Bread Box Toastmaster Bread Machine

Recently, I've been disappointed with the bread results from my nice Hitachi bread machine.

I've not had a good loaf of bread in ages, possibly in more than a year. 

The bread has always been tasty, but incredibly heavy: it hasn't risen. 

 

So this week, we were visiting a store for used household goods, and I found this little Toastmaster Bread Box for $10.00; I brought it home. It came with good documentation (a good part of the value), so I read up on it. 

Two primary differences from Hitachi:  

▪️ It's a much smaller loaf: 2¾ cups of flour rather than 4 cups, and

▪️ There were two differences in the basic recipe for white bread: 

    🔸 The instructions insisted that the liquid be added first, before the dry ingredients. That's directly contrary to the way I have been doing it. & 

    🔸 The instructions called for lemon juice in a white bread recipe.

I've been making bread in bread machines for decades, even researching and inventing new recipes. And I've never seen lemon juice in a yeasted bread recipe. 

But I tried it, as specified. Well, mostly as specified: I didn't have lemon juice, so I used lime juice.  

  Oh, my goodness! That is the best white bread I've had in a very long time! 

 

Wonderfully open, light. Toasts remarkably well. I don't taste the lime in the bread (it was only a teaspoon), but it was really good. 

 

Ingredients: (and apparently the sequence is important): 

⅞   cup warm (80ºf, 27c) water
1½ TBSP olive oil
1    tsp lemon (or lime) juice
1½ tsp salt
2   TBSP sugar
1   TBSP powdered milk
2½ cups plain (or bread) flour
1¼ tsp active dry yeast.

Instructions:
• Put everything into the bread machine in this sequence!
• Press "Go".
• Come back in 4 hours when it's done & enjoy your bread.

Also note: Wheat bread:

Update: The 1½ pound loaf of White and Wheat, with 1½ tsp good yeast plus ½ tsp old-and-tired yeast, cooked on the French Bread #6 setting worked wonderfully. 

  

 

 

Low Carb Bread, v5

1 Tbsp. yeast 

1 tsp. honey or sugar (only to feed the yeast) 
⅔ cup coconut flour 
2 TBSP psyllium husk powder 
1 cup vital wheat gluten 
½ cup oat fiber 
1 tsp. xanthum gum 
¾ cup almond flour 
2 Tbsp. softened butter 
4 Tbsp. artificial sweetener 
1 tsp. salt (or bouillon) 
2 eggs, slightly beaten 
1 cup milk, room temperature 

Comments: 

• I mixed the yeast with ½ of the milk, warmed to 95°, and left it for several minutes to activate nicely. 

Next Time: 

•

Low Carb Sandwich Bread

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. yeast
⅔ cup ground flax meal
½ cup oat fiber

1 cup vital wheat gluten

2 Tbsp. softened butter
4 Tbsp. artificial sweetener
1 tsp. salt (or bouillon)
½ tsp. xanthum gum
1 tsp. honey or sugar (only to feed the yeast)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup milk, room temperature


Add them all to your (smaller size) bread machine. Many machines prefer it if you load the ingredients into it in this order. Then turn the machine on and let it run through its process. I used a "Medium" baking setting.

For the artificial sweetener, Swerve is the popular brand. I used half stevia (because I have a lot), half erythritol (because the flavor is more neutral); I loved the results.

It came out quite good. Cuts nicely, has a good crumb. Toasts well. I will be making this again.

With 16 slices to the loaf, it's only one net gram of carbs per slice (4 gross, minus 3 grams fiber).

And it's pretty good!

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Variation (Version 2.0:

1 Tbsp. yeast

½ cup ground flax meal

½ cup oat fiber

½ cup almond flour

¾ cup vital wheat gluten

2 Tbsp. softened butter, warm

4 Tbsp. artificial sweetener

1 tsp. chicken bouillon or concentrate

½ tsp. xanthum gum

1 tsp. (honey or) sugar (to feed the yeast)

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup milk, warmed

The bigger bread machine kneads this more, the loaf rises more. Make adjustments. 

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Version 3.0:

2 tsp yeast

½ cup ground flax meal

½ cup oat fiber

½ cup almond flour

¾ cup vital wheat gluten
¼ cup ground coconut.

½ tsp. xanthum gum

2 Tbsp. olive oil

4 Tbsp. artificial sweetener (stevia)

1 tsp. chicken bouillon or concentrate

1 tsp. sugar (to feed the yeast)

2 eggs 

⅔ cup milk, warmed. Add slowly; don't feel obligated to use it all. 

----

Update: I've put away the (smaller size) bread machine, and gotten out the big, 2-pound bread machine. It fills it up. Seems to knead better, which causes better raising.