If you are weak or squeamish, you may want to visit another site at this time. If there are impressionable children in the room, you may want to hide there eyes. Even the strongest of you may NOT be able to handle what you are about to see!!!
I WARNED YOU!!!
If you opened your bread machine and took this out, you may want to give up bread making altogether.
So! I put all the ingredients in like I always do (Recipe coming). Closed the lid. Set the machine on Rapid. All good. All the same. Takes about 2 1/2 hours on Rapid Bread. Went back after 1 3/4 hours. And there, in the machine, is a half baked container of — INGREDIENTS. Not a beautiful baking loaf of bread. INGREDIENTS!!!. What’s a baker to do? Yes, I SHOULD have checked it earlier, but had so many things to do. Machine was too hot to start another loaf. So. I. Waited. (Now, you may not want to read this…) I used my hands, mixed all the pieces of half baked bread and ingredients together, turned the machine back on and Baked Bread.
I have to tell you: The bread was completely useless for sandwiches. But it tasted GREAT!! Heavy?? Yes!! Small?? Yes!! But very flavorful with some butter slathered on. I just hated to waste 4 cups of bread flour.
As I slowly recovered from PTBBS (Post Traumatic Bad Bread Syndrome) I put another loaf in the other bread machine. That was not a good idea. 
I bought a bread machine at a flea market about a year ago. Haven’t used it much. Maybe a loaf or two. They came out fine. This is the first time I have used it where a loaf rose wildly. Yes – WILDLY! Must have been some really good yeast. It was like a small volcano building in the machine. Great!! I love tall, tasty bread. But it WOULD NOT COME OUT OF THE MACHINE!!!. I finally had to cut, well almost, the top off. When the top came out, so did about 1/2 of the top layer of bread.
I could NOT figure out why the bread would not come out until I looked at the top of the pan. It was not square. Nope!! It was larger at the bottom than at the top. Stuck!!! Now I know why the machine was so cheap. But not to worry. DH stretched out the top and now it IS square!!
1/2 of the second loaf of bread is sandwichable. And the rest will get eaten – with butter, or jam, or plain.
Needless to say, they are NOT going to yeast spotting!!!
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Bread Machine Basic White Bread
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1 1/2 cups milk (recipe actually calls for 1 1/2 cup water + 2 Tbl dry milk, but….)
4 1/4 cups bread flour
3 Tbl sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbl butter
2 tsp active dry yeast
Select basic setting.
Add ingredients to the pan according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When cycle ends, remove bread and place on rack.
Allow to cool before slicing (Yeah!! Right!!)
I also used 3 3/4 cup bread flour and 3/4 cup whole wheat in this loaf and it added just a little change in flavor (only because I ran out of bread flour!!!)Bread has good crumb!!
Almost forgot, this is easy to add flavors to. I have added Italian seasoning, garlic powder, etc. Good Bread!!
July 18, 2009 at 8:09 pm
I’m sorry your bread machine bread didn’t turn out. How old is the machine and did you get an instruction booklet with it. I usually use my dough cycle even though there are several bake cycles on the machine. Using the dough cycle gives you the chance to form the bread into whatever shape you want, then bake.
July 18, 2009 at 10:13 pm
I have been using one machine for about 10 years and only had this trouble once before. I have made a variety of breads and use the dough cycle often to shape my own, or make hamburger/hotdog buns.
July 19, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Wow. Never used a bread machine, so can’t help you there. But your bread sounds really delicious.
July 19, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Next time you could try decreasing the water by one or two tablespoons. Or you could decrease the sugar by 1/2 teaspoon. That would give the yeast less to eat and hopefully keep them in line.
Good luck with the PTBBS!
July 20, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Egads. I’ve never had a bread machine,and now I’m scared to get one lest I, too, develop PTBBS!
July 21, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Is it wrong to laugh at your misadventure because that first photo is pretty funny.
Good on you for not giving up!
August 7, 2009 at 7:50 pm
[...] this week using the basic white bread recipe. I have posted the White Bread Recipe before – HERE – and it made some good buns. Sixteen to be exact. Remove the dough from the machine and [...]