Bread Machine (34 page)

K
eep bags of these in the freezer for impromptu barbecues and picnics. The sandwich buns are nice and soft, perfect for sloppy joes and summer tomato and mayonnaise sandwiches. The long rolls are good for ricotta with arugula and tomatoes, turkey and cheese, and, of course, hot dogs or bratwurst. These rolls are really good—the kind you look for in the super-market but can rarely find.

1
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/
₂
-POUND LOAF

1 cup water

1 large egg

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

2 tablespoons sugar

3 cups bread flour

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₄
cup nonfat dry milk

2 tablespoons instant potato flakes

1 tablespoon gluten

1
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/
₂
teaspoons salt

1
³
/
₄
teaspoons SAF yeast or 2
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₄
teaspoons bread machine yeast

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for glaze

1
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₂
tablespoons sesame seeds, for sprinkling

2-POUND LOAF

1
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/
₄
cups water

1 large egg

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

3 tablespoons sugar

4 cups bread flour

¹
/
₃
cup nonfat dry milk

3 tablespoons instant potato flakes

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon gluten

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons SAF yeast or 2
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/
₂
teaspoons bread machine yeast

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for glaze

1
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/
₂
tablespoons sesame seeds, for sprinkling

Place all the ingredients in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer’s instructions. Program for the Dough cycle; press Start.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. When the machine beeps at the end of the cycle press Stop and unplug the machine. Immediately turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. With a dough knife, divide the 1
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₂
-pound dough into 8 equal portions or the 2-pound dough into 12 equal portions. For hamburger buns form each portion into tight rounds. For long rolls, flatten each portion into an oval about 6 inches long and rolling up tightly from a long end to form a cylinder. Place the rolls on the lined baking sheet at least 1 inch apart. Press with your palm to flatten each roll. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Brush the rolls with the egg glaze and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 15 to 22 minutes, depending on the size of the roll, until lightly browned. Remove the rolls from the sheet with a spatula and let cool completely on a rack. Slice in half horizontally to serve.

Pasta Doughs from Your Bread Machine

Until lately, unless you lived in an Italian neighborhood or were invited to an Italian family dinner, it was rare to see fresh pasta. In the past decade, the availability of a wide variety of fresh, frozen, and factory-made premium dried pastas (from old Italian families like de Cecco and Ronzoni) has exceeded all hopes—to the delight of hungry diners.

Fresh pasta dough is easily made in any bread machine that has a motor capable of mixing heavy whole grain doughs. This is one of the newly discovered uses for the bread machine. Some manufacturers, like Oster, even have a special setting just for pasta making. You make the dough in the machine, let it rest, then roll it out by hand or in a pasta machine. The no-fuss ease of making your own pasta dough in the bread machine is a satisfying culinary adventure.

Semolina di grano duro
, known as semolina or durum flour, is an ingredient in most all pastas, in combination with all-purpose flour. It is an important flour because it dries out quickly, and produces pasta that cooks to a firm bite rather than becoming mushy, since it doesn’t absorb a lot of water. Semolina flour is important if you are making extruded pasta. Many cooks use bread flour for their pasta, which is just as good. Egg noodles are made from unbolted all-purpose flour, which makes a tender pasta. In northern Italy, pasta is made from spelt flour, known as
farro
.

The easiest noodles to make at home are the ones that are cut from a sheet into various sizes, wide lasagna strips, ribbons of fettuccine, and thin strands of tagliarini. Each shape can be served with a number of luscious sauces, or simply with garlic, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. I think the dough for egg pasta is the easiest for beginners; the eggs tenderize the stiff dough.

The following are the most popular shapes cut from homemade pasta. Remember that they will look different than machine-produced pastas.

• Fettuccine—Also called
  tagliatelle
  , this is the most common homemade noodle. The dough is rolled up and cut into slices about
  ¹
  /
  ₄
  inch wide.
  
• Tagliarini—The thinnest noodle, cut into a
  ¹
  /
  ₁₆
  -inch width. Tagliarini is great in soups.
  Capellini d’angelo
  , or angel’s hair, is the thinnest tagliarini and can only be cut with a machine.
  
• Lasagna—These noodles are 2 to 3 inches wide and about 10 inches long, or the length of your baking dish. Long strips are cut from flat sheets of rolled-out dough with a plain or fluted pastry wheel. Since they cook so quickly, I often don’t cut them into strips, but make the sheets close to the size of my baking dish. You don’t need to precook fresh lasagna noodles before assembling the dish.
  

The Toolbox: Equipment for Making Pasta

In your pasta-making toolbox, you will need:

• A long hardwood rolling pin, a dough scraper, and a wooden or plastic pastry board if you will be rolling and cutting the pasta by hand.
  
• A pasta machine if you will be rolling and cutting by machine. (Hand-cranked models from Atlas and Imperia are the simplest and least expensive. Simac Pasta Matic and Kitchen Aid Food Preparer are also able to extrude pasta.)
  
• A wooden drying pole or rack, clean kitchen towels, or a baking sheet dusted with flour, for drying the pasta.
  
• A slotted spoon, wooden pasta fork, or Chinese mesh strainer for stirring the pasta while it cooks and a colander for draining it if you plan to cook the pasta right away.
  

EGG PASTA
          
Makes 1
¹
/
₂
pounds pasta, 7 to 8 servings

E
gg pasta is excellent with all sorts of fresh or cooked sauces—like ragù, marinara, bolognese, pesto, white clam sauce, cream sauces—and pasta frittatas, baked pastas, with sautéed mushrooms and peas, timbales, cannelloni, manicotti, and in soups.

1
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- OR 2-POUND-LOAF MACHINES

4 large eggs, lightly beaten, at room temperature

2 tablespoons warm water

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cups unbleached all-purpose or bread flour