Honey Molasses Bread Recipe {Bread machine or by hand} (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to use bread flour in a bread machine? ›

A flour high in gluten will produce a nicely risen loaf, while a low-gluten flour (such as pastry flour, cake flour or self-rising flour) will not. Most bread machine manuals and cookbooks call for bread flour rather than all-purpose flour.

Old or stale yeast. Expired yeast or moisture contaminated yeast will have trouble growing properly and this can lead to dense bread machine bread. Always relatively new yeast & store it in an airtight container.

You can knead and proof your dough directly in the bread machine, then remove and shape it however you'd like.

If you own a spoon, a bowl, and an oven (ideally also a pizza stone, but a sheet pan will do in a pinch), you can start making bread with this book that is 10 times better than anything that has ever come out of my bread machine. It is not for everyone, however. Many of the loaves require two days, some require three.

If you enjoy making bread at home and want to have more control over the ingredients and customization of your bread, a bread maker can be a good investment. Additionally, it can save you money in the long run compared to buying store-bought bread.

Making bread from a machine is marginally cheaper than buying it, as long as you eat bread frequently enough to offset the cost of the appliance. Specifically, I see this as an investment that's smart for households that go through bread quickly, like large families or homes with multiple roommates.

All it takes is a small amount of dough enhancer per loaf to create a much lighter and fluffier result. Using a dough enhancer like Vital Wheat Gluten works to improve the texture and elasticity of the dough and elongate the strands of gluten. Doing so allows more room for the gas in the dough to develop and rise.

- Use bread flour, not regular all-purpose flour for all bread machine recipes. Bread flour contains a higher percentage of gluten than regular all-purpose flour. Using bread flour will produce taller, less dense loaves.

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

For breads such as a larger crusty sourdough loaf, or a pan loaf I would typically wait 1-2 hours before slicing. Whole Grain and rye breads should be all the way down to room temperature before slicing. If you plan to freeze the bread, I have always waited until the loaves are completely cool before freezing.

Is it better to knead bread by hand or machine? ›

While some enjoy the rhythmic motion of kneading by hand, there are advantages to using a stand mixer. Using a stand mixer takes less time because you can mix and knead the dough in the same bowl. Machine kneading is also easier on the wrists and hands.

One disadvantage of using a bread maker as opposed to your hands is that the paddles are typically fixed, meaning they remain in the dough when baking, often leaving a hole in the middle of the loaf.

In a nutshell, if you're buying basic, cheap sandwich bread, it's probably cheaper than you can make it at home. But if you compare two loaves similar to what you could make at home — one made with high-quality ingredients as opposed to one made with lesser quality ingredients — home baking becomes much cheaper.

Bread machine yeast and rapid-rise yeast are specially formulated for the bread machine and become active more quickly than active dry yeast. You can use active dry yeast in your bread machine, but it should be dissolved in water before being used.

Even if your all-purpose flour doesn't have enough gluten, it's okay to use it in the bread machine. Again, the worst that will happen is that your bread won't rise as much as it would have with bread flour.

Bread flour produces baked goods with more structure and chew than all-purpose flour, as all-purpose only has a protein content of 10 to 12 percent, versus the 12 to 14 percent of bread. All-purpose flour produces tender baked goods (as opposed to chewy ones) and is ideal for cakes, muffins, biscuits, piecrust, etc.

The Very Best: Instant Yeast

The yeast of choice in most restaurant kitchens and commercial bakeries, it's easy and convenient. Ever seen a bread recipe that asks you to mix the yeast with warm liquid and allow it to bubble first before using?

Using bread flour in place of all-purpose flour is tricker. If you're baking high-hydration bread—like a sourdough boule or pan de cristal—which requires a high protein content to develop its gluten network, Shilpa doesn't recommend it. “The resulting loaf will be tight-crumbed and a bit squat,” she says.