Bread machines with your eggs and milk?

Last year I was lucky enough to be given a bread machine for Christmas. It has been one of the best things I’ve ever received. Despite being gluten intolerant or perhaps because of it bread in a shop can be fairly limiting so why not make your own?

Nothing beats the smell of fresh bread first thing in the morning, especially with these crisps early school mornings. The boys tumble out of bed and tuck in to warm bread while waking up, its heaven! We’ve experimented with everything from crispy French white bread to apple and cinnamon loaves through to a richer treat of chocolate and raspberry loaf.

When I first became aware of bread machines they were classed as an expensive luxury commodity but gosh, these days you can purchase them anywhere, even in your local supermarkets. Online you can find a bread machine in websites like Tesco for example and they start at a good design from well under £50. Most styles these days come with timers too which as I said makes for an amazing breakfast. I pop the ingredients in before stacking the dishwasher and before I get too tired!

Here’s a lovely chocolate bread recipe for breakfast, just imagine this hot from the machine with peanut butter on top! Do let me know if you try it out!

Ingredients

·         45g unsweetened cocoa powder

·         125ml boiling water

·         2 1/2 teaspoons dried active baking yeast

·         2 teaspoons caster sugar

·         125ml warm water (45 degrees C)

·         410g bread flour

·         125g caster sugar

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         2 tablespoons vegetable oil

·         1 egg

·         1 egg yolk

Method

1.       In a small bowl, dissolve cocoa powder in boiling water.

2.      In a separate bowl, dissolve yeast and 2 teaspoons sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

3.      Place cocoa mixture, yeast mixture, bread flour, remaining caster sugar, salt, vegetable oil and egg in bread machine. Select basic Bread cycle; press Start.