It’s all about the bread – Redneck Cooking

Last week I wrote the review of the Breadman TR520 Bread machine. This week I am comparing two loaves of bread made in the bread machine.

I am sure that all of you read the manuals that come with new appliances cover to cover before ever using them. I don’t normally read them until after I cannot figure out how to make all the bells and whistles work on my own. The Breadman TR520 bread machine manual has a very lengthy explanation of why you should only use bread flour to make your bread.  The manual goes into great detail on glutens and elasticity, and various other reasons. I decided that the taste test would be the best way to determine whether bread flour or all purpose flour was the best way to go.

I decided to use the basic white bread recipe with all the same settings. I was off to the Walmart to find some bread flour. I had no idea there were so many different types of flour. Using various secret scientific methods to calculate which of the bread flours would be best for the bread, I had it narrowed down to three different choices. At this point, my wife, who was tired of standing there looking at flour, picked up one that said “best for bread machines” on the label and headed for the check out.

After our return from the Walmart I started a loaf of bread using the all-purpose flour. I added the ingredients for a 2 pound loaf, set the loaf size to 2 pounds, and the crust color to dark. After the all-purpose loaf was complete I removed it from the baking pan and let the pan and the bread machine cool before repeating the process with the bread flour. When the bread flour loaf was done I again removed it from the pan to cool.

I placed both loaves in a cool place for the night to cool. The next morning I took both loaves out and carefully cut the end crust off of them to compare the two loaves. According to the manual, the all-purpose loaf would be more dense and heavier. By holding both loaves in my hand the all purpose loaf did feel slightly heavier to me, but my wife thought the bread flour loaf felt heavier. after cutting off the end to examine the bread inside there was very little difference between the two loaves. According to the manual, the bread flour loaf would be more coarse and look more like normal bread whereas the all-purpose loaf being more dense would be less coarse.

The loaf on the left is the bread flour loaf and it is slightly more coarse than the all-purpose loaf on the right, but it is very hard to tell the difference by weight, or by visual look. So the final test was in the taste. Would I be able to tell the difference between the bread by tasting them? I took both end crusts and lightly buttered them then handed them to my wife to tell me which was which. She could not tell the difference between the two and really neither could I. Both loaves of bread had good taste and texture. They make good burger buns and sandwiches. As long as you’re careful when slicing the bread so that it’s not too thick for the toaster, both loaves also made great toast. I recommend that you follow the instructions in the manual for your bread machine when making bread, but as for me I’ll continue to make loaves of white bread using the cheaper all-purpose flour. I like the bread that comes out, I am happy with the taste and texture, and the homemade blackberry jelly will not soak through the bread faster than you can eat it.

Clacked by Jeff Love
on Dec 27, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT