Bread Machine Yeasted Gingerbread

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I've seen this recipe floating around cyberspace for several years now and it has been on my to-do list since it first caught my eye. The original recipe was created by Beth Hensperger and it can be found in The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook. I was able to borrow a bread machine today, so I was able to experiment with some recipes that had been sidelined because I do not have a machine of my own. With a bread machine, this flavorful, albeit unconventional, loaf is effortless to make, and the only problem I had was deciding how, or with what, I would serve it. Its flavors are unique and the bread does not lend itself to haphazard service. I came up with a couple of options that I think are workable. If you have a good European-type butter, quartered slices, slathered with butter would make a grand addition to a tea table. However, I think breakfast is the meal where most of us can best find a use for the bread. It makes marvelous toast and if the toast is served with cream cheese, it makes for a stellar breakfast offering. Those of you who enjoy standard gingerbread will probably enjoy this yeasted version. Here is how the bread is made.

Bread Machine Yeasted Gingerbread...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of "The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook" by Beth Hensperger

Ingredients:
1 cup + 1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1 tablespoon butter
3-1/2 cups bread flour
1 cup rolled oats
4 tablespoons buttermilk powder
3 tablespoons sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons instant yeast

Directions:
1) Place all ingredients in pan of a bread machine in the order specified by your manual. I made sure everything was at room temperature (I just microwave the water).
2) I used the sweet bread setting, light crust, 1-1/2 pound loaf.
3. Definitely check dough during the kneading cycle for texture--the recipe originally called for 1/2 cup less flour, but with the smaller amount the dough was more like thick pancake batter than bread dough. Yield: 1 loaf.

                    

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