Mr. Breadman, my new BFF!

So, my good friend Laura told me she made bread in 1hr start to finish! This I have to try! Time has been my nemesis in this bread making adventure, so an hour would be a huge victory against that nemesis. I gave it a try. Takes less than 10 minutes to mix up the batch in the bread machine. Set the machine for the super rapid bread baking cycle and then wallah homemade bread in an hour.

No, it's not pretty, but the texture is perfect! Soft,and just right! The two downfalls: a hole in the bottom of the loaf, and the huge mushroom top.




I really haven't found anything creative with the two bottom pieces that have a hole. However the top of the mushroom is incredibly soft. When sliced sideways, it's like a nice dinner bread. It is devoured by my little ones while warm.









I have to take a moment to apologize to my hubs! He bought this breadmachine 8 or 9 years ago. I huffed and puffed because I hate additional appliances and I can not stand a cluttered counter-top. The bread machine is big and ugly. I really didn't want it in my kitchen. It's been stored for years because Keith would not let me get rid of it. Sweet Wendy encouraged me to pull it out and let the bread machine do the kneading on the knead only cycle.Reluctantly I did it only because my Kitchenaid mixer was not doing a good job at kneading for me.
The kneading in the bread machine was perfect. I never ventured out to try and cook my bread in this machine. It was just for kneading! Now that I've baked my bread in this machine, and it's turned out wonderful 6 times in a row! I'm hooked! Honey, please forgive me! Mr. Breadman, I'm so sorry for my snobbishness toward you! I will never turn my back on you again. Jesus, thank you for hearing my prayer at the beginning of this year and helping me to find a way to bake bread that my family will eat!!!
The recipe:

2 1/2 cups wheatberries (fleshly ground)
1 cup of all purpose white flour
2 T of wheat gluten
1 1/4t salt
2 T of breadmachine yeast
2-3 T of honey
12 - 13 oz of warm water
2 T of canola oil

Grind your wheat berries. Then add enough white flour to make a total of 4 cups of flour. I add my 2 T of wheat gluten to this mixture, then make a whole in this mixture and scoop my 2T of yeast in that whole. (All of this is in my Vitamix container, you could use any bowl for this mixture). Then I go to my new BFF, Mr. Breadman. First I put the water, salt, oil, and honey in the machine and then I start the super rapid cycle. Then I add the flour mixture little at a time, until it's completely incorporated and turned into a dough ball. It's very important to add it little at a time, like a 1/2 cup or so. Then close your machine and let your BFF do all the work for you. In 1 hr you will have a GREAT loaf of bread. Take it out of the machine and let it rest on the counter top for an hour, until cool, or eat hot, YUM!