Newbie intro and halp!
Hello all.
My husband bought me a pre-holiday present! A cuisanart bread machine! He said if he waited until Christmas, I wouldn't get a chance to use it when we were entertaining! :) I am excited to get a few recipes "down" so I can start doing what I do best- experiment! I like to add herbs, extracts, nuts and such when I cook, and when making soups, muffins or biscuits I tend to use the "little bit of this, what would happen if I try some of that?" approach to cooking.
I have tried 3 recipes since I've gotten it. All from the cuisanart cook book- basic honey white, rosemary and cinnamon swirl. I followed the recipes to the letter, however much it pained me to do so. ;) All turned out quite tasty, but only one of them produced that mythical satiny smooth ball of dough I read about. The one that made a perfect ball of dough was for a cinnamon-raisin swirl bread, which had an egg in it. The other two made smooth amoeba-like dough. I panicked and added up to 1/4 or 1/3 cup more flour, but it never got satiny and ball-like and I was afraid of ruining the bread by making it too flour-y.
Does dough without egg make that nice ball? I've baked before the machine, but only used yeast when working with my mother, so most of my dough experience is with quick breads, cookies, biscuits and pierogi. I do know that flour amounts are approximate and often need adjusting due to humidity, temperature or phase of the moon or something, but how could all those recipes that came with the darned thing be over 1/3 cup off in flour amounts?! That seems a lot off. It's been 50-60 degrees and the heat has been kicking on infrequently, so it has not been excessively humid or dry.
I even bought a candy thermometer to make sure the water or milk was the right temperature.
Any advice is welcome, looking forward to sharing notes and such!
My husband bought me a pre-holiday present! A cuisanart bread machine! He said if he waited until Christmas, I wouldn't get a chance to use it when we were entertaining! :) I am excited to get a few recipes "down" so I can start doing what I do best- experiment! I like to add herbs, extracts, nuts and such when I cook, and when making soups, muffins or biscuits I tend to use the "little bit of this, what would happen if I try some of that?" approach to cooking.
I have tried 3 recipes since I've gotten it. All from the cuisanart cook book- basic honey white, rosemary and cinnamon swirl. I followed the recipes to the letter, however much it pained me to do so. ;) All turned out quite tasty, but only one of them produced that mythical satiny smooth ball of dough I read about. The one that made a perfect ball of dough was for a cinnamon-raisin swirl bread, which had an egg in it. The other two made smooth amoeba-like dough. I panicked and added up to 1/4 or 1/3 cup more flour, but it never got satiny and ball-like and I was afraid of ruining the bread by making it too flour-y.
Does dough without egg make that nice ball? I've baked before the machine, but only used yeast when working with my mother, so most of my dough experience is with quick breads, cookies, biscuits and pierogi. I do know that flour amounts are approximate and often need adjusting due to humidity, temperature or phase of the moon or something, but how could all those recipes that came with the darned thing be over 1/3 cup off in flour amounts?! That seems a lot off. It's been 50-60 degrees and the heat has been kicking on infrequently, so it has not been excessively humid or dry.
I even bought a candy thermometer to make sure the water or milk was the right temperature.
Any advice is welcome, looking forward to sharing notes and such!