Dusting off the Bread Machine

I own a bread machine that is so large, it looks like some strange, gargantuan, futureistic, something-or-other but it is simply a bread machine. There is no reason it should be so large but that is probably due to its age. I'm sure they are much smaller nowadays.

So, I dusted (literally) off my machine and set out to bake a banana chocolate chip bread for the kids to have as an afterschool snack. Is there anything better than some warm, yummy bread on a snowy day?

I am using the recipe from this book.

I gathered my ingredients.

The beauty of the bread machine is you just throw the ingredients into the bowl, set the machine and open it later to a beautiful loaf (not to mention the sweet smell that fills the house!). A couple of tips: you ALWAYS have to add the wet ingredients first and make sure you test your yeast. The way to ensure your yeast is working is to add some warm water to a cup and add two tsp of sugar. Then, sprinkle some yeast in the cup. Within 15 minutes, the yeast should foam and give off the "yeasty" smell. If it fails to do either, your yeast is old. I don't always keep fresh yeast on hand so it really is easy to have some old yeast in your house.

All the receipes call for "bread flour." I just used regular flour though I hear that bread flour is preferred. Just like the yeast, I really don't keep fresh bread flour in my house. If you don't either, just use regular old flour, it will be ok.

Here are my ingredients in the pan.

Within 5 minutes, my ingredients are stirring together into a nice dough.

After school we serve it up with some butter and honey and some tea. So delish! Do you have an ancient bread machine too? Or do you have a new one? Are the new ones pretty snazzy? How often do you use yours?