For months I’ve been baking bread, or trying to. I went through quite a bit of trial and error and had a lot of problems getting it to rise correctly.
Finally, I’ve adopted a method that’s been turning out consistently good. I use the bread machine to mix and knead the dough, then I transfer it to the oven to rise and bake.
I add the following ingredients to the bread machine (in this order):
1 cup + 2 or 3 tablespoons of hot tap water
1 1/3 teaspoon margarine (thinly sliced)
1 1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/4 teaspoon of yeast
I manually mix up the dry ingredients (flour and yeast) on top of the water before I turn the machine on.
The bread machine mixes for 10 minutes, rests for 10 or 15 minutes, and then kneads for another 15 minutes. While it is running I frequently monitor it to make sure it is mixing/kneading the dough and not just spinning it around and around. I add a little extra flour while it is kneading until the dough reaches the proper consistency (just slightly sticky).
After it finishes kneading, I remove it from the machine, put it in a greased pan, and let it rise in the warmed oven for about an hour.
Finally, I bake for 30 minutes at 350F.
