Farmhouse Loaf

Yet another new bread machine recipe. This one comes from The Bread Machine Bible: More Than 100 Recipes for Delicious Home Baking with Your Bread Machine, by Anne Sheasby. This is another tasty bread. We're having a hard time figuring out which is our favorite of the new recipes I've tried these last couple of months. But its been fun having slightly different bread each week. I still have an arsenal of new recipes that I want to try, so this trend of having a new bread every week will continue for quite awhile. Anyway, this bread has a great crumb. Its nice, soft, and moist inside with a slightly sweet flavor from the brown sugar. And I liked that the sides didn't get super crisp and dark brown like most other loaves seem to if I let them cook the full time.

Farmhouse Loaf

1 1/2 cups water
2 3/4 cups plus 2 Tablespoons bread flour
3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons whole wheat bread flour
1 Tablespoon skim milk powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons soft light brown sugar
2 Tablespoons butter, diced
1 1/2 teaspoons instant dry yeast

Pour the water in the bread pan. Sprinkle each type of flour over, in turn, covering water completely. Sprinkle milk powder over flour. Place salt, sugar, and butter in different corners of the pan. Make a small indent in the flour and place the yeast there.

Select Basic White cycle, select loaf size and crust. Press start.

If possible, 10 minutes before the baking cycle starts, brush the top of the loaf with water and dust with flour. Using a sharp knife, cut a slash, about 1/2 inch deep, along the length of the loaf.