Bread Machine Misadventures

I am the worst when it comes to baking. My husband knows this, and I know this. However, I am determined to try. So I've been trying my luck with my bread machine again. I've set out to find some easy, delicious, and cheap recipes to make my own bread in the bread machine. It's a bread machine...you add the ingredients of a recipe, and it does the rest. How can I fail at this? Don't worry, I found a way. 

Even when a machine does all the work for you, I still find a way to mess up a recipe, venture on my own, wing it, etc. That's why I love to cook instead - mistakes are forgiving and often welcome in cooking. Baking is by the book - and I like to live dangerously when I cook! 

So my journey begins with 2 out of the 3 loaves that I've made so far being fails. Here is what I've made so far:

Whole Wheat Honey Bread: FAIL!

I honestly can't remember what the recipe was that I found online. It was just kind of bleh. The honey was lacking and it was really dense. 

Onion Bread: SUCCESS!

I found this recipe in a bread machine recipe book from my parents old bread machine growing up. It had tons of flavor, very light/airy and had a great crust.  

Onion Bread

1 pound loaf. Do not use delay option. Add below ingredients to pan in this order.

2/3 cup water

1/3 cup chopped onion

1 tsp Tastefully Simple Onion Onion*

2 teaspoons margarine or butter, softened

2 Cups Flour

1 tbsp sugar

2 teaspoons dry milk**

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp bread machine yest or quick acting active dry yeast (1 packet)

Settings:

White bread

1lb loaf

Crust: Medium 

* I added this to the recipe

** I omitted this from the recipe, since I was out and it still turned out great.

Banana Macadamia Nut Bread: MAJOR FAIL!

No egg white & no macadamia nuts on hand = who needs those anyway! 

The recipe called for an egg white, and I realized after getting half the ingredients in the pan, that I was out of eggs. I quickly Googled a substitute, and found you can mix 1 tablespoon Flax & 3 tablespoons water. Great news! So I did just that. I got everything in the pan, only to realize I forgot to attach the mixing blade. Ugh, really!! So I dumped everything into a bowl, attached the blade, poured the dough mixture back into the pan, and voila...none the wiser, right?

WRONG!! What is this even? Can I even call this bread? 

Well, off to find new recipes and to enjoy my misadventures of baking bread in a bread machine!