Cider Apple Bread

A while ago I attempted to make some homemade bread. I was actually quite pleased with the way it turned out but to be honest it is hard work making the bread. It takes ages to do all the mixing, kneading and waiting for it to prove. It also made my arms quite sore from the kneading. I do love the taste of homemade bread and if it wasn’t for all the effort I would make it on a regular basis. A number of people had mentioned to me that it would be a good idea to get a breadmaker as they make bread quickly and easily with no effort. Imagine my surprise when I won a Pansonic ZB2502 Breadmaker in their twelve days of Christmas competition. It arrived the next day and I couldn’t wait  to try it out.   The breadmaker comes with a comprehensive set of instructions and includes lots of recipes. I had great fun browsing though and finding out what I could make. As well as bread it turned out that it makes cakes, jams and compotes as well. Jam is something I have never tried but I think I will be giving it a go soon. The first thing I tried was a normal white loaf. I followed the instructions, put all the ingredients in the breadpan, added the yeast in the yeast dispenser, set the right menu and pressed start.

It was exciting watching the time to loaf count down on the outside of the breadmaker. The house started to smell of baking bread and it was all very exciting. I finally took out the loaf and it was cooked to perfection. Literally all I had done was measure out the ingredients and put them in the machine.

I wanted to get a little more inventive and noticed a recipe in the booklet for cider apple bread. I had a bottle of Montano Cider that I had received in  and this seemed a good use for it. I only used half in the loaf, I drank the rest and it was a lovely crisp refreshing cider. The Apple Cider loaf turned out really well. The mix of apple and cider added a nice sweet taste to the bread which worked perfectly in a cheese and chutney sandwich.  Luckily I also had some Branston chutney  which worked perfectly with the mature cheddar.

I shall definitely be doing some more experiments with my breadmaker, I may well try a fruit loaf next to see how well the raisin and nut dispenser in the breadmaker works. It is lovely to be able to set the timer and wake up to freshly made bread in the morning without effort.

To make the cider apple bread in the Pansonic breadmaker you need menu 1. The ingredients are:

• 500g strong white flour
• 1 grated apple
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 1 tsp yeast
• 300 ml cider.

If you do not have a breadmaker and want to try the recipe, here it is:

Cider Apple Bread

Apple Cider Bread

Alison

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Ingredients

  

• 300 ml ½pt dry cider
• 1 tbsp soft light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp dried active yeast or 1 x 7g sachet of fast action yeast
• 500 g 1lb 2 oz strong white bread flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 50 g 2oz unsalted butter

Instructions

 

• Place the cider and sugar in a pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for one minute then leave to cool until it is luke warm.
• Add the yeast to 2 tbsp of the cider mixture and make into a paste.
• Place the dry ingredients in a bowl and make a well in the centre.
• Add the cider and yeast mixture and knead together to make a dough
• Knead on a lightly floured board for ten minutes then place in a large oiled bowl, cover with clingflim and leave for an hour until it doubles in size
• Knead gently again and place in a loaf tin.
• Leave to sit for 30 minutes until it rises to the tins edge
• Preheat the oven to200 C, gas mark 6.
• Bake for 35 minutes until golden brown.