Canadian Bread Machine Recipes

vertical pan breadmaker
Christmas Bread from a vertical pan breadmaker
horizontal pan breadmaker
Brown Bread from a horizontal pan breadmaker

Here's what you need to know to use your automatic breadmaker to produce a different bread each day of your life, or to find your favourite that you'll make time and time again.

They use Canadian measures and ingredients: unless otherwise mentioned, hard white flour (13% protein), white sugar-cane sugar, unsalted butter and 'active dried' yeast. All perishables, whole grain, nut flours, and cracked grains included, come straight out of the frig for freshness; the liquid gets enough time in a microwave to bring them to room temperature. As usual, ingredients are added to the pan in the order given. European measures provided are conversions.

I prefer moist breads rich in flavour for cutting in thick slices that warm to perfection in a microwave (~9 seconds per slice) as a meal in themselves. After an hour cooling on a rack, I store the loaf in a plastic bag at room temperature to keep it moist. But, you can make any bread you wish with the ideas presented here. In particular, many bakers prefer smaller proportions of added ingredients than I enjoy. It's your bread: make it your way!

Ingredient Tips | The Basics | Added Grains and Seeds | Added Fruits | Added Vegetables | Other Additions | International Breads

Ingredient Tips

Canada's Bulk Barn has a marvellous selection of unusual flours and other baking products, each with their own distinct taste and texture. Never make the same bread twice!

If you're going to buy a book, check my book reviews. If you want to chat with bread artisans, visit the forums of The Fresh Loaf.

The Basics
Basic White Bread
water12 fl.oz340 g Here's where it all starts: the basic proportions for a 2 lb loaf. If you are making another size of loaf, scale all the other ingredients but keep the amount of yeast the same to start - contrary to intuition, large loaves are usually best with slightly less yeast than smaller ones. Get this recipe right for your ingredients, machine and methods, then you can confidently move to any other recipe here by making the same adjustments. With American flours expect as much as 2 fl.oz. less liquid and perhaps the addition of some gluten flour. 1-1/4 Tbsp is, of course, a "heaping tablespoon". If you prefer your crust to be crisp, omit oil.
sugar1-1/4 Tbsp15 g
salt1/2 tsp3 g
vegetable oil2 Tbsp25 g
flour4 cup560 g
yeast1 tsp4 g
Autolyse Method
This is how you get the very best bread from your machine with any recipe that doesn't use liquid that contains fats (such as milk) or sugars (such as fruit juices). Mix flour with water first, then add other ingredients on top, ensuring that the salt is at one end of the pan and yeast at the other, press start. During the ensuing 20-30 minute prewarm, the gluten is autolysed; let the machine do the rest. You'll get improved flavour and extra rise compared to the unmodified basic cycle.
With programmable machines, add water and flour, set a cycle to knead for 2 minutes and nothing else, add other ingredients, then press start of the normal cycle. With my Zojirushi machine, I can't use the Basic cycle this way, as it fouls up the timing by reducing rise time. However, a second "Home Made Course" with Basic timing works properly.
Old Dough Bread
water8 fl.oz230 g In English it's old dough, in French poolish, in Italian biga, in Chinese tangzhong - in any recipe you get richer flavour. Here's a way of using your bread machine to the best advantage to make it. Add these four ingredients to your machine in the evening, let it run until everything is thoroughly mixed, then pull the plug. Cracked wheat provides useful natural wheat yeasts and enzymes, as will stone ground whole grain flour.
flour7/8 cup120 g
cracked wheat2 Tbsp18 g
yeast1/4 tsp1 g
water6 fl.oz170 g In the morning, add remaining ingredients, press start. With a vertical pan, the dough will dry out less overnight, so start this step with 5 fl.oz water then check after a few minutes of kneading.
sugar1-1/4 Tbsp15 g
salt1/2 tsp3 g
vegetable oil2 Tbsp25 g
flour3-1/4 cup450 g
yeast3/4 tsp3 g
Loaf Topping
egg white130 g For horizontal pan machines. Beat egg white, sugar and any finely ground spice you wish with a fork, brush on top of loaf just before baking starts, sprinkle on topping. Sesame, caraway or anise seed, hulled millet, coarse corn meal, rolled grains, herbs, spices such as cinnamon, festive coloured sugars - you decide. One egg bastes 3-4 loaves, so I freeze excess; cake bakers will have a more immediate use for it.
sugar1/2 tsp2 g
topping1-2 Tbsp8-16 g
Filled Bread
For horizontal pan machines. Use an extra 1/4 tsp (1 g) yeast. At beginning of 3rd rise, remove dough from machine (do not turn machine off), stretch dough on a lightly floured surface to the length and 6-8 times the width of the breadmaker pan, spread up to 8 oz. filling over the surface, roll up into a cylinder the length of bread pan while keeping the filling evenly spread, return to pan for final rise and bake. The filling must be a bit moister than the dough or it will fall out of the bread when sliced. If you want a true "jelly roll", use 1/2 tsp (2 g) more yeast than usual, roll the dough out once, cover with a moist towel to relax for a few minutes, then continue to roll it as thin as you can before filling.
Added Grains and Seeds
Cracked Grain Bread
water13 fl.oz370 g To Basic White Bread add cracked wheat or any other cracked grains you prefer on top of the flour; increase water a bit. If the result is too crunchy for your taste (cracked rye probably will be), increase water to 14 fl.oz. and add them to the water; they'll soak up some during the prewarm. Or, use the method of Cooked Grain Bread to soften them even more.
cracked wheat1 cup140 g
Rolled Grain Bread
water13 fl.oz370 g To Basic White Bread add rolled oats on top of the flour, increase water a bit. Baking style rolled oats are best. These proportions also work with Scottish steel-cut oats, with barley, kamut, spelt and rye flakes, and all rolled multigrain cereals I've tried. If the result is too textured for your taste, increase water to 14 fl.oz. and add them to the water; they'll soak up some during the prewarm. To make them really soft, use the method of Cooked Grain Bread.
rolled oats1 cup100 g
Light Multigrain Bread
barley flour1 cup225 ml To Basic White Bread add barley flour, reduce wheat flour. Over the years I've also used these proportions successfully with arrowroot, barley, corn, garbanzo bean, kamut, oat, rye, semolina, sorghum, spelt and teff flours, with corn/hominy meal, graham cracker crumbs, wheat bran, and with pecan and almond meals. With 2 oz extra liquid, so does oat bran. Every soy flour I've tried so far has killed the yeast. The various flours vary considerably by weight; I tested them by volume as noted. Using molasses instead of sugar and adding caraway seed is traditional with rye breads, and works with others as well.
wheat flour3-3/4 cup525 g
Half n'Half Multigrain Bread
barley flour2-1/4 cup500 ml To Basic White Bread add barley flour and gluten, reduce wheat flour. These proportions probably work for all the flours listed under Light Multigrain Bread, but I haven't tested all of them yet. Again, I measure by volume, not by weight, hence the unconventional metric measure.
wheat flour2-1/4 cup500 ml
gluten flour1/4 cup35 g
Seed Bread
seeds1 cup100 g To Basic White Bread add whole seeds. Seeds that are high in oil, such as flax and sesame, are best limited to 1/2 cup or the bread becomes tough. Poppy seeds are a family favourite. Most seeds have their best flavour when toasted: sesame, squash and sunflower are popular. Most trail mixes work too.
Kasha Bread
kasha1/2 cup90 g To Basic White Bread add kasha. Kasha is toasted whole buckwheat - it is cooked during the baking cycle. Bread that tastes toasted right out of the pan! Adding more kasha inhibits yeast.
Millet Bread
hulled millet1 cup200 g To Basic White Bread add millet and chopped green onion. The millet is cooked during baking. Quinoa ends up crunchier than I like. Pearled barley stays tough and doesn't develop its flavour.
green onion115 g
Cooked Grain Bread
Red River Cereal3/4 cup110 g Hot cereals are so out of fashion now that I can only find one locally in supermarkets: Red River Cereal, a mixture of cracked wheat, rye and flax. Heat 7 fl.oz. water to boiling and add to cereal, let stand 15 minutes, then add cold water and other ingredients as for Basic White Bread. Decreasing the portion of water as boiling moves texture and taste towards cracked wheat; increasing it gives softer texture and more of a porridge taste. This will rise about 3/4 of the height of your basic recipe, if you want it lighter, add 1 Tbsp extra gluten. 1/3 cup white rice also works well this way; be prepared to add a bit of liquid or flour 5 minutes into kneading as rices vary in the amount of water they soak up. Most whole grains need more cooking than this, wheat berries for example need 3/4 hour simmer.
boiling water7 fl.oz195 g
cold water8 fl.oz225 g
Omega-3 Bread
flax or chia seed1/2 cup60 g Omit the oil from Basic White Bread, add whole seeds. Both seeds contain about 18% short-chain omega-3 oils, an alternative to fish for young vegans. (Seniors, males in particular, can no longer convert short chain oils into the long chain oils we actually need.) Adding more seed toughens the texture.
Nut Bread
nuts2 cup200 g To Basic White Bread add nuts. This is expensive to make often if you have to buy your nuts, but black walnuts and butternuts grow in the wild around Ottawa, free for the collecting. Another way to make nut breads is to use ground nuts (meal) using the proportions of Light Multigrain Bread. Pecan meal is remarkably inexpensive in the fall, I usually buy a kilo and keep it in the frig for use the rest of the year; almond and chestnut meals are available year round in Italian stores. Yet another way is to boost 1/2 cup nut presence with related flavours: slivered almonds with 1 oz almond paste, cashews with a few dates, macadamia nuts with an oz white chocolate, hazelnuts with an oz chocolate-hazel spread...
Lentil Bread
green lentils3/4 cup140 g Put lentils in the water for Basic White Bread, bring just to a boil, let cool, add carom (also called ajwain pods). This makes a slightly crunchy bread; if you prefer smooth texture, add an oz. water and simmer the lentils for 15 min. before cooling.
carom1/4 tsp0.5 g
Brown Bread
water12 fl.oz340 g A reliable traditional North American bread. The use of dried milk powder (I use buttermilk) allows use of the delay timer for fresh breakfast bread. Use dark brown sugar if you have it.
salt1/2 tsp3 g
brown sugar2 Tbsp25 g
vegetable oil2 Tbsp25 g
whole grain flour2 cup280 g
white flour2 cup280 g
milk powder1/4 cup30 g
yeast1 tsp4 g
Whole Wheat Bread
water11 fl.oz310 g It's not easy to make light natural 100% whole-grain wheat bread in a bread maker once the flour has aged for more than a day after grinding. Here's the closest I've found that uses a standard cycle. Use the autolyse method. Check loaf height just before it would start baking (62 minutes from the end with my machine). If you want it to rise more, turn the power off and leave the bread in the machine until it has risen to the top of the container. Remove from the machine and bake (in the container) in a preheated oven at 350°F until it looks done (35 minutes for me).
brown sugar2 Tbsp22 g
salt1/2 tsp3 g
vegetable oil2 Tbsp25 g
whole-grain flour3-1/2 cup490 g
gluten flour1/4 cup35 g
yeast1-1/2 tsp6 g
Corn Bread
mustard powder1 tsp2 g Thaw frozen corn to room temperature before adding; drain canned corn. The corn contains most of the water required, and is puréed and cooked by the breadmaker. Be sure to add the mustard at the bottom so its flavour will develop in the water before kneading starts. And don't panic at the amount of mustard - the heat of baking greatly reduces its effect. 1/4 cup chopped bright red pepper makes a colourful addition.
water1/4 cup60 g
sugar1-1/4 Tbsp15 g
salt1/2 tsp3 g
kernel corn14 oz400 g
chili powder1 Tbsp7 g
corn oil2 Tbsp25 g
corn flour1/2 cup60 g
wheat flour3 cup420 g
yeast1 tsp4 g
Added Fruits
Raisin Bread
raisins1 cup120 g To Basic White Bread add raisins near the end of the kneading cycle. Most unbleached dried fruits may be used in this way. A half-tsp cinnamon is nice with raisins (not more; cinnamon inhibits yeast), as is a pinch each of allspice and nutmeg. Try a pinch of orange zest with peaches, apricots or cranberries, a tsp ground almonds with cherries, a piece of candied ginger chopped fine with pears.
Applesauce Bread
applesauce13 oz370 g Replace the water of Basic White Bread by applesauce, add cinnamon, omit oil. I prefer unsweetened applesauce, but sweetened works too. All the liquid required is in the applesauce. 12 oz mashed pears, peaches or fruit salad mix plus 1/4 cup juice also works; try 1/2 tsp ginger or 1 Tbsp almond flour with them.
cinnamonpinch0.1 g
Mock Apple Strudel
apple juice12 fl.oz340 g In Basic White Bread use apple juice for liquid, butter for fat.
butter2 oz56 g
sugar2 Tbsp22 g At beginning of final rise, fill with thinly sliced apple sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon (method here).
cinnamon1 tsp2 g
apple1130 g
Tomato Bread
fresh tomato13 oz370 g Replace the water in Basic White Bread by tomato, add chopped green onion and cheese. Cut the tomato into a dozen pieces, it will be puréed during kneading. Fresh tomatos are 95% water - no other liquid is required. This is the healthiest way to eat tomatos - cooked with a bit of oil to maximise absorption of lycopene. Look for canned crushed tomatos, they are what is left after squeezing for tomato juice and have double the solids of fresh or normal canned tomatos - use 14 fl.oz. Other options are a fresh or dried Italian herb mix, or 1/4 cup chopped colourful sweet peppers.
green onion115 g
feta cheese1 oz28 g
Cucumber Bread
cucumber14 oz400 g Replace the water in Basic White Bread by cucumber, add savory. Cut the cucumber into chunks so the breadmaker can purée it during the kneading cycle. If you grow your own cucumbers, let them get mature, the seeds have a nice taste when it's toasted. The cucumber contains all the liquid needed. Zucchini works with this recipe too.
savorypinch0.1 g
Pumpkin Bread
canned pumpkin14 oz400 g Replace the water in Basic White Bread by pie pumpkin or canned pumpkin, add spices. As with any natural product, be prepared to adjust moisture during kneading. The taste and smell of pumpkin pie, especially when toasted. Jack o'lantern pumpkins usually have little taste and are fibrous, as they're grown solely for size.
cinnamon1 tsp2 g
nutmeg1/4 tsp0.5 g
Lemon Bread
lemon1100 g To Basic White Bread add lemon rind and mace, add water to the lemon juice to make the required amount of liquid. Grate the bright coloured part of the rind from the lemon and squeeze the juice to get the best spicy lemon taste. If you put the entire lemon into a blender, you get a taste like Mediterranean salt-preserved lemons (they also work). Don't use bottled lemon juice, it almost always contains yeast-killing preservatives.
sugar3 Tbsp34 g
macepinch0.1 g
Banana Bread
heat-treated banana12 oz340 g Heat 12 oz fully ripe peeled bananas in a microwave until they steam, about 5 minutes on high, to deactivate the fungicides in them. Bananas are 25% solids, so 12 oz is the maximum most flours can handle. In Basic White Bread, replace liquid by bananas and yoghurt (natural unsweetened is best), use light brown sugar (I use turbinado, it never goes solid), add 1 oz butter and a pinch mace. I recommend light crust setting.
yoghurt1/2 cup112 g
butter1 oz28 g
light brown sugar2 Tbsp25 g
macepinch0.1 g
Fig Bread
dried figs5 oz140 g To Basic White Bread add figs and nutmeg. Cut the figs in half so the machine will break them up during kneading. This makes a tasty and crunchy bread. Bulk Barn Calmyra figs are sulphur dioxide free and work well, but most packaged ones won't; all dark figs I've tried work well. Dates also work well with these proportions.
nutmegpinch0.1 g
Blueberry Bread
sour cream8 oz225 g This is a spectacular bread, both in appearance and taste. The sour cream brings out the blueberry flavour, the poppy seed provides a bit of crunch, the lemon zest a sparkle to the taste. The blueberries (fresh or thawed frozen) contain 1-1/2 Tbsp sugar, the sour cream 3-1/2 Tbsp oil, between them 12 fl.oz. liquid.
blueberries8 oz225 g
salt1/2 tsp3 g
poppy seed2 Tbsp18 g
lemon zest1/4 tsp0.5 g
flour4 cup560 g
yeast1 tsp4 g
Added Vegetables
Root-Veggie Bread
cooked veggie11 oz310 g Replace the water in Basic White Bread by the root veggie plus 1/4 cup water, add herb of choice. Cook any root veggie until soft, then cut it into chunks so the breadmaker can incorporate its liquid with the flour. (For starchy roots, see Potato Bread for a better method.) Roots contain all the liquid needed but a bit of water is needed to help the bread machine to purée the ones that don't get really soft, beets in particular. I've made this recipe with beets, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatos and turnips so far - all worked. Most except turnip have a bland taste, so a bit of your favourite herb such as basil is good, as is chopped green onion.
water1/4 cup60 g
herb1 tsp1 g
Sprout Bread
alfalfa sprouts5 oz140 g To Basic White Bread add fresh sprouts, reduce liquid by the amount in sprouts. Alfalfa sprouts are 90% water; for other sprouts visit the USDA. The dough will be very dry for the first 5 minutes of kneading until the sprouts are broken up enough to release their water to the flour.
water8 fl.oz225 g
Carrot Bread
cooked carrot12 oz340 g Replace the water in Basic White Bread by cooked and raw carrot, add tarragon. Cook carrot until entirely soft. Some of the water in the raw carrot comes out during baking; adding more than this will cause the loaf to collapse. Replace the shredded carrot by drained sauerkraut for an east European touch, or add bits of colourful chopped sweet peppers or other garden veggies for colour texture.
shredded carrot1/2 cup50 g
tarragon1 tsp1 g
Green Pea Bread
raw peas10 oz280 g Replace the water in Basic White Bread by fresh or thawed-frozen green peas and 1/4 cup water. Cook the spices in the oil before adding. This is a traditional Indian seasoning for peas.
water1/4 cup60 g
turmeric1/4 tsp0.5 g
cumin1/4 tsp0.5 g
garlic1 clove3 g
Salad Bread
salad greens10 oz284 g Chop the greens to 1" size to keep them from overflowing the container, run the machine to the end of the kneading cycle then turn it off. Lift the container out to ensure that no greens have overflowed (they'll smell during baking). This breaks the greens up so that the second kneading can incorporate them into the bread. If you have a food processor that chops the greens finely, you can skip this first kneading.
water3 fl.oz85 g
flour4 cups560 g
feta cheese1 oz28 g Add cheese and yeast, restart a basic cycle. Feta cheese has the fat and salt needed. Some machines don't knead strongly enough for this recipe, signalled by the top collapsing due to moisture released from the greens during baking - if that happens reduce greens and increase water proportionally.
sugar1-1/4 Tbsp15 g
yeast1 tsp4 g
Bean Bread
cooked beans8 oz225 g Add cooked beans and spices to Basic White Bread, reduce liquid by 2 fl.oz. (the liquid in the beans).
water10 fl.oz280 g
chili1/2 tsp1 g
paprika1/2 tsp1 g
Mesquite Bread
mesquite flour1/4 cup30 g To Basic White Bread add mesquite bean flour. A natural combination of chocolate and cinnamon.
Garlic Bread
garlic150 g An Italian friend jokes that "a garlic a day keeps the doctor away - because people with colds stay clear of your smell!" Add up to 5 cloves garlic to Basic White Bread; more in the batter slows the yeast down too much for a bread machine. Add the rest as filling (method here). I use a fine cutting grater to pulp the garlic.
Potato Bread
potato water1/4 cup60 g Mash potato, chop onion, grate garlic, add first 8 ingredients to pan, run until mixed then turn off, let sit in the pan at least an hour to let the flour incorporate the water in the potato, overnight is best. Potatos are 75% water but 9% is bound to the starch in them, so only 66% is available to the flour. Raw potatos, from PEI at least, have systemic fungicides in them that kill yeast; they have to be cooked to break them down. 1/4 cup fresh chopped chives work well too.
sugar2 Tbsp22 g
salt1/2 tsp3 g
cooked potato11 oz310 g
vegetable oil2 Tbsp25 g
green onion115 g
garlic1 clove3 g
flour4 cup560 g
yeast1-1/4 tsp5 g Add yeast and start a basic cycle.
Other Additions
Buttermilk Bread
dried buttermilk1/3 cup40 g Add dried buttermilk to Basic White Bread, on top of the flour so it won't form lumps. Paradoxically, liquid "buttermilk" in Canada is artificial, but dried buttermilk is the real thing! Set crust to light, buttermilk browns quickly.
Eggnog Anise Bread
egg nog12 fl.oz340 gVersion 1: when commercial egg nog is available
egg yolk235 g Version 2: during the 11 months of the year when Canadian marketing boards forbid us to buy egg nog, use these ingredients
cream2 fl.oz56 g
vanilla extract1/4 tsp1 g
milkto make 12 fl.ozto make 340 g
nutmeg1/8 tsp0.3 g
cinnamonpinch0.1 g
sugar1/4 cup45 g
flour4 cup560 g Add to pan after whichever eggnog you have, start basic cycle
salt1/2 tsp3 g
anise seed1 Tbsp6 g
yeast1 tsp4 g
Ginger Bread (two words, not one!)
ginger root1 oz28 g Use ginger plus sugar in place of sugar in Basic White Bread. Coarsely grate the ginger root, mix with the sugar and let stand overnight. Candied ginger is boiled in sugar syrup - a different taste, but good too: use 3 oz chopped finely, reducing the sugar to 2 Tbsp if the ginger is not sugar coated, to 1 Tbsp if it is.
sugar3 Tbsp34 g
Cheese Bread
mustard powder1/2 tsp1 g To Basic White Bread add cheddar cheese and mustard, omit oil (it's in the cheese), reduce liquid a bit, whole milk is best. Crumble or grate the cheese. The mustard accentuates the flavour of the cheese; put it on the bottom so it will develop its flavour before kneading starts. Other options are Ricotta cheese with 1/2 cup chopped chives, Romano with 1/4 cup pine nuts, cottage cheese with 1 Tbsp dill. With a vertical pan breadmaker, limit cheese to 3 oz. to ensure proper rise.
milk11 fl.oz310 g
cheese4 oz110 g
Chocolate Brownies
cocoa3/4 cup65 g To Basic White Bread add cocoa, increase sugar. Cocoa inhibits yeast so this rises only half way up the pan, for brownie-like density. This is a chocoholic's version if you use natural cocoa. If you like your brownies sweet, use 1/2 cup alkali-processed (Dutch) cocoa instead. Carob powder also works.
sugar1/4 cup45 g
Curry Bread
fresh onion6 oz170 g To Basic White Bread add onion and spices, reduce water. Chop the onion enough that the breadmaker can purée it during the kneading cycle. Cook spices in the oil before adding. Curries vary greatly - this quantity with my favourite warm mix just lets the taste of the onion come through, the way I like it. Replace curry by ground cumin seed to get the taste of Tajikistan flatbreads.
water6 fl.oz170 g
curry powder1 Tbsp5 g
Chocolate Cake
coffee12 fl.oz340 g This doesn't have the traditional shape of a cake, but it has the texture and taste. There's lots of oil in the chips - no additional is needed. Cool the coffee to room temperature. The chips melt during baking. This assumes semisweet chips, if you use bittersweet or dark chocolate chips, you may want to add more sugar. Chocolate moulding wafers also have the additives required for cake-like texture. Adding halved maraschino cherries near the end of kneading approximates Black Forest Cake. My granddaughters love 'white chocolate' in this, but I confess to making it that way only for them - I love real chocolate.
sugar1-1/4 Tbsp15 g
salt1/2 tsp3 g
chocolate chips8 oz225 g
flour3-1/2 cup490 g
yeast1 tsp4 g
maraschino cherries1/2 cup (opt)75 g

How much does home-made bread cost? Here's what I paid for a basic loaf at the beginning of 2009 (Canadian dollars):
itemquantitypricecost
flour4 cup$1.40/kg.71
olive oil2 Tbsp$6.66/l.19
bread machine*$172.44.10
electricity.38 kwh12.7¢/kwh.05
sugar1-1/4 Tbsp$1.45/kg.03
yeast1 tsp$11.09/kg.02
total$1.10
(*I made at least 2000 loaves over 20 years with my Black&Decker.)

That's for an 850 g loaf as baked. The cheapest white bread currently costs $1.99 for 675 g, quality breads start at $2.50 for 450 g. So my great tasting basic loaf costs less than half the cheapest junk in the stores. Plus, I get all the variety I want, any time I want it. That's why I love my bread machine!

Canadian measures and flour

Traditionally, Canadian all purpose flour was made from 100% hard wheats (average 13.6% protein), but American all purpose was 25% soft wheats (9-10% protein). Even some American bread flours were lower in gluten than Canadian all purpose until recently, especially in the southern states. Since Robin Hood/Monarch, the last major Canadian controlled miller, was bought by Smuckers in 2004, their all purpose too now follows American norms. Americans must use their bread flour in these recipes, or add a tsp gluten flour (75% protein) per cup of all purpose, to get good quality bread. All supermarket Canadian all purpose and bread flours now seem to contain ascorbic acid; I recommend and use Grain Process Hard White flour, carried by Rainbow Foods in Ottawa.

Whole Wheat flour in Canadian supermarkets almost always has the wheat germ removed. Some contain chemical preservatives to keep the germ from going rancid that you'll find on the label; microwave radiation is increasingly being used to increase shelf life of foods and it's not on the label. To get natural whole grain flour, you have to grind it yourself or visit a health food store that keeps it refrigerated. Durum, kamut, semolina, teff and triticale flours are high in proteins, but not of the prolamin and simple glutelins that combine to produce elastic gluten for good bread. Rye and spelt produce some gluten but not as much as hard wheat does, and what they produce is weaker.

Canadian cups I've checked vary from as much as 240 ml to as low as 220 ml (official American size is 236.59 ml). Tablespoons are supposed to be 1/2 fl.oz.; a US tsp is 1/3 Tbsp but a British tsp is 1/4 Tbsp. However, several manufacturers seem to make their measuring spoons any size they like (cf. this page; search for Weight vs Measure.) To compare the actual measures in my kitchen to yours, use the table at right.
1 cup= 225 ml
1 Tbsp= 11.2 ml
1 tsp= 4.6 ml
pinch= 0.3 g

Machine Cycle Timings
1990 B&D Basic
15 minpreheat35C
 2mix 35
23knead 35
501st rise 35
202nd rise 35
603rd rise 35
60bake140
Zojirushi CEC20 Basic
20 minpreheat28C
 3mix 28
15knead 28
451st rise 28
252nd rise 28
453rd rise 38
62bake125

Bread Machine Choices in Canada

The first home automatic bread makers were made in Japan for Japanese consumers in 1987. The first machines introduced to Canada, a year or two later, came from Europe - the British Black&Decker and the German Braun. Both were 3 cup size, with a 4 cup large size as an option. In the USA, the first were made there with 2 cup and 3 cup sizes. I've long since lost the bill, but I got my 4 cup B&D about 1990; it made over 2000 loaves to raise 5 children. The bearing on the pan failed after a guest mistakenly put the pan in the dishwasher in 2010, so I had to look for a new one.

Selection of bread machines in Canadian stores in 2010 was almost non-existent, and very few stores in Ottawa carried them. Black&Decker models could be found fairly easily, and two of the Cuisinart/Breadman at a few stores. Almost all the new models take up double the counter space of the old ones. Reviews by users on the web (Google "bread machine reviews") were very negative on the reliability of today's B&D machines as compared to the old ones like mine. Experienced users were almost unanimous in praising West Bend 21300 and Zojirushi. There were a startling number of negative experiences consistently recorded that you'd never have heard about before the web, such as a Breadman model that mixed its non-stick coating into your bread, and an Oster model that beeped so loudly and incessantly it woke the dead. I couldn't find a Canadian source for the West Bend. The Zojirushis are expensive, but bread making for me is far more than saving money, it's a passion.

John Sankey
other notes on food