Bread Machine Italian Herb Bread

Preface: I made this today and was trying to take pictures, but apparently the batteries in my camera are almost completely dead. So no picture today, but I'll make this again within the next few days and post pictures!


Do you have a bread machine stuck at the back of a cabinet or cupboard? Why not dust it off and join me for a loaf of mouth-watering Italian Herb Bread?

My original Christmas-gift-that-I-hankered-after-for-months bread machine gave up the ghost and was discarded long ago. When I mentioned to my mom that I was thinking of buying another (they're much cheaper these days than they were "back in the day") She let me borrow hers--she has a small kitchen without much counter space and stores hers in the utility room, so like most people, it's usually a case of out of sight, out of mind. I was more than glad to take it make sure it still worked!

One of these days I'm going to learn to make bread by hand, but in the meanwhile, I can keep from heating up my whole kitchen by using the handy-dandy bread machine.

The Italian Herb Bread recipe that I'm sharing today is wonderful with the Pasta Bake recipe I shared a while back, and it elevates spaghetti and meatballs (always a family favorite) to gourmet status.

Ingredients:

• 9 oz warm (not hot) water (this is 1c + 2T)
• 2 T butter or margarine
• 3 c bread flour
• 3 T Parmesan cheese
• 1 T dry milk
• 1 T sugar
• 2 t Italian seasoning blend
• 1 1/2 t salt
• 2 t regular yeast or 1 1/2 t bread machine/fast rise yeast

Per my bread machine instructions, I add the water first, then all of the other ingredients.

Notes:

If you're using the time-delay feature that most machines come with, be sure to push the dry ingredients into the corners to keep the water from seeping up and activating the yeast too soon. It also helps to put the salt in the corner, and the yeast in a little well in the center.

My machine also has a 1 hour cycle which I love--to ensure the quick rise, increase the bread machine/fast rise yeast to 3 teaspoons, and decrease the salt to 1/2 t.

In a pinch I've used the practially-powdered Parmesan cheese that comes in a shaker canister, but if you use "real" Parmesan cheese it adds that lagniappe-that little something extra-that makes this bread even better.

This makes a beautiful, fragrant loaf. One of these days I'm going to make it on the dough cycle and shape it and bake it into a fancy artisan shape, but for now, we just eat the regular squat, rectangular loaves as they come out of the machine.

This recipe is linked to:

Foodie Friday at Desgins by Gollum

Recipe Swap at the Grocery Cart Challenge

Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

Tempt my Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace

Friday Feasts at MomTrends

Until next time, good cooking, and good eating!