Tomato Basil Bread

November 17: National Homemade Bread Day

We were saddened that, after 23 years, our bread machine—one of the first purchases we made with our wedding gift money—died. It served us well, although some years we baked more bread than in other years. It was a nostalgic newlywed toy.

For an early 24th anniversary gift this year, we bought a new bread machine. We hope it lasts a long time, too. At first, we goofed on some of the recipes. But we have tweaked a few things and have gotten better results with our loaves. We still use the same old recipe book that we bought along with our first bread machine, making adjustments for the new one. It is easy to just layer the ingredients in the well and let the machine take care of the rest—from kneading to rising to baking. It sounds like we are lazy to bake bread from scratch in the traditional way. But we save time doing the manual work in favor of spending time with each other!

Below is a tomato basil bread that we made in our new bread machine. This was a good excuse to try it for National Homemade Bread Day.

Recipe

(Adapted from More Electric Bread)

Ingredients (for a large loaf)

  • 1 ¼ cup water
  • 3 cups white bread flour
  • 2 tablespoons powdered milk
  • 1 ½ teaspoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 ½ tablespoons Italian seasoning
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
  • 3 teaspoons active dry yeast (or 2 teaspoons fast rise yeast)

Directions

In the well of the bread machine loaf pan, place the water, flour, milk and sugar.

Add the salt, olive oil, tomato paste, Italian seasoning and garlic.

Make a little well in the middle and add the yeast. Place the pan in the bread machine. Set it for large size loaf and medium crust setting. Press start and allow the machine to knead, rise and bake the bread.

When the cycle is done, carefully remove the hot well from the machine. Take the bread out of the well. Allow to cool on a wire rack. Slice and serve fresh or toasted with butter.

Notes

  • Although the title of this bread is tomato basil, there are no fresh tomatoes and basil in this recipe. The flavoring comes from tomato paste and Italian seasoning, which includes the dried herb basil.
  • Search our blog for more homemade bread recipes—traditional method or bread machine.