Bread Machine Whey Bread

Since I have convinced you to make your own cheese AND save the remaining whey, here is one way to use the whey… bread!  Something odd about me that I apparently get from my mother is that I hate to feel dough stick to my fingers, so I am not a big bread baker.  Generally, if I make bread, it is in the form of a drop biscuit (oh man, do I need to post my paleo drop biscuits sometime soon…and make them with sausage gravy.  Mmmmm.) or a quick bread that requires no rolling or needing, like the excellent Beer Bread from Joy of Cooking.  I have made a ton of different paleo breads, but even though they promise to be sandwich bread, they never rise enough to fit sandwich innards, and I have yet to find a gluten-free one that I like, so I am going GLUTEN on this one, because I, like Oprah, love bread.  It's not like everyday bread, which would give me heartburn and even acid reflux, but an occasional p b & j or an eggie in a basket, yes, indeed.

To solve my doughy finger issue, I needed a bread machine.  Checking the prices, I found that the 1.5-lb loaf machines cost around $100.  I take my Benjamins very seriously and am nigh-incapable of buying something not on sale, so it was not to be.  Until I found one at a resale store for $7 on 50% off kitchen day. Yes, I would have to pay $3.50 for a bread machine that may or may not work correctly and did not come with instructions.  At the price, I decided that I could risk it, and that sucker went home with me.  Of course, then I had to figure out how to use it.

Consulting the oracle (Google), I found the BEST website that not only taught me everything I needed to know to understand my bread machine but also instilled in me the confidence to bake bread with a small robot without fear.  Go check out the Hillbilly Housewife…she is fantastic.

The first few loaves were “okay”.  I made them with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free bread mix, which I thought came out a bit heavy, which is why I usually do not like GF bread.  I went back to the oracle and found King Arthur’s recipe using their all-purpose flour. I found it to be much more to my liking, but I wanted to use whey, so I modified their easy bread machine recipe.

Pro-tip: even when a recipe tells you you can mix all the ingredients and throw them in the bread machine, they are wrong.  If you use active dry yeast, you must proof the yeast before mixing or your bread will not rise properly.  Also, do not be seduced by the turbo setting.  Just let it take 3.5 hours to make the bread.  It will be better.

Bread-Machine Bread (Basics)

• 1 1/2 cup whey
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3 3/4 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast or instant yeast

1. Heat whey to 110*F.  This takes about 90 seconds in my microwave.  Do this 30 seconds at a time until you get the proper temperature.  
2. Add yeast.  Let sit for 10 minutes.
3. Add melted butter, sugar, and salt to this liquid.
4. Measure flour into the machine bowl.  If you have one, add the liquid mixture, stirring with a nonstick spatula.
5. Run the bread machine.
6. Pour out bread onto a cooling rack.  When completely cooled, wrap it in plastic.  Make breadcrumbs or freeze them after 3-5 days.  This contains no preservatives.

Note the whole in the bread from the machine paddle.  Inconvenient, but not the end of the world.  The central slices are excellent for Eggie in the Basket.