(Almost) Foolproof Breadmaking

Years ago (four? five? ...time is certainly flying by!) Kate's parents spent a few years working and living on Kwajelein, the southern-most island in the Kwajelein Atoll, which is part of the Marshall Islands. It's - quite literally - on the other side of the world. It takes about 16 hours in the air to get there from Philadelphia, and that doesn't count stops in Los Angeles and Hawaii. The population of the entire island is less than 1,000 and the total land mass is only 6.3 miles. To say it's small would be an overstatement. Just look at the photo (from www.army.mil); the airport runway takes up almost the entire island, and there are only a few commercial flights a week... there's so much more to say about Kwaj, but the point of this post is that - according to Kate's parents and based on our very brief experience visiting the island - there are certain things (namely, foods) that we are accustomed to in the states that you have to either learn to live without, learn to accept and enjoy the way they are, or learn to make yourself. One of these food items is bread. The bread was apparently crappy enough that my inlaws decided to invest in a bread machine so they could enjoy bakery-fresh loaves during their tenure on the island. They have since moved back and - lucky us! - recently gave us the bread machine after we had expressed interest in getting one for ourselves.

Let me start by admitting to the Internets that I am NOT a baker. In fact, the results of my baking have been known to be disastrous at worst, and not-quite-right at best. But I LOVE the bread machine, and my loaves have been steadily improving since our first trial run with the new kitchen appliance. As with all new techniques, there is a learning curve (note: thanks to J & J as well as J & L for being guinea pigs... those first couple of loaves weren't exactly scrumptious!). However, I have now become somewhat of an expert in making a couple different types of bread with crusty - but not too hard - outers, and spongey, fluffy inners. Yum, indeed. My most recent favorite, which I'll share with you here, is a modification of Jo's Rosemary Bread found on allrecipes.com. The key, I've found, is to ignore everything they tell you in the bread machine instructions about the order in which you place the ingredients into the machine, and the strict instruction they give you to keep the water and yeast separate from one another until you start the kneading process. This has made all the difference in the quality (i.e., overall yummy-ness) of my bread.

Lindsay's Rosemary Bread  (image from allrecipes.com)

1 cup warm water
1 1/2 tsp. white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast*
3 Tbsp. olive oil, plus 2 tsp. set aside
2 1/2 c. bread flour*
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 1/2 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, finely chopped

DIRECTIONS: pour water in bread machine basket and dissolve sugar. Lightly sprinkle yeast in sugar water mixture.  Let yeast dissolve and foam for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine flour, salt, pepper, and rosemary. Add the 3 Tbsp of oil to bread basket and then pour dry ingredients on top.  Place basket in bread machine and choose desired settings.  I use the white setting and medium crust. Yeilds 1 - 1 1/2 lb loaf

If you like a rustic, split-top crust, pause and open the bread machine after it has completed the rise cycles,  just before the baking cycle begins. Gently split the top of the loaf lengthwise about 1/4 -1/2 inch deep using a sharp knife. Then, brush the reserved oil over the top of the bread and resume the baking cycle.

After cooling, store uneaten bread in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator. Bread should keep fresh for about a week.

Enjoy!

*I use Fleischmanns Bread Machine Yeast and Gold Medal's "Better for Bread" flour for this recipe.