The Speares

Living the life in Muskoka


Bread and Buns




Nuke

  • 1 1/2 cups milk


for two minutes. Put in bread maker basket along with

  • 1 1/2 tbsp canola oil
  • 1 1/2 tbsp maple syrop
  • ¾ cup oatmeal
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 cups bread flour
  • ½ cup whole wheat flour
  • 2 tsp bread machine yeast
  • ¼ cup onion flakes (or you can add when the add ingredients siren blares)
  • ¼ cup pumpkin seeds (ditto)


Start on dough cycle - menu 11. When it gets going add 1/2 tsp water if dough is having trouble becoming a ball. Scrape down sides with wooden spoon. An hour and a half later the dough should be ready. Preheat the oven to 350. Sprinkle a little flour on your cookie sheet. Have the loaf pan handy.

Remove the dough from the bread machine basket and make sure the paddle isn't in your dough. Squeeze off 1/3 of the dough or so - about 12 oz. Form into four buns and place on cookie sheet in proximity to one another but not touching. They'll grow a bit and link up on their own. Cover with wax paper and put on top of the stove where it's a little warm from the oven. Set a timer for 40 minutes.

Then get the remaining dough and stretch it ever so
slightly and make the stretched ends meet. As if you were rolling it around something. Then grab the other ends, give them a gentle stretch and join them up. This will give you a ball of dough that's in a sort-of-a loaf shape. Put it in the loaf pan with stretchy joins down as close to the middle as you can get it. Cover with wax paper and put it with the buns. If you put it over a nice toasty warm spot once the oven gets going then put it on a cooling rack to even out the warmth a bit.


When your timer goes off (and the oven is warm), remove the wax paper from the buns and into the oven for

24 minutes at 350

Remove buns to cool. Before they totally cool put them in the bread keeper. Now on to the bread. When the bread has expanded to make an attractive loaf (probably about the time your buns are ready) then take the wax paper off and into the oven for

44 minutes at 350

When the time is up, remove the pan (very hot!) and shake the loaf out onto a cooling grill. Then flip the loaf right side up on the grill and let sit for at least 10 minutes before slicing. When lunch is over put the remaining bread in the bread keeper, cut side down to keep the cut fresh.

Bread, and in particular buns, freeze well and come back almost fresh with a little zap in the microwave.