Bread Machine Recipes: Rolls,Pizza Dough and White Bread

Six years ago I got a bread maker. I had accumulated a number of points through a sales reward program at work, and redeemed them to get an Oster 2 Pound Expressbake Breadmaker. I couldn't wait to try some healthy bread machine recipes.

As a single mother with two teenage boys in the house I was struggling to make my grocery budget stretch. I had made bread from scratch each week when the boys were small, and we all loved the taste. Now that I was working full time and our evenings and weekends were spent at football and hockey practices, a breadmaker seemed like a good idea.

It turned out to be a GREAT idea and one kitchen appliance that gets a ton of use in our home. If your family includes breadmonsters, buy a new or used breadmaker. A timesaver, a money saver, and a healthy alternative to the preservative-laden flannel-like loaves at the store. I spent some time trying out a few different bread maker recipes, and found several that we loved.

As I was new to using a bread maker I spent some time familiarizing myself with the Oster Expressbake. The “Expressbake” refers to a shortened bread cycle - just 58 minutes(most white and whole wheat bread machine recipes take at least 2 and ½ to 3 hours to bake as the dough must rise and be kneaded).

I tried the regular breadmachine recipe, and it was surprisingly good. However, as organized as I might think myself, as a busy working mom there was no way that I could find 3 hours every weekday to run the bread maker, so I decided to give the express bake feature a whirl.

I was a little sceptical as to how good “express baked” bread would taste. It was AWESOME! In fact, it was so awesome that chunks of bread would often disappear right off the cooling rack as the boys and their friends followed their noses from the front door directly to the kitchen…..The recipe I use is taken directly from Oster’s User Manual & Bread Recipes Booklet, with no alterations.

You will need:

• 1 and ½ cups of tap water, as hot as it will go.
• 3 tablespoons of canola oil. OR 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil if you prefer the flavour. The olive oil seems to make the loaf crustier somehow.
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons of table salt
• 4 cups of 5 Roses all purpose flour. I have also used Robin Hood all purpose flour and it works just fine. I don’t buy bread flour as I do a lot of baking and buy 20 pound bags of all purpose flour anyway.
• 2 tablespoons of Fleischmann’s bread machine yeast.
  
  Place all ingredients in order into the loaf pan of the bread machine. Set the bread machine at the express bake or quick bake cycle. Mine lasts 58 minutes. When the machine beeps, I take the bread out and place it on a cooling rack right away.
  
  

Giddy with my success at bread making, I began to experiment with altering traditional recipes for pizza dough and dinner rolls. Eventually I ended up with two tried and true recipes, and these are now a staple in our home. In addition to the delicious and nutritious benefits, our breadmaker helps me save money monthly on our grocery bill - money that can go to the boys' education fund.

This recipe uses the dough cycle on your machine. On mine it takes an hour and a half. When there is about ½ hour left on the timer, I shred my mozzarella cheese, line up my pasta sauce and other ingredients, and prepare my large cookie sheet by greasing it and sprinkling it with cornmeal.

• 1 ½ cups of room temperature tap water
• 4 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of white sugar
• 1 ¼ teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning, or ½ teaspoon of oregano and ½ teaspoon of basil
• 3 ½ cups of white all purpose flour
• ½ cup of whole wheat flour.
• 2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
• Place all ingredients in order into the loaf pan of the bread machine. Set it to your Dough Cycle. This will not bake the dough, but knead it and let it rise. Once the dough cycle has ended, remove the dough (it helps to flour your hands and a rolling pin) and roll out. This recipe makes either two medium size thin crust pizzas or one large cookie-sheet sized thick crust pizza. Place your pasta sauce and toppings on the pizza and bake on the bottom rack of your oven at about 415 degrees for about 10-13 minutes. It is ready when the cheese is bubbling. I always use leftover pasta sauce (about 5 tbsps. covers the crust), shredded cheddar and/or mozzarella cheese, one teaspoon of crushed garlic sprinkled over the sauce, and any leftover ham, bacon, or ground beef from previous meals. Cherry tomatoes, onions, etc. are also favourite toppings.
  
  

I use the dough cycle for this recipe as well. It will make either a dozen dinner rolls, or eight hamburger buns.

You will need:

1 cup of hot tap water.
2 tablespoons of butter, softened, or soft margarine (I prefer the taste of the butter)
¼ cup of milk powder (I use Carnation)
3 tablespoons of white sugar ***(I have substituted honey and it works well)
1 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 ¼ teaspoons of Fleischmann's bread machine yeast.

Place all ingredients in order into the loaf pan of the bread machine. Set it to your Dough Cycle. Once the cycle has ended (it should take about an hour and a half), remove the dough. Punch it down and knead it, separating it into the desired number of rolls. Place the rolls on a greased cookie sheet and cover with a clean tea towel. Place the cookie sheet in your oven (DO NOT TURN THE OVEN ON) for 40 minutes. The rolls will rise. Remove the pan. Now set your oven to 360 degrees. Bake for 10-13 minutes.

If you have rolls left (we rarely do), they are great the next day lightly toasted for sloppy joes, pulled pork, or bbq chicken sandwiches. I find that if we freeze them they dry out a bit.

1. Always pour the liquids in FIRST!
2. Make a little dent in the flour for the yeast to rest in.
3. If you are cooking one loaf after another, make sure the loaf pan cools prior to starting your second loaf.
4. Remove the dough hook from the loaf as soon as it is cool enough to touch. I once had to drive to my grandparents’ home 45 minutes away to retrieve the hook that I had left in a loaf I had baked for them…..