Basic White Bread for a breadmaker

Have you ever been pleased you remembered to pull out the breadmaker and make a loaf especially for a meal you are making, and when you opened the lid found a doughy lump of goo or a dried out rock hard mass?

ME TOO!!

Until I became less scared of the stupid machine's "warnings" of not correctly entering the items etc.

So here is a simple bread recipe:

1 1/4 cups of water
2 tbsp powdered milk (I used milk)
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt
3 1/4 cups of flour
1 1/4 tsp yeast

Simple right?
Put the items in the breadmaker in that order and turn it on.....well....not if you are me, and instead of using the 1 cup measuring cup, I used the 1/4 cup and counted out the number I needed....9 right?
hmmmmm no! it was suppose to be 13!
13 of the 1/4 cups = 3 1/4 cups NOT 9!

Giant error and soup in the breadmaker
(thank goodness I only use mine to mix not bake! LOL)

Ok so what do you do? If I add the flour I will have to remix (therefore overworking the dough) If I don't I might as well toss the mess and start again.

So I added the extra cup of flour and hoped for the best.

Now I remove my dough from the breadmaker divide into 2 and place the masses onto 2 greased cookie sheets and semi-shape them into Italian loaves. I then place it into my oven that is not on!!! because there is no breeze to cause problems, no bugs to land in it etc.

I allow the masses to rise for... (lets be honest now) until I remember there is dough on the sheet! LOL I have been known to leave it overnight (wow is that bread fluffy!) THAT alone is the reason I now use cookie sheets and not loaf pans....if I forget, I do not have dough everywhere in my oven!

I bake it until just before I think it is done (very light brown) and turn off the oven (again lets be honest!) its in case I forget its in there! LOL It continues to bake while the oven is cooling off.

Point in fact, I am currently eating the loaf of bread I screwed up,
and it is lovely!

"Bon Appetit!"