"Vox Humana" > writes:

> Unless I misunderstood something, he need to learn how to make bread first.
> You don't make bread from flour, water, and baking soda. So, he does need
> to change the recipe and perhaps the mixing method in addition to learning
> how to use (or avoid using) a microwave for baking.

Actually, I do know how to make bread, even if I don't know the formal
definition. I've made bread for decades in conventional ovens. However,
since I was experimenting this time, I didn't think it was worth going to
the trouble of doing it right only to have the microwave possibly stomp
on it. So, I did something I considered minimally in the direction
of bread. It isn't that far off, since it isn't very different from
the batter I mix for making pancakes in a frying pan: I consider Indian
chappatis and the big Ethiopian pancakes to be varieties of bread. Also,
I since some of what I am getting this way is edible and not displeasing,
even if it is not actually bread and has some drawbacks such as high
density, it wasn't unreasonable to hope that some genre of baking could
emerge from these efforts. I still think that is possible and others
might want to experiment with it too. Given the crudeness of my improvised
recipes, I'm inclined to consider the results somewhat successful.

The stuff I was making was generally not the size of full loaves but
more the size of rolls. They were so dense that I usually only wanted
to eat one slice at a time. Even when nothing else was added to it,
it was good enough to dunk in soup. It was also ok for spreading
cream cheese and marmalade on. Once I tried adding raisins and cinnamon
to the recipe and the results were not bad.

I never heard of convection microwaves and am glad to have learned about
them here. How much do they cost, typically?

It's true that the surface of the "bread" is fairly pale and doesn't looked
baked. Maybe that can be corrected by brushing the surface with egg white
or sugar water. I also tried making the "bread" flatter in the microwave.
Next time, I'll try frying the flat "dough" in a frying pan instead and
see how that works out. The results might be better and there will be
no problem with browning it. I'm less optimistic about trying this with
rolls in a frying pan.

I'm less concerned with the appearance than with the density. In other posts,
I asked about making my own yeast and was kindly informed about making
sourdough. So, maybe when I can let the dough rise the results will be
less dense.

The reason I'm trying these experiments is that my kitchen is a little
afterthought with no oven. So, I'm trying to manage with the appliances
I have. If that fails, I'll consider getting a toaster oven or something
like that.

I called the manufacturer, GE, and was informed that they have a 126 page
cookbook for their microwaves for about 7 dollars plus S&H.

Ignorantly,
Allan Adler


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* Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT Artificial *
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