DAK Turbo Bake II and Oster 5838 breadmakers

That DAK breadmaker was a GREAT thrift store find. I love this thing!

It’s different than other breadmakers. First, you put the ingredients in the opposite order from most bread machines: dry ingredients first, then liquids on top. It has temperature sensor in the post on which the paddle sits’ the sensor gauges the dough ball or loaf’s internal temperatures and adjusts the baking cycle accordingly. It has a turbo bake setting that uses heat to expedite the rising process. It is a convection element to it as well, with a fan coming on periodically during its cycle. And, it has a cool-down at the end that keeps the bread from getting overcooked and/or soggy if you don’t remove it from the pan right away.

Though it doesn’t have a dedicated wheat bread cycle, I make 100% whole wheat recipes in it frequently and they turn out just fine. That might be owing to the above-mentioned smart technology.

It’s a shame the DAK company went defunct, because this machine really is a wonder, works great. There are many other fans out there, and plenty of videos on YouTube.

Here’s a DAK Turbo Baker IV model, making a heavy, low-carb bread. That gives any machine a workout, and this owner is happy with his DAK.

Here’s someone’s video of the same model I have:

I do have the manual for this machine, and as soon as I have a little time, I’ll upload it to my website. I know there’s a lot of people looking for it, along with a thriving parts market. As far as recipes go, just about any bread machine recipes will work in it. I just reverse the usual order of ingredients so the liquids are added last.

I need to make some videos, too. Right now, though, my walnut-wheat bread’s ready and I need to take it out of the pan!

Any American knows this saying. However, tonight division would have been my friend, had I heeded the word. My cookies fell (or failed) because I didn’t divide. Yes, that little word “divided” is very important in recipes. It means to reserve a portion of the full measure set aside for another purpose.

I made this yogurt cookie recipe tonight and missed that little word when it came to the nutmeg. Instead of putting 1 teaspoon in the cookie batter, I put 2 in.

I’ve been on a quest to find the yogurt cookie recipe my grandma made. Grandpa threw out many of her recipes in the years following her death, so that recipe was lost to us. I thought I might have found it with this one. I still wouldn’t know, though, because these turned out, shall we say, less than appetizing. Nasty, unless you’re a real nutmeg fiend.

There’s plenty of dough left over, too, because I made a double batch in anticipation of a get-together tomorrow. I stopped after making a few dozen of the things and the remainder of the dough’s headed for the garbage. It was a double disappointment since I still don’t know whether these will approach grandma’s recipe. Another time!

Here’s the recipe, only I modified it so no one else will miss the divided part!

YOGURT SUGAR COOKIES

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter ( softened)
- 2 cup sugar
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt*
- 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg, >divided
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon sugar

Directions:
Cream butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, yogurt, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, vanilla, salt, flour, and soda. Beat until smooth. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.

Combine 1 teaspoon nutmeg and 1 tablespoon sugar; sprinkle over each cookie. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Cookies will look soft. Remove from cookie sheet immediately. Makes 8 dozen.

SOURCE: Southern Living Magazine, May 1974.

*I used Sonyfield Farm Plain Whole Milk Yogurt. I read you can make this recipe using fruit yogurt as long as it is a smooth yogurt like lemon with no chunks of fruit in it. I’ll likely use fat-free yogurt next time, though with so much sugar and butter, I don’t see what shaving a little fat off for the yogurt would benefit us! I will not use sugar-free if I try a flavored one, though.

Busy Day Paprikash

Taken from label of Giant Eagle Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup.

Makes four servings (about 5 cups)

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into 1″ chunks

1 medium onion, halved then sliced

2 teaspoons vegetable or olive oil

2 teaspoons paprika

1 can (10.5oz) condensed cream of chicken soup

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup lowfat sour cream

Hot cooked noodles

Directions:

Pat chicken chunks dry with paper towel. In large skillet, sautee chicken and onion in oil until chicken is browned. Sprinkle paprika over chicken and onions, then stir in soup and water. Simmer this mixture for five minutes. Stir in sour cream. Heat, but do not let boil. Serve over hot noodles.

Basic Pasta Recipe for ABM

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup semolina flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup water

I also added the following:

1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions:

1. Measure all ingredients into bread pan.

2. Select Dough setting

3. Press Start/Stop button and allow machine to mix 8-10 minutes. You may need to add a little water or flour if the dough is too dry or too wet. You may need to scrape the sides of the pan with a rubber spatula if ingredients aren’t mixing well. The dough should be cohesive, not crumbly, but shouldn’t be too sticky, either.

4. After dough forms a ball, remove dough from pan and roll out on lightly floured surface. Roll to 1/8″ thickness. Dust dough with flour if it’s sticky.

5. Cut into 1/8″ strips for narrow noodles or 1/4″ strips for medium noodles.

6. Cook noodles in a large pot of boiling, salted water for 5-6 minutes. Drain in colander.

The machine’s recipe book says to boil the noodles for 10-15 minutes. They would have been mush had I left them in that long! I don’t think I had them in for even five minutes before they were a perfect al dente. Obviously, the thinner your pasta, the more quickly it will cook. Just stir it occasionally while it boils and lift out a noodle to taste every so often. When they’re just barely chewy still, they’re done (at least how we like them).

Well, there’s good news! You don’t have to make that sickly sweet friendship bread out of it. There are other recipes out there. I’ve adapted one I found at Recipezaar.com for muffins. It’s included below.

Additionally, you can freeze the starter. Yes, you heard that right. Despite what the flyer people pass along with their starter claims, you can freeze it. You can also use metal bowls and utensils with it. I won’t re-invent the wheel here, so if you want to read more on that, see the excellent write-ups at My Sister’s Kitchen (be sure to read the comments!):

Amish Friendship Bread (Sharing a Delicious Recipe and Debunking a Few Myths

and Amish Friendship Bread part 2

Okay, now on to the recipe!

Healthy Oat Bran Muffins made with Amish Friendship Bread Starter

Adapted from JanuaryBride’s recipe at Recipezaar.

Oven Temp: 375 degrees
Bake Time: Approximately 30 minutes
Yield: 36 muffins, maybe a few more (standard 2 1/2″ diameter muffins)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Amish friendship bread starter
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk*
1 cup unsweetened applesauce**
1 cup grated carrots, packed
1/2 cup natural oat bran
1/2 cup natural wheat bran
1 cup quick oats (not instant oats)
2 teaspoons salt
3 Tablespoons brown sugar***
3 cups King Arthur Flour white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

Optional:

1 cup nuts, dried cranberries, raisins, etc.

Directions

Beat together wet ingredients til just mixed.

Add remaining ingredients and stir until just mixed (batter should be a little lumpy).

Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 full and bake about 30 minutes at 375 degrees, rotating muffin pan 180 degrees in oven about half way through. Cool in muffin tin on a rack for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack.

Notes:

* Powdered buttermilk can be used. Just mix 4 Tablespoons powdered buttermilk into 1 cup water.

** You can substitue pureed carrots or bananas for the applesauce.

*** Since Amish friendship bread starter already has sugar in it and both the carrots and the applesauce are naturally sweet, you may find you don’t need as much (or any) brown sugar. Before you add it, taste the raw batter and see what you think, then decide.

You can always use a little less flour and substitute more oats. I did this one time when I accidentally didn’t put in enough flour and they still turned out very nicely. Muffins are pretty forgiving!

As for greasing the muffin tin, I love Baker’s Joy spray. It is a non-stick cooking spray that contains flour. The muffins pop right out of the tins when I use this.

So, today and this evening have been prep time. I have the brine ready for the turkey to go into and am getting as much done ahead of time as possible since we have a breakfast with friends in the morning.

Considering my track record with the bread machine and the Italian Herb Bread recipe in my Oster 5838 manual, it was with some trepidation that I began my breadmaking when Howie asked me to make that loaf for tomorrow.

So, I decided to try the recipe again, but to make it by hand this time. A friend told me the garlic might have interacted with the yeast and to try adding it later, so that’s what I did (more about that later).

Here’s ingredients again:

Italian Herb Bread
Adapted from Oster 5838 ExpressBake bread machine user manual

1 1/4 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons dried onion flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

I more or less followed the kneading and other instructions on a forum post I found while searching for French bread recipes.

Step 1: In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast into the warm water. Let it stand until bubbly- five minutes.

Step 2: Add 1&1/2 C of the flour, and 1 t salt, and beat it by hand for a few minutes. Slowly add in the remaining flour until a soft dough forms.

Step 3: Flour the countertop and knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it is springy and elastic.

Step 4: Place the dough into a greased bowl. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise until it doubles in size. This should take between 1 and 2 hours.

Step 5: Using the floured countertop, punch the dough down. Then roll it out to a 12″ by 6″ rectangle.

Step 6: Using the 12″ side, roll the dough up very tightly. Pinch the edges so that there are no gaps and gently roll the bread on the countertop so that it lengthens slightly and it is thicker at the center than on the sides.

Step 7: Sprinkle a cookie sheet with cornmeal. Put the loaf of bread onto the pan seam side down.
Step 8: Cover it and let it rise again until doubled in size. This will take about an hour.

Step 9: Gently slit the top of the bread loaf with a knife in three places.

Step 10: Bake the bread for 425 degrees for 20-30 minutes. The bread will be golden brown and will sound hollow if you tap it. Remove the bread from the cookie sheet and let cool slightly before serving.

I didn’t do it quite right at first. I put active dry yeast into tepid water while I measured out all the other stuff, put it all in my big bowl and stirred it with a wooden spoon until it was kind of sticking together. Then, I unceremoniously dumped the whole lot onto the lightly floured tabletop and began kneading it. I added a sprinkle of water every now and then until the dough ball began to feel more elastic and silky.

I put it in the bowl to rise, but it didn’t seem to be doing anything. I kneaded it just a little more, just for the heck of it, put it back in the bowl and covered it. I had an MRI today, so I left it rising while I was gone.

When I got home, the dough ball had done just what it was supposed to do: It had doubled in size. Yeah!

So, I punched it down as best I could figure since it was my first time doing so. Since I don’t have a rolling pin  (wish list!), I sort of smushed the dough outward using my fingers like you would with pizza dough. Just guessing there. I sprinkled the garlic flakes on the dough then and rolled it up into the loaf as instructed. Then, I  put it on my pizza stone atop some cornmeal and let it rise in the unheated oven, covered with a kitchen towel, for an hour. It’s fun seeing how the dough grows! I’m a kid at heart.

Okay, a drumroll please…Here is the finished loaf! Not bad looking for a first attempt at hand-kneading and all.

I’m glad I looked when I did, because it was getting pretty brown. It is softer-crusted than the loaves I made in the bread machine, though, even though they had the same ingredients. We won’t be eating it until tomorrow, but I think should taste good since the loaves I made in the bread machine both did…Even if they did look pretty funky!

Applesauce Whole Wheat Bread
For the bread machine.

1 1/2 cup Applesauce
1 1/4 cup All-purpose flour
1 cup Whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Oatmeal (grind to coarse flour first)
1/4 cup Wheat Germ
1/4 cup Oat bran
2 tsp Gluten
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ginger (optional)
1 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp Yeast

The combination of oatmeal, wheat germ and applesauce is deadly!

Add the solid and liquid ingredients and the yeast in order according to the machine’s manufacturer*. Be on hand to observe the first mixing cycle and add flour or water as needed as the moisture content of applesauce varies dramatically from batch to batch. Because of the applesauce this bread needs no sugar or butter/oil.

*Most bread machines call for you to first add the liquid ingredients, then your dry ingredients, and wait until last to add the yeast. My Oster 5838 breadmaker’s instruction book says not to let the yeast come in contact with the liquid ingredients. I’d imagine most of them are the same way. If in doubt, search for your brand and model and you may find the manual available in PDF format online like I found mine.

I like that this recipe doesn’t call for any fats like butter or oil. I use olive oil in my bread, but cutting out the fat sounds like a winner to me. Plus the applesauce ought to make it a sweeter wheat bread. Sweet is good in my book!

Okay, now for my tweaks to this recipe. I didn’t have any oat bran, so I substituted Kellogg’s All Bran cereal that I ground into a coarse flour like I did the oatmeal. I know it’s not the same, but you make do sometimes! Additionally, I used KAF white whole wheat exclusively rather than using part all-purpose flour. Lastly, I opted for fresh grated ginger since I keep a tuber of it my freezer.

You’ll definitely want to keep an eye on the dough ball as it mixes and goes through its first knead. I had to add a little flour because the dough was too sticky.

I used my Pampered Chef Food Chopper to grind up the oats and cereal. I’d really like a small food processor like this kind. That and a cheap blade coffee grinder just to use for grinding herbs.

I’m going to have to replace my big food processor before too long; the bowl has a crack in it and the chopping blade housing has some cracks forming, too. I tell ya, these small appliances are a not just conveniences, but a godsend and I use them! Since I have tendinitis in my hands and wrists, doing a lot of prep work by hand can cause flare-ups. The food chopper works well, but pounding on the thing isn’t something I need to be doing.

Okay, so back to the bread! It’s still in my bread machine, now in its second kneading cycle. I’ll update this post with the results. If it’s good, I’ll take it to home group tonight to share.

UPDATE: The bread turned out well. Owing to the sugar in the applesauce and my decision to use the medium crust setting, it browned more than other breads I’ve made; however, the crust wasn’t overly crusty and the bread is still tender inside. You can taste the apple, but it’s not overpowering. The white whole wheat gives it a wheat taste, but a mild one. Howie and I both like it, so I’ll make it again. I never got a photo of it – next time I make it, I will.

I ended up going to bed instead of home group because I had a terrible headache. After 3 hours’ sleep, my head felt better. I awoke to find Howie bringing home a care package from group – a bag with some mini chocolate eclairs and mini banana muffins. Oh, my! If you must have a headache, having some love sent in the form of sweet treats helps.

My smarty-pants family had fun speculating about what happened to cause this flop. They also came up with alternative uses for the loaf. After I turned it cut-side-down after slicing off some warm pieces, mom said I could put a nativity scene in it since it so closely resembled a creche. Everyone’s a critic.

I thought the sliced loaf would make any dolly an attractive and delicious, edible chair. Look at that nice texture inside, too.

I hope tonight’s loaf turns out a little perkier. But, if it doesn’t, we know it’s still great-tasting bread. This recipe includes instructions for use with my bread machine, but it applies to any bread machine that has a French bread cycle.

Italian Herb Bread
Adapted from Oster 5838 ExpressBake bread machine user manual

1 1/4 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons dried onion flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1) Measure and add liquid ingredients to the bread pan.

2) Measure and add dry ingredients (except yeast) to the bread pan.

3) Use your finger to form a well (hole) in the flour where you will pour the
yeast. The yeast must NEVER come into contact with a liquid
when you are adding ingredients. Measure the yeast and carefully pour it into the well.

4) Snap the baking pan into the breadmaker and close the lid.

5) Press “Select” button to choose the French setting.

6) Press the “Crust Color” button to choose light. medium or dark crust.

7) Press the “Start/Stop” button. Cycle takes 3 hours, 45 minutes total.

Boy does that garlic smell good! A few tips about bread machine recipes…

This first tip applies to measuring flour, regardless of what you’re making. When measuring flour, don’t scoop with the cup you’re using to measure! Aerate the flour a little in its container (fluff it up) and use a spoon or scoop to sprinkle flour into your measuring cup until it is heaped above the top of the measuring cup. Then, take a straight edge and scrape the top level. If you don’t do this, you can have as much as a tablespoon too much flour per cup, which impacts how your recipe turns out. Been there, done that!

With this recipe, if you don’t have all the herbs, improvise. For instance, I didn’t have any onion flakes, so I used about 2 teaspoons of garlic flakes and omitted the garlic powder. It’s really a to-taste kind of thing when it comes to spices, anyway so no biggie.

As I mentioned, my first attempt at this loaf tasted good, but wasn’t exactly your picture perfect loaf. Make sure you don’t bump your bread machine while the dough is rising and baking.

Update: Well, this loaf turned out worse than the first one! This one could be a Barbie bathtub…

And placed cut-side-down, it’s even more cavelike than the original loaf. This one has a doorway. Hey, it could be Jesus’ empty tomb. Maybe I can re-create it for Easter.

But you know what? This bread still tasted great, even if it is an ugly loaf! When I peeked in during its cycle, I could tell the dough had been too wet. It was too late to do anything about it, though, since the knead cycles were already finished. If I’d caught it in time, I could have sprinkled in a little flour so the dough ball would have been a little more firm. Live and learn!