Bread machines can be an extremely useful kitchen appliance for home bakers. However, to truly maximize your bread machine, it’s important to understand all that these versatile devices can do. This article will explore how to leverage every function of your bread machines to enhance your baking experience.
Understanding the Dough Cycle
The dough cycle is one of the most important yet often misunderstood functions of bread machines. This cycle mixes, kneads, and proofs dough before you shape and bake it yourself. Mastering this cycle is key to maximizing your machine’s potential.
What Does the Dough Cycle Do?
Here are the purposes of the dough cycle:
- Mixing: Combines all dough ingredients together into an even mass. Many dough recipes work best started by pulsing dry and wet ingredients before letting the machine mix.
- Kneading: Kneads dough to develop gluten strands. The alternating stretching and folding builds an elastic dough that can trap gas bubbles produced by yeast. Kneading typically takes 10-20 minutes.
- First Rise: Maintains an optimal warm environment for yeast to produce gas and help dough rise. The initial 1-2 hour proof lets dough develop flavor from fermentation before shaping.
So in summary, the cycle handles the early stages of dough preparation to develop structure, rise, and flavor.
Why Use the Dough Cycle?
Here are some of the biggest reasons home bakers should leverage their machine’s dough cycle:
- Convenience: It allows your appliance to perform lengthy tasks like kneading and proofing automatically. This saves time and effort versus doing it by hand.
- Consistency: The machine perfectly replicates tasks like mixing, kneading force, and proofing environment batch after batch. This promotes consistency compared to human error.
- Versatility: You can use the dough for more applications because it’s made beforehand. This includes breads that require hand-shaping or oven baking in different vessels.
In short, the automated process guarantees efficient, consistent, quality dough every time.
Tips for Using the Dough Cycle
Follow these tips when working with your bread machine’s dough setting:
- Test dough consistency at cycle completion to confirm proper consistency before the second rise. It should smoothly stretch but still be tacky.
- For recipes with dried fruit, pulse in a food processor first. This prevents damage to the appliance’s kneading blade.
- For herb-flecked doughs, gently fold in delicate herbs after the cycle finishes to maintain structure.
- If the dough is over or under-kneaded, you can reshape it into a ball and briefly knead it by hand before the next rise.
Having awareness at each stage allows you to spot and correct any potential issues.
Read More: Your Ultimate Guide to Small Kitchen Appliance Organization
Leveraging Bread Machine Versatility
While bread machines obviously excel at making loaves of bread, they can accomplish an impressive variety of other tasks too. Here are some of the versatile ways to maximize your appliance.
Types of Doughs
Nearly any yeasted dough can be made with your bread machine using the dough cycle described earlier. Here are some you may want to try:
Pizza dough
- Benefits from high hydration and kneading strength machines provide
- Can make enough for multiple pizzas from one batch
- Shape and top as desired after the cycle finishes
Cinnamon roll dough
- Richer than lean bread with more eggs, fat, and sugar
- Let rise, roll out, fill, cut, and bake per your favorite recipe
Dinner rolls
- Make golden brown rolls for any soup, salad, or main dish meal
- Fit machine-risen dough into muffin tins to bake for 20-25 minutes
Sweet breads
- The added flavor and sweetness of fruits just get better when made from scratch
- Try cranberries, blueberries, apricots, raisins, currants, or cherries
Herb and veggie breads
- You can use fresh herbs like rosemary without worrying about over-mixing
- Add things like sun-dried tomatoes, roasted garlic, and roasted red peppers
The options are endless when you leverage the dough cycle!
Non-Bread Baked Goods
With some creative thinking, you can adapt your bread machine to create tasty baked goods that are not traditional loaves or rolls too.
Cakes
- Make uniquely textured cakes like pound cake and fruit cake
- Use a bread loaf pan and reduce other moisture so the texture firms up
Meatloaves or veggie loaves
- Prepare the mixture and let the appliance bake in the loaf pan for you
- Top with ketchup glaze or gravy when finished
Focaccia
- Make flatbread-style dough with olive oil and minimal rise time
- Top with savory ingredients like onions, tomatoes, olives, herbs
Again, the convenience of letting the appliance mix and bake opens many possibilities.
Beyond Baking
Surprisingly, there are even applications for your bread machine that don’t involve baking at all! Here are some to consider:
Mixing and chopping
- Use it to mix and knead pasta dough, cookie dough, etc. without overworking
- Chop nuts, make nut butter, or grind meat with dough blade removed
Proofing commercial yeast
- Test the viability of older yeast packets by activating them in a warm machine
- Watch for the domed top and cracks in the dough as proof it’s still active
Slow cooking
- Yes, you can essentially use it as a miniature slow cooker or Crockpot!
- Prepare beans, stew meat, chili, pot roast, etc. in a bread pan all day
So as you can see, bread makers are dynamic appliances perfect for far more than just loaves of bread.
Tips for Using the Dough Cycle Effectively
While most bread machines come with basic instructions for the dough cycle, mastering some key techniques will help maximize results. Follow these tips:
Control Timing
The default dough cycle is usually around an hour, meant to be followed immediately by baking. However, you can stretch the capacity of your appliance by:
- Extending initial proof: Allow dough to develop flavor slowly overnight in the fridge after the cycle. Then shape and proof again at room temp the next day.
- Freezing dough: Place in air tight container in the freezer for up to 2-3 months after the machine cycle finishes. Thaw overnight in the fridge before shaping and baking.
This flexibility lets you prepare dough whenever is convenient.
Perform Additional Hand Shaping
Unique bread shapes and textures require some extra effort beyond letting the machine mix, knead and rise your dough. Consider these options:
- Baguettes: Gently deflate the dough and shape it into long French loaves on a sheet pan. Slash decorative lines with a blade before baking.
- Rolls: For dinner rolls or slider buns, divide the dough into smaller pieces with floured hands to shape. Place seam side down on pans.
- Braiding: To make a challah, divide it into three pieces, roll it into ropes, and braid it together. Sprinkling with seeds or spices is optional.
While convenient, appliances cannot replicate these human crafting techniques. But they do the heavy lifting to free you up for the fun stuff!
Understand Second Fermentation
It’s important to realize at the end of the initial dough cycle, more rising is always required to allow the yeast to produce gas and puff up the dough. This second proofing time can range from:
| Proofing Time | Example Baked Good |
| 45-90 minutes | Rolls or loaf of bread |
| 2 hours | Sweet dough with more enriching like brioche |
| 8-24 hours | Slow fermented breads or sourdough at cool room temp |
The longer the second rise, the more complex the flavors! Judge if dough has adequately risen before baking by poking gently with a finger. The impression should slowly fill back in versus retaining the dent.
Baking Bread Machine Dough in the Oven
While your appliance can obviously bake dough into loaves, for some bread styles, the oven may be preferable for more control.
Oven Benefits
Reasons you may want to finish off your shaped dough in the oven include:
- Crust: Ability to produce thicker, crunchy, flavorful crust all around loaf
- Steam: Can generate steam in oven for an airier interior crumb texture
- Loaf pans: Fit nicely into traditional smaller loaf pans vs. tall bread machine shape
- Visual appeal: Oven spring and coloring/char creates a beautiful, rustic appearance
It takes more effort but can be worth it!
Process to Transfer Dough
If you choose to bake in the oven, follow this sequence after the appliance cycle completes:
- Punch down dough to deflate and turn out onto a floured surface.
- Briefly knead again to redistribute yeast and shape into desired form.
- Place into oiled loaf pan(s) or onto a parchment lined sheet pan.
- Cover and perform second rise until dough crests above pan.
- Optionally slash decoratively with sharp blade just before baking.
- Bake in preheated 375-425°F oven based on desired level of browning.
- Test for doneness after 25-35 minutes with an instant read thermometer placed in center reading 205-210°F.
- Immediately remove from pans and cool on rack before slicing.
It takes some coordination but the extra effort often pays delicious dividends!
Maintenance Tips for Bread Machines
Like any appliance, bread makers perform best when properly maintained and cleaned. Follow these tips:
Oil the Kneading Shaft
- Over time, residue can build up and impair the kneading blade’s ability to move freely.
- Periodically wipe down steel shaft with cooking oil and paper towel to keep it slick.
Clean Heating Elements
- Dust and debris around heating coils will get smelly and burnt over time.
- Carefully dust out chamber with small vacuum crevice tool every few months.
Check Bread Pans
- Charred bits and hardened dough leftover will make loaves stick.
- Address with non-abrasive scrub pad and soak if needed to restore non-stick layer.
Give It Some Rest
- Running back-to-back cycles creates strain and wears down parts faster.
- Allow appliance to completely cool off for an hour prior to starting next dough.
By keeping up with basic cleaning and breaks between cycles, your machine will deliver reliable results for years of baking enjoyment!
Conclusion
As you can see, bread machines are extremely versatile tools that can maximize your baking efficiency, consistency and options when used fully. Master its specialized cycles and functions, then leverage them for a whole world of recipes well beyond basic loaves. With some clever thinking and practice, there’s practically no limit to what delicious creations your bread machine can achieve!