Homestyle White Bread

From: The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook

I love bread. It's a weakness. I love fresh, hot, tasty bread even more. After getting a bread machine from a cousin (she was moving and I called dibs on her machine before anyone else could), I set about figuring out how to bake bread in a machine. I am NOT a good bread maker. I over-knead any bread I make, even biscuits. A machine takes all the worry out of making bread...sort of. Now, I hover over the machine worried it isn't rising, it's rising too much, it's too dark, it's too light...

Here's the first bread I made (after three fails) successfully.

For a 1 1/2 lb loaf.

1 1/8 c water
1 T honey
2 T butter, unsalted cut into pieces
1 1/2 t salt
3 c bread flour
2 T non-fat dry milk
1 T toasted wheat germ (optional)
1 T sugar
1 T gluten
1 1/2 t bread machine yeast

Add ingredients to bread pan in order listed. You can mix the flour, milk, wheat germ, sugar, and gluten before adding on top of the water. Add the yeast to the top of the dry ingredients. I make a small well in the flour mixture.

Set to 1.5 lb loaf, light regular crust...or consult your bread machine instructions.