My Very First Bread: Apple Walnut Bread

Last week my future mother-in-law, Sara, gave me a great gift - a Williams-Sonoma Bread Maker. I can't even begin to put into words how excited I was to receive it.

I know most people get a bread machine and use it for a few months then forget about it, but I have seriously been eyeing one for my wedding registry for a long time. As you know I love to bake and nothing sounds more appealing than fresh loaves of bread. Not only that, but with this machine, making dough for other food items, like cinnamon rolls is so much easier.

After my fiance brought the machine home I ran out to the White Lake Library and found two great bread machine cookbooks. That is were I found this recipe for apple walnut bread, in a book from Better Homes and Gardens called The Complete Guide to Bread Machine Baking.

The bread is not a sweet bread, it's made with applesauce and the walnuts add great texture to this great loaf. I recognize that not everyone who follows this column will have a bread machine, or will have the patience to make this by hand. So, to make things a little easier I've included in this article an alternative recipe for apple walnut bread. The alternative recipe is more of a sweet cake type bread.

To make the bread machine recipe (which yields a 1.5 pound loaf) you will need the following:

• 2/3 cup of water
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of applesauce
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 3/4 teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 3 cups of bread flour
• 1 teaspoon of bread machine yeast or active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

To make the non-bread machine recipe you will need the following:

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup oil
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 2 Granny Smith apples, unpeeled and diced

In a bowl stir together, by hand, eggs, oil, granulated and brown sugars, and vanilla.  Next, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add to the egg mixture. Stir in walnuts and apples. Place in a greased bundt pan or 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake for one hour at 350 degrees.

For step-by-step instructions on how to make the bread machine recipe scroll through the photo gallery.