Bake Your Own Bread

You'll need:

An electric breadmaker
2 tablespoons milk powder (skimmed, low-fat or no-fat)
150g wholemeal flour
15g oat bran
15g wheatgerm
280g bread flour
1.5 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon brown (or white) sugar
25g butter/butter blend (/margarine
1 teaspoon instant yeast (Mauri-pan, Nona brand, etc)
some lukewarm water (filtered, drinking or mineral)

1. Dissolve the milk powder with about a cup of lukewarm water into a measured jug. Add in more lukewarm water to bring the milk solution to 300 ml.

2. Pour this milk solution into the bread container of the breadmaker.

3. Add in the whole meal flour, the oat bran, wheatgerm, and the bread flour in such a way that it makes a mound in the bread container. Press the peak of the mound with your finger to make a small indentation.

4. Place the 1 tsp yeast on to this indentation at the peak.

5. Place the salt around the corners of the bread container taking care that it does not mix with the yeast.

6. Similarly, put in the sugar, and then the butter/butter blend which should be cut into small pieces (assuming it has just been taken out of the fridge) and placed uniformly onto the flour mound (but not at the peak where the yeast is)

7. Switch on your machine, make sure it is set for 'Wholemeal Bread', set its crust setting (hi or lo, your preference), and either let it run right away or program the timer to whenever you want the bread to finish baking.

8. That's it, let the machine do the rest. An alarm will sound when the bread has been baked 3 to 4 hours later, or at whatever time you want it to finish baking. Take the hot freshly baked bread from the machine (use oven mitts) and allow it to cool for at least 30 minutes on a wire rack.

NOTE:
(a) Wholemeal and bread flour can be obtained at specialised bakery shops and elsewhere. I buy mine at Hock Choon Supermarket, Jalan Ampang, KL near where I live.
(b) The bran and wheatgerm can be substituted for an equal amount of wholemeal flour if you do not want or have them handy.
(c) If you prefer only white bread (NOT recommended for diabetics or the diabetic-prone) you can substitute the wholemeal flour with bread flour. Make sure you set the machine for white bread.
(d) You can put raisins, dates, or other healthy dried fruits (cut into small pieces) to be mixed in the flour during preparation.
(e) I sometimes put in about 2 tablespoons of honey dissolved into the milk solution, but the total liquid volume should not exceed 300ml as stated earlier.
(f) The bread is best eaten toasted (I use a small griddle to toast it), and spread with low-fat margarine.
(g) The above recipe works perfectly with my breadmaker, but yours may need some very minor adjustment as to the proportion of the ingredients.
(h) If the bread doesn't come out nicely, it could be that the ingredients (yeast and flour) are not quite fresh or there is slightly too much liquid or flour. Adjust it accordingly the next time. After baking a few times, you may just find the perfect proportion for your breadmaker.
(i) This recipe is my own, finalised after a few weeks of experimentation.

Happy Baking!