I've been on this list for a few weeks now, and think it's super.
You all talked me into finally getting a bread machine (West Bend 41047)
and boy do we all love it! Making fresh bread is now not only easier than
making quick bread, which I had been doing for a while - it's even easier
than walking to the store and buying unsatisfactory bakery bread! Thank
you all for your inspiration!
Oh, and the Finnish Sweet Bread and Poppy-Seed Almond Bread (I
substituted powdered milk + water + vinegar for the buttermilk, which is
not available in Taiwan where we live) turned out great! Poppy seeds, by
the way are another ingredient you can't get here (I brought some from the
States) - Customs would *never* let any poppy products in. Apparently
memories of China's Opium War are still fresh - even though I have read
that the poppy seeds used for baking are from a totally different variety
of poppy, not from the opium poppy. I suppose in the future I will
substitute black sesame seeds, which are easy to get here.
I just tried a recipe for 'Cabbage Bread', from a newspaper
clipping I'd saved from 1981! I used the 'dough' setting to make the
dough, then rolled and formed the rolls by hand. They're something like
calzones. We like them for breakfast. Here's the recipe:
Cabbage Bread
_____________
(Source: The Washington Star, 6/21/81, Cookbook/Advertising
Supplement; adapted for bread machine use)
Dough:
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup milk (I used powdered milk + water)
2 eggs, beaten
3 cups bread flour (I had to add quite a bit more to make the
dough the right consistency; you can do this during the kneading if the
dough looks too moist and sticky; the consistency should be the same as
for regular bread dough)
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening (I used vegetable oil)
2-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
Filling:
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 cups chopped cabbage
salt and pepper to taste
Put the ingredients in the bread maker in the usual order. Run the
'dough' setting.
Brown the ground beef together with the onion and cabbage in a
frying pan, adding salt and pepper to taste.
When the dough cycle is complete, divide the dough into two balls.
Roll out the first ball into a large sheet. Cut in squares. Fill each one
with the beef mixture. Either fold the dough over and seal, or cover with
another square (if the squares turn out small and thin) and pinch the
edges shut tight. Arrange on a baking sheet. Repeat with the second ball
of dough. Let rise 15 minutes. Brush the top of each with beaten egg or
egg yolk. Bake in a 375 F degree oven until golden brown. Do not overbake.
Karen Steffen Chung, in Taipei