Crazy About My Carbs :)

My favorite adventures in the kitchen involve making bread and I LOVE my bread machine!!! I love the smells of bread baking, the taste of a warm slice, and the many varieties of bread there are to choose from. When I first got my bread machine as a wedding gift, I was thrilled and made many tasty breads with it.

Now that I consider myself an "intermediate" baker (still learning) I use the bread machine for DOUGH and bake the bread in a bread pan with the oven. It makes it more homemade looking, and I think the loaf itself is cooked better. For example, sometimes when I cook Cinnamon Raisin Bread, the raisins in a bread machine cooked loaf are all at the bottom... if I pull out the dough however, I can knead it evenly all together.

Making bread with the bread machine dough cycle is easy... I put the ingredients in the machine and set it to the dough only setting. About 90 minutes later, the dough is ready. Lightly flour your surface, and spread out your dough. Roll it kind of in a rectangle shape, and roll it up tightly and pinch in the ends. Tuck the ends over, and set in a greased bread pan. Let rise until double. Bake 30-35 minutes. Then, I usually brush melted butter on the top to finish it up.

Here is a recipe from the Betty Crocker Bread Machine Cookbook.

Raisin Cinnamon Bread

(1 1/2 Pound Recipe)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
3 cups bread flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine or quick active dry yeast
3/4 cup raisins

Place all ingredients except raisins in bread machine pan in the order recommended. Add the raisins at the raisin/nut signal.

To bake in the machine, select the basic or white cycle. Otherwise, choose the dough cycle and continue with directions above.