Betty Crocker's Best Bread Machine Cookbook

by Betty Crocker, Lois L Tlusty

Everyone loves fresh bread, but not the time it takes to make it. Bread machines are hot items in the kitchen because they take the work out of making homemade bread. Even better, Betty Crocker takes the mystery out of the bread machine and brings you easy-to-use recipes for both 1 1/2-pound and 2-pound loaves that work for all the popular bread machine models. We've packed this book with over 100 recipes to tempt your tastebuds. There are delicious bread recipes for classic favorites, rustic breads, sweet doughs, coffeecakes and buns. Betty Crocker's Bread Machine Cookbook also offers a host of recipes for doughs to mix, then shape and bake in a conventional oven -- such as foccacia, breadsticks and pizza doughs -- with easy-to-follow illustrations on how to shape and trim the loaves. Best of all, you can trust these recipes will work in your bread machine because the Betty Crocker kitchens have tested the recipes in several different machines to ensure success at home. We've also loaded up this book to include information on bread machine ingredients; glossary of bread machine ingredients, techniques, and terms; and a breakdown of the various features found on different models of machines and how to use them. There's nothing better than the taste of homemade bread -- and no one brings it to you better than Betty Crocker.

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Cooking, Reference, Food

196 pages, Spiral-bound

First published June 3, 1999

Reviews

[Nadine in NY Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is now my SIXTH bread machine cookbook trial! Truth is, I’ve had so many fail experiences with the previous cookbook and this book that I lost interest in trying new recipes for a while. The sourdough results were so spectacularly bad that I haven’t tried to make a loaf of bread in months.

This one has the usual Betty Crocker look. Recipe ingredients are listed for both 1.5 lb and 2 lb loaves, which is nice, and it looks like they actually tested the recipes rather than just multiplying stuff for the different sizes, but it's laid out with a weird justification that makes it tough for my eyes to follow. Ingredients are in three columns: the 1.5 lb ingredient amounts are left-justified, the ingredient is center justified, and the 2 lb amounts are right-justified. This makes my eyes go crazy zig-zag on the page. I'm almost guaranteed to read something wrong at some point.

There is a very handy table in the intro that gives equivalent measurements of regular dry yeast in place of bread machine yeast. This is fantastic, but it only gives equivalents for .75 t, 1 t, and 1.5 t ... and the second recipe I tried called for 2.25 t of bread machine yeast. And I have regular yeast.


recipes I tried:
Basic White Bread
After the last few mega-fail books, I decided to ease into things with this book, and started with the very first recipe, but of course I tinkered with it because I suck at cookbook trialing, and I added 1 c of whole wheat flour + 3 c of white flour instead of just 4 c white flour. This got some mild side eye because the ingredient amounts are not exactly the same as the recipe for white bread that is printed on the side of my bread machine - the cookbook calls for more water and less flour, and slightly different amounts of butter, dried milk, sugar, salt, and yeast. Results were ... middling. The loaf started to over-rise and collapsed slightly on one end, and has a slightly coarse texture. Final verdict: Fail because the collapse was more significant than I expected. (We did eat and enjoy the entire loaf, so it was just a tiny fail, really.)

Hmmm ... My confidence is NOT high for this book, but I'm willing to keep going.

Mediterranean Herb Bread
After perusing the trouble-shooting section of this book, my collapsed loaf was caused by either: too much liquid, too much sugar, or too much yeast. This agrees with the other cookbooks I've read, too (as well as my own common sense). BUT ... which one should I reduce? I decided to reduce liquid by 1 tablespoon, which seems like a fussy amount, except the recipe calls for 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons of water. I also used dried herbs instead of fresh (the recipe approves of this substitution, so I haven't gone completely rogue) - mostly because I don't HAVE fresh oregano and thyme, but also in an effort to further reduce the moisture. I was also very conservative with the amount of yeast - if I used straight arithmetic on their conversion chart, the 2.25 t quick yeast would result in 4 t of regular yeast. That seemed like a lot. So I used 3 t. I also used 3c white flour + 1 c whole wheat flour in place of 4 c white flour, because come on, we need to be healthy here!! FINGERS CROSSED!!

The trouble-shooting section also shows photos of dough with instructions to add liquid or flour until things look better. This makes sense to me, since this is what you do when you make bread by hand. This herbed dough was wet and goopy so I added flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until things looked better (this ended up being 5 tablespoons - it was still rather wet and goopy but I didn't want to add more than that).

Verdict: FAIL (and seriously why have I been having such a string of bad luck with recipes in this thing????) During the second rise I could see I was in trouble, so I punched it down in the hopes that the loaf would remain manageable but hahahahahahahaNO, during baking it cratered like the moon, and the top of the loaf firmly attached itself to the lid, which means the top of the loaf that was in the crater was pretty much sealed off and didn't bake properly, and came out excessively soft and ugh. The flavor is okay, a little bland maybe, but this is still very disappointing. Next time I guess I'll try adding less yeast.

Sourdough bread
Already I'm having problems because I didn't read the damned directions closely for the starter, I used a medium glass bowl instead of a large glass bowl, and sure that seemed twice as big as I needed when I was just stirring together flour and milk and water but OHO-NO it was not nearly big enough an hour later. I transferred it to a large bowl. Final Verdict: massive fail. The starter never really “started” (more accurately, it started just fine but then stalled after I transferred it to the bigger bowl). We made a loaf of bread with it anyway, after waiting several weeks for the starter to do something interesting, and the loaf was a brick. Flavor was ... interesting, but texture was a fail.

[Sacreboo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had the 1st edition of this book for years and it's become my go-to bread book. Every recipe that I've tried has turned out perfectly. The instructions are easy to follow, the ingredients clearly stated and many of the recipes are accompanied by photographs and diagrams. The variety of breads and baked goods is terrific and several of these recipes have become regularly baked favorites.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm a bread wimp.

I love homemade bread, but I have not had much success with hand kneading and rising cycles.

That's why I love my bread machine.

And this cookbook is a perfect partner for my bread machine. The recipes are tasty and fullproof. And if I'm feeling creative, I can run up the dough for an artesean loaf, finish it in the oven and then take credit for it.

[Wendy Hollister · Rating 3 out of 5]

not enough whole grain recipes.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Without having tried any of the recipes, yet, this appears to have some good, practical recipes. Anxious to try something other that the basic white loaf, which is very yummy.

[Sheila Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a great book for the bread machine but it would be better if we could figured out how not to make such thick crust on it.

[Rosemary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I re-read this cookbook this past weekend. I have made several of the breads and they have all turned out amazing. It includes a good variety of breads and lots of tips to get the best out of your machine.

[Margaret Metz · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are several great things about this book. I love that it's a hardcover so it will last. It has a spiral inside the hardcover - so it lies flat - eliminating the need to prop it under things to keep the recipe available. There are tons of large full color photographs. Since we eat with our eyes nearly as much as with our mouths, it's wonderful to see. It's also helpful to see how a recipe should turn out so you understand the instructions better. They do include smaller illustrations of certain techniques as well.

There is also a section in the beginning with general tips. This section contains everything from understanding your bread machine, picking the right ingredients, different flours, problem solving (with photographs showing each problem)...

I think the smell and taste of warm homemade bread is heavenly and I love knowing exactly what I'm eating and giving my family and friends.

[Sean Evans]

Betty Crocker's Best Bread Machine Cookbook: The Goodness of Homemade Bread the Easy Way by Betty Crocker Editors (1999)

[Mary Ellen Woods · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not much new here.

[Katie Van Sloten · Rating 3 out of 5]

The recipes looked quite tasty -but they are too high in calories for everyday use

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cookbook has great recipes!!