I grew up eating my mother's homemade bread so when I got to a point in my life where it was convenient I started making it. My Dad called one evening many years ago and asked for the recipe I use for whole wheat, and told me the size loaf he wanted from his new bread machine. I worked out the quantities and sent him the recipe, and a few days later a bread machine arrived!

I used to set the machine up in the evening with the timer set to knead and rise and finish baking in time for morning breakfast. The round loaf shape tends to dry out quicker than the traditional shape, so I now almost exclusively use the machine on the manual setting. Once the bread has finished that cycle I pop it into a greased bread pan and when it finishes rising I bake in the stove oven or (most of the time) the glass countertop convection oven.

I make rolls, pizza dough, all sorts of things that way.

Gnu, give this a try before you consign that machine to the garage sale.

Will, if 100% whole wheat flour is too heavy, use a mix of regular whole wheat flour and the finely ground whole wheat cake flour. I find that results in a better lighter loaf. I did this recently when I made some dinner rolls to freeze to use for sandwiches - they're 100% whole wheat but are the consistency I get from a mix of white and wheat.

Bob, who discovered bread machines first, you or my Dad, or was it a convergent thing? I think I have three of them around here. He used the DAK machines built by Welbuilt.

SRS