut Butter Bread recipe which I have taken from this book, The Complete Bread Machine Cookbook by Sonia Allison. The ingredients are very basic, just water, oil (I used olive oil), bread flour, salt, sugar, some milk power, yeast and the only additional flavouring is three tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter. There's no eggs or butter involved.



I wasn't expecting anything fantastic from this loaf...as I have tried enough bread recipes to have came to the conclusion that the texture of the bread made from the bread machine, somehow will not be as soft, compared to those made by hand. Indeed, I was very surprised how soft, light and airy this bread turned out to be! You can gauge the texture, just by looking at the number of holes on the bread. I should have suspected it, as the bread rose all most to the brim of my bread machine when it was baking away. It tasted very much like a plain loaf, not sweet at all, as the amount of sugar is really minimal. However, I could taste the bits of peanuts and there was even a hint of the peanut butter. It remained soft and fluffy the next morning, and after lightly toasted, it tasted very delicious when spreaded with peanut butter.

I must say, this bread fits in very well to the description given in the book:
"What can one say about a high-rise loaf flavoured with peanut butter? It's a stunner, predictably succulent when it's buttered and spread with Marmite. Or use it as a base for cheese on toast. All sound stuff with child appeal."

This is one recipe that I can really leave it to the machine to do the job!


Ingredients:

300ml(1 & 3/8 cups) water
3 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter
1 tablespoon oil
450g (3 cups) bread flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons caster sugar
2 tablespoon dried skimmed milk powder
1 & 1/4 teaspoons instant or fast-acting dried yeast


Method:

  1. Pour the water into the breadmaker bucket. Add in the peanut butter, oil and half the flour.
  2. Sprinkle with the salt, sugar and dried milk powder. Cover with the remaining flour.
  3. With a finger, make a small indent in the centre of the flour, and place the yeast in the indent.
  4. Fit the bucket into the breadmaker, and set to Basic white or No. 1. Select the desired colour of the crust. (The recipe did not state the loaf size, I set it as 2 lb, and selected light for the crust).
  5. When the cycle completes, carefully shake the loaf out of the bucket and let it stand the right way up. If desired, brush with glaze (I usually omit this). Leave the loaf to cool for at least an hour before cutting and remove the blade/paddle if necessary.

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds good! My breadmaker has arrived (have not made bread for so many months!) and I have some marmite lying around. I do agree that most of the time, bread made from the breadmaker is never as soft, so it's great that this one is!
Do you have any other soft loaf recipes that don't contain nuts? My girl is allergic to peanuts.

Anonymous said...

The result simply is worth it considering minimal effort and ingredients involved! Definately a bread to mk on a regular basis. Looks really soft and fluffy too. I WANT!!!!

Anonymous said...

The loaf of bread looks absolutely good! I like peanut butter too! I miss making bread and yours inspire me to do something this weekend!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Happyhomebaker!
What a great and simple idea! Do u think it is possible in anyway to incorporate Nutella, jam or even kaya into any of the bread-machine recipes?!? =P

MW

serena said...

Hi! Your bread looks delicious and you are now unofficially my "si fu". I have learnt so much from you. Can I know what brand is your breadmaker?

JY said...

Looks great!
Can I ask, if I can use the breadmaker to make bread in the evening?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Kat, the other soft loaf recipe that I have tried is posted under 'Milk Loaf'.

vb, yes, this is a everyday kind of bread.

Elyn, I will be keeping a look out for your bread over the weekend :)

Hi MW, I am not sure whether the texture will be affected if other jams were to be used. I won't advise kaya, as it contains more liquid, nutella seems to be a better bet. Breads are more 'sensitive' than other bakes, so it is better to follow the recipe closely. For example, if u were to add dried raisins to a bread recipe (which is not originally called for), it will affect the dough, as dried raisins will absorb the moisture from the dough. So you will need to soak the raisins before adding, or adjust the amount of water. Small things like this will affect the bread dough, so don't 'play play' with bread recipe, lolz!

Serena, nah, I cannot be any ones "si fu"...I am as new as you! Just that I have more time to play around with my bakes :) I got my breadmaker from Carrefour, a cheap housebrand, Bluesky at under $70. Nothing fancy, but comes with all the basic functions.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Ningxutan, yes you can...but if you were to leave it to work overnight, try not to use recipes with eggs, fresh milk, they may turn bad as the machine will start at a delayed time. and you wont want to wake up in the middle of the night to add extra flavourings like nuts and raisins...unless your maker has got an automatic dispenser for that. Also, do plan in such a way that you start your machine at least 4 hrs before your bed time. Otherwise, you will have to wait for the machine to complete the cycle, and then wait for another hour for the bread to cool, before cutting and storing. I tried once, and couldn't go to bed till 12am!

Anonymous said...

Hi dere...its simple n nice...yeah looks so fluffy dat u cant wait 2 sink ur teeth into it...haha...i love ur bread recipes...simply addictive 2 view ur blog... =D

Anonymous said...

Hi Happy Homebaking, I am a SAHM with 2 kids and have started reading your blog about 2 months ago. I just wanted to say Thanks to you. I have never baked before until I chance upon your blog. I have since started baking bread, cookies and cakes, your recipes and advice are very good/useful. Thank you and keep up the good work, I will keep reading your blog to learn more from you :)

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi v.slpy.wrker, thanks for your kind words!

Hi OrangeJuice, it's nice to hear from you :) Glad to know that you have started baking! I am sure you enjoy it very much, especially when seeing your kids gobble down your bakes right?! Blogging is about sharing, I am sure you will also be able to learn alot from other talented bakers too!
Happy Home Baking!

Anonymous said...

Try these other recipes and you will be surprise by the softness.

Wonder Bread - Golden Egg Bread

3/4 cup water -- (or milk) - I use milk
2 eggs
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cups bread flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast


Double Choc Bread

Ingredients

1.5 pound loaf

milk 1 cup
vanilla 1.5 tsp
egg 1
marg. or butter 1 tbsp
bread flour 3 cups
brown sugar 3 tbsp
unsweetened cocoa powder 4 tsp
salt 3/4 tsp
active dry yeast 1 tsp
semi sweet choc. chips 2/3 cup

Anonymous said...

You are so humble, thanks for sharing your recipes and as well as documenting each process that you go through for the cakes, breads and cookies that you baked. Yes I will keep baking, my kids and my hubby polished off within 1 evening the chocolate torte that I made from your recipe :) I was pleasantly surprised !

sweet-tooth said...

the bread looks good!
i'm inspired by you to bake breads someday.
haha unfortunately, i've yet to buy a bread making machine.
haha

Patricia Scarpin said...

It looks so soft, like ball of cotton!

Happy Homebaker said...

hi Anonymous, thanks for sharing your recipes, will love to try it!

Orangejuice, I am delighted to hear that your family likes the chocolate torte =)

Hi Sweet Tooth, if you don't mind putting extra effort, I am sure this bread can be done by hand :)

Dear Pat, no, it's not that soft as cotton, just soft enough as a plain bread, lolz!

The Health Conscious Shopper said...

hey HHB,
waht a wonderful recipe!I was just going to consult u! do you have any idea why the bread i bake, it's soft and fluffy after baking, but after storing in airtight container overnight - it's hardened! also, it gets even worse if i store in fridge!how do we make the bread last so long as those in the coffeeshops, plus stay so soft?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Canton Pixie, I am also in search of a soft and can stay soft, for at least 1 ~ 2days bread recipe! It's a fact that bread "age" very fast...most homemade bread will become hard the next day. The reason is that we don't use any additives. Some recipes recommend the use of bread improvers, which help to keep the bread soft. You can get is from PH. However, if u do a check at wikipedia, you won't want to use it, if possible. Especially for me, as I bake for my kids. So what I usually do is, toast the bread before serving, and it will taste much better. You can also try the Hokkiado milky loaf or the milk loaf recipes which I have posted. These breads do remain soft at least the next day. Hope this helps clear your doubts :)

The Health Conscious Shopper said...

hey thanks so much HHB! u r really such an inspiration to me!

Anonymous said...

Hey, I've made the bread! I'm going to try spreading with peanut butter tomorrow morning! Thanks for sharing the recipe!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi HHB,
Nice bread! What function should I set my breadmaker to? Mine is Bluesky too. Thank you.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, I set it to Basic White, or Function No.1.

Anonymous said...

Hi HHB

I love your blog! You had made me realise I can bake toO! I never thot I will bake even since my Sec scho Home Econ Class.

I tried the hokkiado milk loaf with my new toy (bluesky BM!) and it was so popular with my family! I forgot to add milk powder but it still taste good!

Jus to chk, can I replace the water & milk powder with fresh milk instead?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Fion, yes you can replace it with fresh milk. However, do note that if you are using whole milk, it contains sugar and has more fat than other milks, so the bread crust will probably brown more quickly.

Anonymous said...

YUM
i absolutely LURVE peanut butter! I also love looking at your site and all the great recipes! I would love to try this loaf and spread a thick layer of peanut butter on it. DELISH!

Anonymous said...

Dear HHB

With reference to the recipes contributed by Anonymous on 18/10/07, I would like to find out from you if you know which programme to use. Should i use Prog 1 (Basic WHite) or the Sweet Bread programme?

Would appreciate your comment on this. THank you.

LINDA
Melaka, Msia.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Linda, I am sorry, I do not know which setting to use. I think for the second recipe, you can try using the Sweet programme and the first recipe with the Basic programme.

quizzine said...

Hi HHB,
I tried this out over the weekend, and it is really soft & nice! I reduce the baking time by 10 mins, and the crust turns out not so hard than my previous loaf. I'll be baking this again soon. Thanks ;-)
Cheers,

jue said...

Hi, tried your peanut butter loaf and it was good...I love the texture. Linked you to my blog. Must say you're quite a baker. Cheerio. Jue

jjcht said...

Hi HHB, I tried this recipe using my bread machine. The texture was nice and taste the crunchy peanut butter still. However, my crust looks thicker & harder than yours. How to improve it?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi HT, you can select the lightest crust function (shorter baking time), and select smaller loaf size ( 1 ~ 1.5lb).

Anonymous said...

Is caster sugar really necessary? o.o Why not just white sugar that we use for coffee, cakes, etc.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Anonymous, caster sugar is used in baking as it dissolves faster. "The size of the sugar crystal affects the amount of air that can be incorporated into the batter during the creaming of the sugar and fat. When using sugar most people think of it only as a sweetener. For example, adding a teaspoon to your coffee or sprinkling a little over strawberries. But when sugar is used in baking its role becomes more complex as it also adds volume, tenderness, texture, color, and acts as a preservative."...quote from joyofbaking.com

Cheryl said...

Have been trying out different recipes for the bread machine. This by far is the softest bread loaf I have made! Thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

Hi, may I know this receipe is for 1lb or 2lb?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, please refer step 4 in the recipe instructions above.