Maremy's Blog

Wal-Mart is having its anniversary sale this weekend. One of the advertised items was a Black & Decker bread maker: regularly $80.00 marked down to $45.00. I went out and purchased it yesterday.

The bread machine has 10 different settings, depending what type of bread you are making:

• Basic (I can't see myself using this setting much, because it's for recipes that use white flour...something I don't bake with. Yes, I am all about the whole wheat flour).
  
• Rapid-Bake 1
• Rapid-Bake 2
• Sandwich: this is the setting I'm using for my first loaf. Thinner crust and lighter texture.
• Whole Grain: I'll probably use this one a lot.
• Sweet
• Quick Bread: breads that include baking powder instead of yeast.
• Dough: I can see myself using this setting a lot. Apparently, it's for dough to make coffee cakes, rolls (Thanksgiving is just around the corner), pizza and other breads baked in an oven. Basically, this setting gets the dough ready for you. Why do I feel like it's cheating or something? ;)
• French
• Preserves: Not only does this thing do bread, but you can also make jams and preserves. I'm sure I'll give it a whirl at some point.

My first loaf is baking as I type this. It's cracked wheat sandwich bread and is being baked on the sandwich setting. The machine was very simple to use. Just put the ingredients in in the order listed: liquid first, followed by dry and finally, add the yeast. Pop the bread pan into the machine, punch in your settings and away it goes! It does the mixing and kneading for you. See why I said it feels like I'm cheating or something? ;)

Hopefully my first loaf turns out okay! I find out in about an hour...