If you followed my six-part series on the twenty pounds I lost in the last ten weeks — and the 19 I still have to lose before I reach my goal — you might think I'm crazy for this: I just bought an automatic breadmaking machine via Craigslist. (I paid $50 for it, $10 of which was an incentive for the very nice seller, who lives an hour away, to meet me near my house instead of near hers.)
But really, it makes sense. We spend something like ten to fifteen dollars a week, sometimes more if there isn't any on sale, on expensive high-quality whole wheat bread, most of which is eaten by children. The kids eat an enormous amount of toast for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch, and often toast or sandwiches for snacks. I put bread and butter on the table once in a while too, because it's quicker than making rice or potatoes. And I almost always serve sandwiches when it's my turn to make lunch for my friends' kids.
I don't bake my own bread because, um, I don't feel like I have the time. I make pizza dough, and I make quick breads, including an Irish soda bread that is sturdy enough to make sandwiches with; I'm hoping the bread machine offers a way to get yeast bread with the kind of time commitment I'd expect from a quick bread.
The only reason I haven't bought one yet is because I've been avoiding bread for years now, and I always feared that a bread machine would entice me to eat bread. So… now that I am not doing the low carb thing, and am concentrating my efforts on reasonable portions of all kinds of food, and am having unprecedented success, I thought… maybe it's time to welcome homemade bread into my house again.
I still have about 5 loaves of store bread in the house that I want to use up, so it'll be a week or two before I'm ready to try it out. This gives me time to find a place to keep the darn thing and to collect some recipes. So… if you know a good first-timer bread machine recipe, especially a 100%-or-nearly-so whole wheat recipe, please share. Double points if you can tell me how to manage soaking the flour for 12 hours, Weston A. Price style, before starting the machine.
UPDATE. Greg gives me a recipe in the comments.
Per most of the advice I've read online, I used a packaged bread machine mix (a Hodgson Mill "honey wheat" bread) for the first loaf. It turned out pretty good. A little bit lopsided. I guess I'll make French toast for breakfast and then try Greg's recipe tomorrow.
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