Bread Machine Focus week Day 5-Beyond the Basics or the Bells and Whistles

Today I thought I would tell you a bit about some of the extra features that some bread machines come with.

I can speak mostly for the one I have so let’s start there.

One of the features mine has that I do use from time to time is the whole wheat setting. On this setting everything is pretty much the same as the basic or white setting except the machine goes through a “warming” cycle before it mixes the ingredients. Since my kitchen tends to be very cold in the winter this setting comes in handy then. I could certainly live with out it.

Most machines give you the choice of crust color so the bread can be tailored to your liking.

In addition to the standard dough cycle my machine has a pizza dough setting which has a shorter rise time since pizza dough doesn’t need to rise as long as rolls.

One of the cycles that has intrigued me since I got my first bread machine is the Jam Cycle, I make a lot of jam in the summer and fall but I had never tried to do any in the bread machine. I decided to give it go this week (all in the name of research for this column). Since I didn’t really have any fresh produce around that would work very well for jam I chose to use frozen strawberries. The recipe and picture of the finished product are below. It was certainly the easiest jam I have ever made, simply put the ingredients in the bread machine and walk away for just over an hour, and then allow to chill in the fridge for another 3 or so hours. I have to admit it does lack something in texture but it is certainly good. I will be repeating the recipe in the future. My official “Jam Tester” (my youngest son, age 12) says he likes this better than a lot of jam because it is not too sweet, just right in his opinion.

My machine can also bake a cake, another cycle I have never tried so I can’t really speak for it.

There are also several different cycles for baking special types of breads from French style to fruit and nut breads. Other machines have settings for Artisan breads and quick breads.

Both of the machines I had used have also had rapid or ultra-fast cycles, these usually take more yeast and result in a baked loaf much faster than the normal cycle. I have used them and when I am in a hurry they are a lifesaver but the quality of the loaf in my opinion is not as good and the traditional cycles. That being said I have noticed several recipes out there for Gluten Free Bread machine breads and they are all baked in the rapid cycles. I am already planning to experiment with some gluten free breads in the near future so watch this column for some of those recipes and thoughts.

Sometimes you might want to add additional ingredients into your bread later in the kneading process. Maybe dry fruit or nuts or chocolate chips things that you don’t want to add at the beginning because they will get too broken up in the mixing process. Some machines have a beeper that will alert you to add ingredients later but you do have to be where you can hear the beep. My current machine actually has a little bin that you put your add in ingredients into and then when you set up the cycle you tell it to add them at the correct time

In my online research I looked at numerous bread machines to see what is on the newer models. I looked at machines with a low price of around $60 up to just over $200 in price range. I found that many of the machines share a lot of cycles in common. Some of the higher priced machines had longer delay settings some up to at least 24 hours. Some had the ability to make larger loaves of bread. One in particular (I don’t remember what brand but it was around $200) could make not only 1 2 pound loaf you also had the option to make 2 1 pound loaves at the same time. It also had mixing paddles that fold down before the baking cycle starts so there is no hole from the paddle in bottom of the loaf.

I also found a few machines that had a yeast dispenser so your yeast is added to the mixture at the perfect moment.

I know this is probably just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to features on bread machines and as manufacturers come up with newer models there will be even more. So do some research I am sure there is a bread machine that is perfect for your home.

Strawberry Jam in the Bread Machine

1 16 ounce bag of frozen strawberries (unsweetened) thawed and mashed

1 ½ cups sugar

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 package (1.75 ounces) powdered fruit pectin

Add all the ingredients into the pan of your bread machine in the order given above. Put the pan into the bread machine and choose the “jam” cycle. At the end of the cycle remove the jam from the bread machine and pour into a heat proof container and chill for about 3 hours to set up.This is definitely not a super sweet jam, we found it slightly tart but very good.