I bought a Sunbeam 5891 last week, and have been going bonkers making bread and researching recipes for different styles of breads. It's unbelievable how many different ways there are to make bread, and how simple it is with a bread machine.

I made a loaf of Dakota Raisin Bread this morning, and it's as good as any I've bought at the local fancy bread store. This loaf was done on the medium crust setting, but next time I'll use the light crust setting so the sides are not quite as crusty. Does this look good or what? It is delicious with a little butter and jam on it, and is surprisingly light in texture.



If anyone's interested, here's the recipe:
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Dakota Raisin Bread

-----1 1/2 LB. LOAF-----
1 1/4 cups Water warm
3 tablespoons Vegetable oil
2 1/3 cups Bread flour
1 cup Whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons Packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons Powdered dry milk
1 1/2 teaspoons Salt
2 teaspoons Fleishcmann's bread machine yeast
3/4 cup Sun*Maid Raisins
3 tablespoons Pumpkin seeds
3 tablespoons Sunflower seeds
1 1/2 tablespoons Poppy seeds
1 1/2 tablespoons Sesame seeds

Measure carefully, adding ingredients, except raisins and seeds to bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer.

Select Sweet or Basic/White cycle. Use Light or Medium crust color.

Add raisins and seeds at the raisin/nut cycle or 5 minutes before last kneading cycle ends. (Add at beep on Sunbeam 5891)

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I'm trying out several recipes so I can nail down a couple for our Easter Brunch. Homemade bread has always been an Easter tradition in my wife's family, and with the passing of my mother-in-law, the last of the bread makers was gone. My wife and her sisters all refuse to make bread the old fashioned way (it really does take up a lot of time if you also work every day), so I thought the machine would be helpful in keeping the tradition alive. Looks like this one's a keeper, and everyone will be pleased on Easter morning.

Anyone got any good recipes for their machines? Is this something that should be moved to What's Cooking? I would hope there are enough recipes out there to keep both areas going for a good long time.

Joe