Bread Machine

I love the smell of baking bread...who doesn't?!...but I am at an age where all the kneading is painful to my fingers so I broke down and bought a bread machine. Here's the problem. Whenever I use the sweet bread setting the bread comes out either half baked or rock hard. Help! What am I doing wrong??

I use a bread machine all the time but I never bake in it; I prefer to bake in my oven. You have much more control over the way your bread comes out.

I just set the machine for the dough cycle and then when the dough has risen to the top of the pan I remove the dough shape it and place it in the pan I'm going to bake it in and let it rise again then bake it in my oven.

I think you will be much happier with how you bread comes out if you use your oven.

I completely agree with you, Betty! I NEVER use the bread machine to bake. Besides the odd shaped loaves the baking cycle is not able to take all the factors that make a good loaf of bread come out just so.

I've had the same problem with my machine as well. I very rarely use a store bought mix but I really like the Sweet Hawaiian Bread mix that my grocery store has. However, whether I use the sweet setting or not, it never rises enough and ends up really dense. I've tried using my own yeast rather than the packet provided and I've adjusted the temp of the water - but no luck!
I think I'll try baking it in my oven next time!
Does anyone have a good recipe for this type of bread so I can make it from scratch?

I have a recipe for Hawaiian Sweet Bread but I have never gotten around to trying it so I really don't know how good it is.

Edited to add: I may go ahead and give this recipe a try in the next day or two and if I do I’ll post a review of the recipe. If you try it please let me know how it turned out.

Hawaiian Sweet Bread Recipe
Guest Author - Rebecca Franklin

When I first moved to Hawaii, I had Hawaiian Sweet Bread (sometimes called Portuguese Bread) every morning for breakfast. Slathered in butter, toasted or straight from the loaf, this soft, sweet bread needs no preserves. For an authentic spread that rivals any Waikiki hotel breakfast buffet, pair the bread with scrambled eggs, spicy sausage, fresh fruit, guava nectar, and fresh brewed coffee. Mmm, ono! (Ono means tasty in Hawaiian!)

1 cup warm water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c butter - melted
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup instant potato flakes
1/3 cup dried milk
3 large eggs, beaten
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 package (2 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast


Place ingredients into bread machine in order listed – select the dough cycle and press start. When the dough has risen to the top of the bread pan; remove and shape it into round loaves and place them on a greased baking sheet.

Cover and let rise until doubled. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, or until golden brown. Enjoy!

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I also have a recipe for Sweet Dinner Rolls that I use all the time and they are wonderful!

Sweet Dinner Rolls
Source – Allrecipes - Donna West

1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/2 cup warm milk
1 egg
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/4 cup butter, softened

Place water, milk, egg, 1/3 cup butter, sugar, salt, flour and yeast in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough/Knead and First Rise Cycle; press Start.

When cycle finishes, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into a 12 inch circle, spread 1/4 cup softened butter over entire round. Cut each circle into 8 wedges. Roll wedges starting at wide end; roll gently but tightly. Place point side down on ungreased cookie sheet. Cover with clean kitchen towel and put in a warm place, let rise 1 hour.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees
Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden.

This is a picture of the rolls, I just happened to make them for supper tonight and so I snapped a quick picture so you could see what they look like.

BettyR, you can be merciless with your pictures. Now I have to clean the drool off my keyboard again:lol:

:lol: Thanks for the laugh!

That reminded me of my husband's sister, the woman is a Petroleum Engineer; she’s brilliant but doesn't have a lick of common sense.

She decided that her keyboard needed to be washed so she put it in her dishwasher. She called my son over to look at her computer to see why it wasn’t working anymore. He realized fairly quickly that the keyboard wasn’t working and asked her if she had done anything to it. She said all she had done was wash it and told him how she had washed it. Then she got mad when he couldn’t stop laughing.

You didn't put it in the dishwasher did you?

HAH that's funny, worked with computers 17 years and never heard that one b4:crazy:

OMG hahahaha how can clever people be so silly????? That's hilarious.

But here's another one - my father-in-law used to have a secretary that used to white out her mistakes in a document - on the computer monitor! <groan> :rolleyes:

P.S. Think I'll start using the dough cycle too on my bread maker - I just make the basic white so far but that ends up heavy although I use all the right ingredients. Smells good though, and house smells great after. But I keep chucking out the mixing paddles with the end of the loaf - oops

I thought that was just a blonde joke. Didn't think anybody would actually do that :lol:

I finally came back to write this recipe down! I haven't had much time to bake ANYTHING lately!
Thanks so much for the recipe (and the wonderful pic!)
I will hopefully be making it tomorrow while working on a presentation for class....yummm...

Let us know how it turned out.

I also tried that Hawaiian Sweet Bread Recipe; it was very good.

Hawaiian Sweet Bread Recipe
Guest Author - Rebecca Franklin

1 cup warm water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c butter - melted
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup instant potato flakes
1/3 cup dried milk
3 large eggs, beaten
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 package (2 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast


Place ingredients into bread machine in order listed – select the dough cycle and press start. When the dough has risen to the top of the bread pan; remove and shape it into round loaves and place them on a greased baking sheet.

Cover and let rise until doubled. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, or until golden brown. Enjoy!

I was going to ask how many loaves you shaped them in. Do you always do 4 or does it matter? I may freeze half of the dough since it'll probably go bad before I eat it all. My hubby doesn't try anything new so I'll be enjoying the bread all by myself!

I shaped it into 4 loaves because the picture in the magazine where I got the recipe was in 4 loaves. This was the first time I had made this recipe, I had never eaten this bread before and I really didn't know what to expect.

The loaves are not large but I think that they are shaped into 4 loaves so that the bread will have time to cook all the way through without burning. There is an awful lot of sugar in this bread and as you know sugar will make baked goods brown much more quickly than those baked goods with little of no sugar.

Also if I were going to freeze the dough I think I would add some extra gluten to the mix. It seems to me that frozen dough recovers a little better if there is a little extra gluten added.

Mmmmmm.....enjoying my third piece right now! I went ahead and did the four loaves and baked all of them because it always seems like when I freeze dough, I'm too impatient for the dough to thaw and rise! Yeah, I know, put it in the fridge the night before...anyways, I only baked it for 20 minutes because the were getting dark and the centers were done. I always bake bread for a shorter time than called for though.
The crust is awesome...thank goodness I think low-carb diets are ridiculous! I guess I'm having bread for supper (and butter of course)!

How do you think this recipe compares to the mix that you have bought in the past? I have never had Hawaiian Sweet Bread before and I was wondering how authentic this recipe was. We really enjoyed it but not having anything to compare it to I didn’t know if this is what it’s supposed to taste like or not.

Compared to the mix I had, this recipe isn't quite as sweet but that is the main difference. The crust of the mix I made wasn't as crunchy but I also made it in a loaf pan and this on a baking sheet.

OK, thanks.