Now that you've mastered all the recipes in your bread machine manual, you decide you want to adapt your grandmother's tried and true homemade recipes to your bread machine. If you don't know how to convert regular recipes to suit bread machine sizes and processes, there's hope. Relying on the wisdom of practiced bread-makers, recipe conversion is just moments away.
Measurement matters
Because bread machines produce one-, 1.5-, or two-pound loaves, the first thing to consider when baking from a handmade recipe is how much flour the machine can handle. Betsy Oppenneer, author of The Bread Book, estimates that every cup of flour represents a half-pound of bread. If you begin with a traditional recipe calling for six cups of flour, divide the flour and all other ingredient measurements (except the yeast) by three to make a one-pound loaf. For the yeast, try using one teaspoon for white flour breads and 1.5 teaspoons for whole wheat flour. For a 1.5-pound loaf, cut the ingredients in half but use two teaspoons yeast for white flour and 2.5 teaspoons for wheat. To view her explanation, visit RecipeLink.com
Baking Adjustments
Once you have the ingredients proportionately measured to fit the bread machine, all you have to do is put them in the bread machine in the order your machine requires and start a bake cycle corresponding to the heaviness of the flour you use. Comparing bread machine recipes that use similar ingredients to the one you are converting can give you suggestions for what bake cycle to use.
For more information on recipe conversions, see Susan Belsinger's recommendations at Grit.com or visit Baking911.com
If you're still not sure this will work, realize that other bread makers have found success through trial and error. That's the fun of being a bread maker, after all.
