Mom Photographer and The Gang

My bread maker, old and used for years by my mother-in-law. Still working, though. Working great. Working miracles on my kitchen counter, jumping and making all those weird and loud sounds that even my daughter got used to.

The thing is that before I got it I knead everything by hand. All my breads, pizza dough, dinner rolls and bread sticks, and we still were buying bread from the store. Two months ago I got that bread maker, I thanked and put that thing to be forgotten. I thought I was doing pretty good before getting it and I’m going to be fine without it. Old habits die hard.

Finally about 3 weeks ago I came across bread recipe which called for a bread maker. I knew I would’ve made it without “that thing” (that’s how I named it) but… I decided to give it a try.

So far I only have used the “dough” setting where I bake the bread in the oven after all (not in “that thing”). The first time I used it I witnessed a real miracle. I have never seen a dough so smooth, rising so fast and big, and after all the bread being so fluffy inside and crunchy on the outside. And I became a believer. Me, a doubting Thomas.

Next thing I made in it was a dough for breadsticks and pizza. You need to know that I made homemade pizza a countless time in my life. Breadstick not so often but a few times, at least.

I’m the Chicago style pizza lover while my husband prefers New York style. I always struggled with making my pizza dough very fluffy inside and crunchy (but not burned and hard) on the outside. With my husband’s crust I’d never came to the ideal paper-like thin but still fluffy with crunchy edges crust. Until… I made the dough in the bread maker.

The same was with my breadsticks. They were always too dense and heavy inside. Tasted great but still… not perfect. 

Now I can tell you that I’m never going to come back to kneading those by hand. NEVER.

My pizza came out with a crust that the best restaurants wouldn’t be ashamed to serve. Breadsticks… hmmm… I can only say:  bye bye Olive Garden… I don’t need you anymore!

My husband ate his pizza and there was no crust left on his plate, what he would have done if it was too hard to chew or burned.

My recipe for the pizza dough:

1 1/2 cups water*

1 package (2 1/4 tsp) active yeast

3 1/2 cups bread flour

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

* if the dough is not made in bread maker:

the water needs to be very warm, and the yeast needs to be dissolved in it (plus the sugar) before mixing it with flour and the rest of the ingredients. knead until the dough is smooth, cover the bowl with a cloth and let it rest in a warm place until double in size.

* if made in bread maker:

wet ingredients first plus salt and sugar, next flour and yeast on top. close the machine, set on “dough”. forget for 1 h 05 m. after it’s done take it out, knead a few times on a lightly floured surface and let it rest for about 10 minutes. Knead it again and use.

For deep dish pizza spread the dough inside a pie pan. For New York, make the dough thiner and put it on a baking sheet.

Bake in 450 F for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and the crust on the edges golden brown.

From this recipe I made 2 thin (New York style) and 2 very fluffy (deep dish) pizzas.

Since I started using “that thing” we haven’t bought a single loaf of bread and I wonder what was best for our budget. One (sometimes two) store bought loaf of bread per week or homemade bread that I make every other day (sometimes everyday). lol

ah… and look at those fresh baked buns I made my first sloopy joes with…

The recipe and the story behind it in my next post.

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• Breadsticks I don’t have to go to Olive Garden for, anymore! (momphotographer.wordpress.com)