First let me perfectly clear here, I am not, nor have I ever likened myself to be of the likes of Martha Stewart. Ok, now that we’re clear, let’s carry on. 
***Tip off #1***: I use a bread maker 99% of the time to make my dough for me, but NEVER to bake my bread. If you have a few extra $$ and want to save time, buy a bread maker.
I use my bread maker to make my dough for me so while it’s doing it’s job, I can do other things. My favorite thing to do is to set the timer to have the dough ready & waiting for me when I wake up at 7am. I put the ingredients together at night before I go to bed, (literally takes me 2 minutes) then I set the timer & put it on the dough setting. When I wake up in the morning, I punch it down, let it rise again & throw it in the oven for hot & fresh bread.
I am on now my 2nd bread machine… My first bread machine was a Black & Decker which we paid over $200 for as they were very new & expensive then. It lasted me 18 years and was used a LOT. When it died I found the *exact* same model barely used for $20 on Kijiji & thanked the good Lord above for small miracles! lol! 
The Ingredients & My Personal Bread Recipe for 2 loaves (9×5 pans)
1 1/2 cups Warm(er) water
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
2 Tbsp. Sugar
2 Tbsp. Oil/butter/shortening
4 cups white Flour (you can also use 1/2 whole wheat)
1 1/2 tsp. Yeast
(*I buy a big vacuum sealed pkg. of Fleischmans yeast from the bulk store for $5.99 & refill my little jar. The little jar alone will cost you around $8.99 at the grocery store. My bulk pkg. of Fleischmans yeast fills the jar full 4 times for savings reference!)
Oh, you’ll want to use measuring spoons to measure for now, I just guess, but when you’re starting out, you probably want to use measuring spoons until you can “eyeball” it. lol!
1. Place the ingredients in your bread pan in the order listed. DO NOT MIX.
2. Place the pan back in the breadmaker, put on “dough/pasta” setting. It will take 2 hours to run through this cycle.
3. Now, when it’s ran through the 2 hour cycle, you want to take out the pan (it wont’ be hot, or isn’t in mine anyways…) flip it over on a well floured surface….
4. Then I split the ball in two. If you keep it in one you will have one MASSIVE loaf if you’re cooking it in a regular 9×5″ loaf pan. Therefore I use 2 loaf pans and get two regular sized loaves.
5. Now take your handy husband beater, er, rolling pin, And roll out each “ball” into a long rectangular peice of dough about 1/2″ thick’ish. I just roll mine and go with it.
6. After you’ve done that, roll it up “jelly roll” style and place into a well greased loaf pan.
7. From here I put both pans in a preheated 100F oven, but once it’s preheated I turn it off. Let the loaves rise until they’re *at least* doubled in size… I usually let mine rise for about an hour. If you don’t want to let it rise in the oven, then just cover with a clean, warm tea towel. Some say you should rinse it with hot water, squeeze, then put on the pans. I don’t think it overly matters, or it didn’t to me anyways, but it’s an option.
8. Take the loaves out of the oven and preheat to 350F. Bake loaves for about 20 minutes or until golden brown & tapping on the loaf with a butter knife makes an “empty/hollow” sound.
And there you have it! Perfect bread!! Yummy!!
The benefits of still baking bread in the oven vs. in the breadmaker:
- The bread is a “normal” size loaf. Not ginourmous slices.
- The crust is soft. Not crunchy.
- You end up with 2 loaves instead of 1.
- You don’t get a big “black hole” in the bottom of your loaf from the bread paddle in the bread machine.
Now, if you instead want to use a mixer to make bread, you’ll need a good & strong one… I have a Kitchen Aid Accolade in white and it makes fabulous bread too. I’m just lazy busy. So if you want to go the Kitchen Aid route, you’ll want to take 1/2 cup of your 1 1/2 cups *warm* water and dissolve your yeast in it. Let it sit for about 15 minutes. Then pour it into your mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients, including the rest of the warm water using the bread hook, but add the flour in small increments slowly. You may have to add more flour or water to get the right “stickiness” for your dough, just play around with it till it’s perfect. This is another reason why I love my breadmaker, the dough is always perfect!
Once you have the *perfect* dough, you’ll want to cover & let it double in size in the bowl for at least an hour, then follow the steps above to let it rise again and follow the steps until you bake it.
As for freezing bread, i’ve saved bread bags from ‘regular’ bread and use those to freeze the bread in. It’s only frozen for a few days at best, and they’re always the perfect size. But you can always buy freezer bags. I do not pre-slice the bread before I freeze it. So when it’s thawed out and I slice it, it’s fresh & soft like I just baked it. Since homemade bread has NO preservatives or chemicals in it, it WILL NOT last nearly as long as store bought bread. If you’re not going to use the entire loaf within about 3 days I suggest freezing part of it.
Now, I *think* i’ve covered anything… I hope this helps! If you have any questions, please ask away and i’ll help in whatever way I can. I have buns that are done rising and need baked for dinner and my book is waiting!! I’m slowly getting everything crossed off of my “to do” list but i’m going to be hard pressed to get it all done. Such is life…
Well have a wonderful Sunday afternoon! I’m off & will return after dinner with Sunday Night Chit-Chat!!
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Carla. You are a god send! I’ve made dough with mine but I over complicate things and question if I’m doing it right, LOL! Yes with a recipe if you can believe it, lol. I’m gonna try this seriously.
If you wondered — I was on your site as I had just finished my extremely long second post of the day (CRAPPY WEEKEND).
Again you are on ANGEL!
Oh my gosh, that bread is beautiful! I can almost smell it. Now answer this: how do you keep from eating the whole loaf when it comes out of the oven? Because that’s what I would do!
Wow that bread looks great! I had never thought about getting a breadmaker as I usually just make mine by hand on those rare occassions when I want fresh bread but now I think I definitely need to get one!
You can’t beat the smell and taste of fresh bread can you Carla!
Sft x
Easy peasy as one-two-three or almost. I will share this on my Recipe Exchange, Carla hoping to try it out myself some day. Thanks for sharing your method of Bread Making !
@ Kelly, hope it works for you!!
I’ll read up on your weekend soon!
@ Julie, I can’t eat gluten… lol! So I’m ok…
@ April, it really does make bread-making simple!
@ SFT, the smell is heavenly!
@ Cindy, it is pretty easy, yes! Hope you get a chance to try it out!
Thanks for this post. I’ll make this bread soon.
You have inspired me! There is a Black and Decker bread machine on my local kijiji for $20. Going to see if it’s still available.
@ Free, happy baking!
@ Christy, let me know how you make out!!
Our bread machine bit the dust, so I bought an ‘artisan bread’ cookbook. Now Amy makes it by hand, doesn’t even use the kitchen aid. She just forms it into loaves too. However, I think she’s going to try the jelly roll technique next time!
I usually stay clear of the Bulk Barn due to cross contamination issues with their bulk goods. I forget that they also sell packaged goods too…great idea for the yeast…I will be checking that out soon! I make my french stick by sealing the jelly roll and let it rise. I will have to try putting it in loaf pans for a loaf…love that idea! Sad to say, I will not be posting my update tomorrow for the decluttering series. Preparations for the Superbowl party for my boys along with a hockey game, laundry cleaning etc. left me with little time to complete what I needed for tomorrow. It shall be my Wednesday post. I am exhausted and just waiting for the big game to end so I can get the boys’ friends home and we can all hit the sack!
@ Judi, Artisan bread is definitely “me” bread, but hubby & kids like their “tried & true” bread loaves. lol!
Enjoy tour night!!
@ Susan, no rush! You’ve done awesome so far!!
Thanks for sharing! I was also curious about the buns you make for hamburgers, etc…. Do you just do small round rolls on a cookie sheet?
looks great but trying to keep off the bread for the moment………
Gill
Carla! I didn’t get to get on the computer very much yesterday! Thank you so much for this post…I will definitely try it…The bread looked YUMMY! I don’t like baking bread in the bread machine…the bread is too dense.(or maybe it was my recipe…) who knows.
It looks like a lot of people liked this post
! BUT, I’m thrilled it was for MOI! 
!
P.S. I just dusted off our bread machine and started my dough. I’m so excited to see how it comes out!
!
@ Shels, no, it’s a different recipe. I use ths fabulous recipe for buns: http://fullbellies.blogspot.com/2011/06/homemade-hamburger-and-hotdog-buns.html
Bread baked in the machine are very heavy usually, these loaves are light & fluffy!!
@ Gill, ahh… If it hels I can’t even eat this delicious bread! lol!
@ Sharon, I hope ths helps you out! Let me know how it turns out please!
That seriously looks good. And I am sure it is rather affordable compared to buying loaves. I’d watch out for that hubby beating device…
I just don’t use my bread machine enough! When I pull it out it’s usually for pizza dough. Have you tried any gluten free bread in there? Thoughts?
No, I haven’t… I honestly haven’t found a GF bread that’s worth trying again. lol! None of it compares to the bread I make for hubby & kids so I just don’t bother. Sad, I know… but true.