Buying a bread machine, or making bread in general, was not on my radar five months ago. But a visit to Italy started it all.
My great nephew was getting married in Italy and several of my extended family went to witness the event and to experience the country. I did not go, but my younger daughter did, as well as several nieces and nephews. After they all returned, we were at coffee one Sunday morning, as is the family habit, and the ones that made the trip were relating their experiences. Among those was how fabulous the food was. Everything was made fresh, no additives or enhancers. One of my nieces commented how she ate a lot of bread and, even though she has a gluten tolerance issue, had no stomach issues the entire trip. Within a couple weeks she had bought a bread machine and had purchased Italian bread flour online because it had no additives. She was pretty happy with her first loaf.
That got me to thinking about how it would be kind of nice to have bread without the additives, enhancers, etc. I started doing research online and discovered that in order for bread to rise properly it had to be “high gluten”. There really isn’t a defining value for “high gluten” but when I checked the brand that my niece bought it was 13%. That is about as high as bread flours get. I also found that many commercially produced breads add vitamins and minerals, and use flour that has been bromated. Potassium bromate is a chemical “dough improver” that is supposed to improve the rise and elasticity of the bread. It seems possible to me that the gluten intolerance may actually be an intolerance to all of these additives.
Researching machines I found that there are A LOT of them on the market. They can be quite simple or complex, can make just bread or many added things like cakes and yogurts. And the prices vary widely, from under $100 to close to $500. After researching bread machines for a month I decided to pull the trigger and ordered a KBS MBF-011 dual heater convection machine. This machine has 17 programs, and as the name implies, two heat rings rather that the standard one. It came with the bucket and paddle, measuring cup, teaspoon/tablespoon measuring spoon and a tool to remove the paddle from the bread if it stays in when the bread is removed from the bucket.
Then came the search for bread flour. The Italian flour my niece was buying was close to $5 per pound. Again, to the internet, where I found bread making groups on Facebook and Reddit and lo and behold, the favorite high gluten flour was from Costco. The Kirkland Signature Organic All-Purpose Flour is just ground wheat, no additives, has a gluten content of 11.5% and is only 85¢ a pound. No added wheat gluten required to make bread.
I’ll share my experience with my first loaf next time.