San Francisco Gourmet Gift Baskets San Francisco Gift Baskets


**Holiday Gifts Chocolate Gifts Corporate & Business Gifts Gourmet DVD's, Books & CDs Gourmet Gift Baskets Gourmet Gift Ideas by Event Gourmet Gifts by Price Gournet Gifts by Subject Gourmet Kitchen Furniture Houseware Items Kids Gourmet Fun Pantry Items (Cooking Stuff) Shop by Brand Name The Luxury Corner Wine Gifts

Gourmet
Cookie Trunk

Food Articles - Menus - Food & Wine Pairing Recipes - Quiz
Read, have fun and learn about the wonderful world of food

Bread Machine Recipes

Bread Machine Baking Tips

Basic French
11 oz. luke warm water
3 1/2 c bread flour
1 1/2 tea. salt
1 1/2 tab. sugar
2 tab butter
2 tea. dry active yeast or 1 package

Assemble per your machine's directions and used a Basic Cycle and a Medium Crust setting.

Basic Sweet Bread
4 oz. luke warm water
4 oz. luke warm milk
1 egg, room temperature
3 c. bread flour
1 tea. salt
1/4 c. sugar
2 tab butter
2 tea. dry active yeast or 1 package

Assemble per your machine's directions and used a Sweet Cycle and a Light Crust setting.

Focaccia (Italian Flat Bread)
Use the Basic French recipe and set cycle to Manual or Dough. When cycle is complete, place dough on a lightly floured surface. Using your fist, punch the dough down and knead gently 4 to 5 times. Then allow dough to rest for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare topping by placing the below ingredients in a small sauté pan over medium low heat.

1/4 cup butter
2 tab. fresh rosemary
1/2 tea. garlic powder
1/2 tea. salt
2 tab. dried minced onion (optional)

Heat until ingredients fuse, about 3-4 minutes. Set aside. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and place rack in the middle. Spread on a 13 inch round baking stone or a jelly roll pan. Spread topping evenly. Cover with a dish towel and sit in a warm place for about 30 minutes to rise. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Server warm or cold.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Braid
Use the Basic Sweet Bread recipe and set cycle to Manual or Dough. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile prepare fillings.

Raspberry Filling
1/2 c. raspberry jam
2 tab flour
In a small bowel, mix together jam and flour.

Cream Cheese Filling
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tab. soft butter
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 tea. salt
1 tea. vanilla extract
2 tab flour
1 egg
In a medium-sized bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, sugar, salt and vanilla. Mix in flour and egg thoroughly.

When bread cycle is complete, place dough on a lightly floured surface. Using your fist, punch the dough down and knead gently 4 to 5 times. Then allow dough to rest for about 10 minutes. Divide dough in half.

Roll each half into a 15 X 10 inch rectangle and place them on lightly greased or parchment lined baking sheets. Spread jam in a 2 1/2 inch wide path down the middle of each rectangle, leaving 1 inch at each end. Top jam with cheese filling. Make 1 1/2 inch cuts every 3/4 inch down both sides of rectangles as shown. Fold each strip toward middle, over filling, alternating each side creating a braid.

Cover braids and allow to rise 30-45 minutes. If desired, brush with an egg wash (mix 1 egg and 1 tab. water), or spray with water and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown. Cool at least 15 minutes before slicing.

Environment
Where you live and the time of year will effect your baking outcome. So, you may need to adjust your recipes to your environment.

Adjusting Recipes
Yeasty Tang Flavor- subtract amount of yeast by 1/4 tsp.
Dry Texture - start by setting your machine to "light crust" mode and change bread cycle. Check your bread machine manual for cycle times and choose a cycle that uses less time. If your bread is still dry, add 1-2 tbsp. Water. You may also add 1-2 tblsp. Butter.
Bland Flavor - add an additional 1/4-1/2 tsp salt and/or sugar.
Dense Outcome or Bread Sank-use less yeast and a different bread cycle and make sure you use bread flour (see below).

Avoid Prepackaged Mixes
Packaged mixes are fiction, you don't actually save time. Why? As you would with any recipe, you still have to assemble ingredients. Also, baking with prepackaged mixes makes it difficult to adjust a recipe to your environment.

Perfect a French and Sweet Bread Recipe
You should have a basic French and sweet bread recipe perfected to your machine and environment. These two recipes will be basis for may other bread creations. For instance, foccacia, herb bread and cinnamon rolls etc...

Bread Flour
Believe it or not, this is important. Buy and use ONLY bread flour. The distinction between bread flour and all-purpose flour is that bread flour is made from wheat that was harvested and ground at a certain time of the year. Trust me, it will make a huge difference in your bread baking experiences. The price difference is nominal. One other tip: bread flour can be used in all your recipes that require all-purpose flour. That's right - bread flour is not just for baking bread.

Baking Stones
Invest in a good quality baking stone. Baking stones are basically a ceramic cookie sheet. Baking on clay dates back thousands of years to ancient Egypt where breads were baked on rocks in the sun. Today, fine pizzerias and bakeries throughout the world still bake in brick-lined ovens.

Baking stones duplicate the effects of these ovens, by evenly distributing heat and absorbing moisture to produce baked goods with superior crispy crusts right in your own kitchen.You can bake anything on a baking stone and if you have an oven that heats unevenly, try using a baking stone to create evenly baked goods.

Consistency
Use the same measuring cup and spoons every time you assemble your bread ingredients. This will contribute to a consistent loaf of bread.

Water Temperature
Luke warm means mildly warm and tepid. This is important to effective yeast activation.

Rolling Dough
Oh the frustration of rolling out dough and having it spring back to where you started. I call this “Dough Drama.” Here's the solution: with your fist, punch down your dough. Next, do a few quick kneads. Let it rest for about 5-10 minutes. You'll find your dough is more cooperative.

Avoid Rubbery Crust
In some countries, it is considered cruel and unusual punishment to eat rubbery crusted bread. To avoid this punishment, don't let your bread sit in your bread machine once the baking cycle has completed. The remaining heat and condensation creates a chewy, rubbery crust. Some bread machines have a one hour warming cycle - beware bread baker - this does not always prevent the rubbery chewy crust.

Now you've got the basics. Go out and be a bread baking fiend!

Bread Machine Recipes

By Bev Brock-Alexander