The ingredients one uses to make a loaf of bread depends entirely on what
one wants the texture and taste of the loaf to be. I suppose that it is
perfectly possible to make a loaf of bread, that rises, with just flour and
water. All other ingredients are flavorings and conditioners.
To answer the question specifically, milk will add a texture that will be
hard to duplicate without milk. The idea would then be to use dry cows
milk, dry soy milk, or soy milk, and discover what you like best. I can
tell you that a very adequate loaf of bread can be made with flour, water,
'sugar', salt and yeast.
It is important to remember is that the amount of liquid should remain
constant, so a quantity of water should replace an equal quantity of liquid
milk. Check the dough about half way through the knead cycle for texture.
If it is too hard, add water. If it is too soft, add flour. Many bread
machine recipies used dried milk, so you might wat to see what happens if
it is given a miss.
>As long as we're on the topic of powdered milk...
>I have recently acquired an automatic bread maker. Almost all of the
>recipes in the book that came with the machine call for powdered milk.
>don't use dairy products at all. Which leads to my questions:
>1) What is the purpose of adding powdered milk to bread recipes?
>2) Can I/should I substitute powdered soy milk?
>3) If I should substitute, how much? It can't be a one-to-one
...
Ralph
'The vacuum is empty'
R. Feynman
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