My wife has been after me for a week to make bread.
I'm the official designated bread machine operator.
Today I got the machine out and opened the page to a normal "White Bread" recipe.
But I just couldn't deal with that. Altho I also didn't want to grind any fresh wheat flour.
SO, I put in the designated amounts of water ...
added a dollop of cane syrup (not in the recipe) ...
Did all the normal sugar, salt, powdered milk, and butter (with a touch of bacon grease)
but tossed in a cup of cornmeal (couldn't let it all be white flour)
then 3 cups of white flour with the little well for the yeast.
And, on a whim, added 2 tablespoons of gluten, and 2 table spoons of golden flax seed.
Oh what the hey!
The tricky part comes next ... turn the machine on ... and watch it start to mix ...
Way too dry! It was just kind of packed around the walls and not doing much ... definitely not making a dough.
CORRECTIONS:
Grab a cup of warm water and a spatula and go to work. Pour in 1/4 cup of water and then poke around with the spatula. Hmmm? Needs more water ... another 1/4 cup goes in. Poke it some more. All the water seems to be going to the bottom ... where it is very damp and messy, but the top is kind of dry. Reached in and grabbed the dough glob and flipped it over (while the machine is mixing) ... poke some more and it starts to even out. Still looks like it could use just a little bit more water. Add some. Poke, flip, and poke some more. Now it looks about right ... moist but not too sticky (sometimes called "plastic" or "elastic" or some kind of tic) ... at least in the center with a little dryer outer skin.
Kind of hard to explain that to you without you seeing it. (this after many years of failures ... heavy loaves that didn't rise, runny loaves that over-flowed the top and ran down the sides, etc.) Maybe next time I'll try to take fotos ...
I closed the lid, walked away, and a couple hours later had a lovely 2 lb. loaf ... but most importantly my wife thinks it tastes wonderful!
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