Breaking the Bread Myth

Making bread is really easy with a Kitchen Aid mixer.  You can do it, too!  The hands on time is seriously only 5 to 10 minutes.  I use the recipe for whole wheat bread in the America's Test Kitchen cookbook.  Here's an outline of the steps to show how easy it is.  First, I toast the wheat germ by just putting it in a pan over medium heat.  

Next step is to whisk the dry ingredients (wheat germ, bread flour, whole wheat flour, salt, and yeast) together in the Kitchen Aid bowl and then use the same whisk to whisk the wet ingredients (milk, water, melted butter, and honey) together right in the measuring cup.

 Start the mixer on the "stir" speed and pour the wet ingredients into the dry while the mixer is spinning.  Increase the speed to medium low (I actually just do it on one notch up from "stir") and let the machine knead the bread for 10 minutes.  During this time, you can work on dinner prep, do your dishes, have a cup of coffee and check your email.  

 When the mixer has done it's job, knead the dough by hand for one minute and then shape it into a ball and put it into a bowl that you have sprayed with PAM.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and just let it sit for about 90 minutes.  This is when the dough will do it's first rise.

 Take the dough out of the bowl and press it into a rough rectangular shape on the counter.  This looks more like a circle, but I think it looked more like a rounded rectangle in person.

Roll your dough into a tight cylinder and put it into a bread pan that you have sprayed with PAM.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for another hour and a half.

 Finally, turn on the oven and bake it for about an hour!  Your house will smell wonderful and you will have the best sandwiches and toast!