I picked up my (well, I should say "our", but I get a feeling it'll mostly be my new toy, seeing as how I'm currently a widow to Empire: Total War) brand-new bread maker today! It's a nice little Euro Lab, gotten cheaply off Deals Direct.



My original plan for the inaugural loaf was to use a recipe that came with the machine, but none did. Fortunately, I had done a bit of homework, and copied down a recipe (or three) from Bread Machine Easy, by Sara Lewis. I have every intention of buying this book, but I just bought my machine, it'll have to wait a week or two. That said, prepare for the inaugural loaf!

Note: As this recipe is from a non-Australian (I think it's British, but I'm not certain) cook book, and therefore uses differently-sized tablespoons (the Australian is 20mL, everywhere else uses 15mL), I've converted everything to mL to save confusion. (Although my nifty new machine came with a 15mL tablespoon measure, which is very useful.) For anyone who doesn't prefer metric, at the bottom of the page are two gadgets which should make your life easier - one's a plain old converter, and the other converts entire recipes (in theory, anyway, I've yet to try it).

Healthy White Bread
750g loaf

• 255mL warm water
• 30mL sunflower oil
• 5mL salt (yes, this is a teaspoon everywhere metric, but I'm being pedantic here.)
• 400g white baking flour (it has a higher gluten content than normal flour)
• 40g toasted wheatgerm
• 50g quinoa flakes
• 15mL honey
• 10.25mL fast-action dried baker's yeast (2.5 teaspoons, for anyone wondering.)
  

First, insert the mixing paddle. Then, add all the wet ingredients (the first 3).



Then, add the flours and random healthy things. I admit, I have no idea what quinoa is, and I bought raw instead of toasted wheatgerm by mistake, but this didn't seem to make a difference to the bread.







Make a well in the flours, then add the honey and yeast into it.



Put the pan into the machine, and put it on the appropriate settings.



Ms Lewis recommends 750g fast/rapid. Since my machine had 3 different fast settings, I chose Ultra-Fast 2 (which is the same as Ultra-Fast 1, but for the larger loaf size). Fast said it was for recipes which called for baking powder, which this doesn't. I also set it to a medium darkness of crust, to be on the safe side. Then, turn it on and wait for it to be done (while taking photos, of course!).

Just starting to stir:



The dough:



One hour later: Kneading is done, the dough is rising and smells really good. Unfortunately, the combination of a flash and my amateur photography skills means the photo doesn't really work. Trust me on this.

Two hours later: I realise it was probably done half an hour ago, and it smells good.



A note for future reference: the tops of loaves baked in bread machines don't darken. The sides, however, were a lovely golden colour.



My husband volunteered to be my hand model for this (he may have been lured away from gaming by the smell of freshly baked bread):





The bread was scientifically proven to be delicious both as bruschetta, and as cheesy toast.





All in all, the loaf was a success, as you can see from our ample leftovers, and was given an overall rating of 7/10 while hot. How good is it while cold? No clue, but I'm sure we'll find out eventually.

"With bread and wine you can walk your road." -Spanish Proverb

Ever since I was small, I loved baking. My grandmother and I would make slices and biscuits, my mother and I would make cakes. As a teenager I was in the kitchen whenever I was unhappy or restless, taking adolescent angst and turning it into something tasty. I've never ventured into bread making, though, for all my love of the infinite variations of flour, butter, and sugar. An occasional damper was as far as I got - I've been cautious of relying on the activity of tiny, wonderful creatures. The simple chemistry of measuring, mixing, and heating was more to my liking.

But this is a new year (ok, it has been for a while now), and this is a new blog. Today I ordered a simple bread maker off the internet - hopefully it'll arrive in a few days. I can't wait to try it out. I've already looked through cook books at the amazing array of breads that can be made quite simply with the right tool. I have a camera, internet (obviously), and a new blog to help keep my enthusiasm levels high. I suspect, though, that the approach of winter will be all the motivation I need to make fresh warm bread to go with a stew.

This blog won't be entirely about bread, though. As the title suggests, I'm also venturing into wine making! I want to start with mead, a honey wine, simply because I have a few friends who brew it wonderfully. More than that, though, I really want to make beer, and possibly cider (for those odd friends of mine who don't like beer). This blog might have been more aptly titled "Laura's Adventures with Yeast", but it doesn't have quite the same ring to it (as well as being a good deal less appetising).

This should, with luck, be one of very few text-only posts. The goal is to try at least 2 new bread recipes a week, and to start a new brew every month. I still need to gather brewing supplies, so there'll be a staggered start, but I'm optimistic. I think this'll be fun, and I look forward to sharing my experiments with you all!

-Laura