Serves: 5

A bread machine is easy to use after you become familiar with it. Here are five tips that will help make your bread baking a success in your kitchen.

1. Know Your Bread Machine.

Read your bread machine's use-and-care book carefully, especially the tips and hints. Understand how the machine's cycles work, and use them correctly. For example, do not reset the machine in the middle of a cycle. Although checking the dough while it's mixing is a good idea, never open your machine during the rising or baking stages to check the progress because the rising loaf could collapse.

If your machine has delay cycles, choose them only for recipes that do not contain fresh fruits and vegetables, honey, meats, eggs or fresh dairy products (delay cycles can be used for recipes that include margarine or butter). If these ingredients stand in the machine for several hours, they can possibly cause bacteria growth and food poisoning. When using a delay cycle, be sure the yeast does not come in contact with liquid or wet ingredients.

2. Assemble Your Machine Correctly.

Make sure the pan, blade and other parts are correctly assembled for proper mixing and kneading (see your bread machine's use-and-care book for complete details). If the bread machine parts are used incorrectly, the dough may not mix, knead, rise or bake properly. Be sure the blade, also called the paddle, is inserted correctly in the pan before adding the ingredients. If the blade is not inserted correctly, the bread will not knead properly.

3. Read and Understand Your Recipe.

Be sure to use only the ingredients called for, and measure them carefully because over- or undermeasuring can affect the results. Use standard household measuring cups and spoons. Measure dry ingredients and solid fats in graduated nested measuring cups. Glass measuring cups should be used for all liquids, including sticky liquids such as honey and molasses.

4. Prepare Ingredients Before Starting.

Select fresh, high-qualtiy ingredients, and use the types of ingredients generally recommended for bread machine baking.

Assemble ingredients on your kitchen counter in the order they will be added to the bread pan. For best results, ingredients should be at room temperature, except for those ingredients normally stored in the refrigerator, such as freash milk and eggs. If you store flour or grains in the refrigerator or freezer, be sure the measured ingredients come to room temperature before adding them to the bread pan. Check the recipe or follow the order recommended in your bread machine's use-and-care book to be sure that all the ingredients have been added in the correct order.

5. Make Recipe Changes One at a Time.

As you become familiar with your bread machine, you may get the urge to experiment by changing the ingredients of a bread machine recipe. Make just one change at a time, so you know what does or does not work. Check "Let's Make a Great Bread Machine Loaf" to see what adjustments to make if the revised recipe didn't give you the quality loaf you want.

More Recipes from the Betty Crocker's Best Bread Machine Cookbook Cookbook:
Any Way You Want to Slice It
Basic Cycle Features
Betty's Tips for Shaping Dough
Bread Baking Glossary
Five Steps to Great Bread
Flour Power!
Freezing Bread
Helpful Nutrition and Baking Information
Here's How We Test the Recipes
Keeping Bread Fresh
Know Your Bread Ingredients
Let's Make a Great Bread Machine Loaf
Measuring Your Bread Machine Pan Size
Metric Conversion Guide
Mystery Punch
Refrigerating Dough
Some Like It Hot: Reheating Your Bread
The Proof Is in the Dough
Your Bread Machine Baking Questions