I have a bread machine and I NEVER use it to bake my bread. I am known as the bread lady at church. People love to see me walk in the door with my basket. They're hoping they'll get a loaf. I have trouble keeping up with everyone who wants some. I let my bread machine do the mixing and the first rise. I then take it out and form it into whatever shape I want. If I'm in a hurry its a loaf but if I have extra time or I'm taking it to a potluck it's rolls. It's a little deceiving because people think I really go to a lot of trouble. It's really not. I think the machine does the hard part. The texture between my oven baking it and the machine baking it is so totally different that I was amazed when I discovered it. It's like night and day. The crust is so much nicer also. Putting a tablespoon of gluten in changes the texture also. Sometimes I just throw some in for kicks.

I have 2 big recipe books that are for bread machine bread. They are just fantastic. I went through them and put little stickies on all the recipes I wanted to try. Now when I have time I pull out a book and flip through and pick a new one to try. I made some foccacia the other day and it was fantastic. The kids loved it and made me put it in their lunch boxes the next day for lunch.

In conclusion....I have never made bread fully by hand. Had no desire to but wanted homemade bread. I had my bread machine for 2 years before I discovered only using the dough cycle. I've been doing it that way for the past 10 years. If I can make homemade bread anyone can. Just keep at it, the more you do it the better you get at it. My whole wheat pizza crust is fabulous but it certainly didn't start out that way. :)

Shannon

P.S. Thank you for this website. I love your recipes.

I know many people prefer to mix bread by hand but I can't do that due to some arthritis issues, so instead I use our Bosch mixer. It does a fantastic job of thoroughly kneading the dough (to better activate the gluten), and makes it so much easier to bake bread. I also use dough enhancer (usually 2 tbsp. for a batch of four loaves, but more if the yeast is older), and extra virgin olive oil, which is so much healthier than canola or vegetable oil. Our oven is electric & temperamental, so I have to let it get warm first and then I usually leave it at about 200 degrees during the rise, because otherwise it goes stone-cold again.

We usually eat homemade bread up fast, so it doesn't have a chance to get dry. I make it in batches of four loaves: I freeze two right away, one gets eaten up within a couple of hours, and then the last loaf is for the next couple of days. After that we start on the frozen ones. I'll admit, I don't always enjoy breadbaking, but there is a certain satisfaction is seeing four puffy brown loaves lined up and knowing that I made them. ;)

thank you, i cant wait to try the amish white bread recipe.

i just got finished baking this and it turned out perfect! its fluffy just like bread should be and very tasty. (i didn't use nearly as much sugar as the recipe called for) thank you so much for posting this.