White Bread Made in Food Processor (very, very basic dough)
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Heat 1 1/4 c. water to 110F (there's an acceptable temp range I forget .. I use a micro
thermometer and it takes about 1'15" on high in a 700 watt oven)
stir in 1 T. (1 pkg) yeast and 1 T. sugar to proof
let sit for about 5 minutes to foam a bit (you can skip this by adding the
yeast to the dry ingredients .. I buy yeast by the pound and like to be
sure it's still good by seeing it foam .. it's up to you :-)).
Put into the food processor:
3 c. bread flour (a-p is okay)
1 t. salt1-2 T. sugar (optional, I guess .. put only 1 if you're
proofing yeast in water (actually, you can add more
if you want it sweeter ;-) (optional: I add 1 T. gluten flour .. is redundant with bread
flour, as I understand it, but it's here so I use it
(add 1 T. yeast (a little less is fine) if you didn't mix it in with water)
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Whiz the processor for a few seconds to mix dry ingredients and stop
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(optional: stir 1 t. - 2 T. oil into water-yeast mixture .. I often add none
in order to help my need to cut fat wherever I can)
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With the processor going, slowly pour the liquid through the chute .. you may
not need all the liquid. Watch for it to form a ball and stop adding liquid.
Let the machine go ("knead") for 1 minute and stop it. That's it .. you have dough!
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Put the ball of dough into a sprayed bowl (fat freaks don't spray .. I do), rub it
around and turn it over to "coat" with spray (so it doesn't dry out), cover with
plastic (some use a towel .. so many ways to do it) and let it rise in warm,
draft-free place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. I put it on a heating pad
set on low ... always works for me. Again, there are so many ways .. this is mine.
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For bread, rolls, whatever, shape the dough, then let it rise again before baking (1 hr).
For these playthings, I shaped them and baked them once the oven was at temperature.
Next time, I might let them rise more just to see what's different. I baked them at
350F until they were light golden .. something like 10 minutes.
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OH! The best bread tip I ever found was to bake it to 200-210F internal temp (use instant
read thermometer and it will always be perfectly done ... no thumping to guess!
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This is like THE most basic recipe ... unless I'm making whole wheat (then I grind my
own wheat, cook wheat berries to add, the whole deal) or following a specific recipe,
I use this dough as a base for whatever kind of bread I'm in the mood for that day,
adding whatever I want and have. It works fine for me .. not GREAT gourmet bread, but it's
good, decent bread. I'm so used to the process now that it takes 5-10 minutes TOPS to
have a ball of dough in a bowl rising.
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Have fun,
Janet