I notice that several of the machine recipes posted use a LOT of sugar. I thought it was only the Americans that put lots of sugar in their bread....... qahtan
You're right. But the engineering challenge is to create a loaf from scratch in a couple of hours without manual intervention. The only way to go is to work the yeast like crazy.
But you can see the logic. Loads of yeast and sugar. Cut down the salt, so as not to inhibit the yeast.
Raise and prove at the highest temperature that you dare. Add milk powder and lots of oil to stop the dough forming a skin during the proving, and especially at the point where the cooking begins - you're not putting the bread into a hot oven, but into a cool one and then heating it up, which is anathema to good breadmaking practice!
The amazing thing about breadmakers is that they produce the quite decent results that they do.
