Editor's Note: This is part three of a four-part series.

Bread machines come in all sizes and types. The big box store carries one that sells for under $40.00 and is quite satisfactory. I also have “The Baker’s Catalogue” which has one for well over $200.00 including shipping. Machines come with square bread pans and one paddle to rectangular pans with two paddles. Some machines come with up to a 13 hour delay, where you can put ingredients into the bread pan, to work and have a nice, hot, fresh loaf of bread waiting for you when you return. When using the extended timer delay in warm weather, be careful of ingredients like eggs, butter and milk that might go rancid.

Using milk when making bread will give the loaves good volume, make the crust a golden brown color and impart a tender, creamy texture. When using the timed-bake method, use powdered dry milk to achieve the same benefits.

When buying or milling flour for your bread machine, there are several important considerations. The all-purpose flour you have at hand is probably milled from soft and hard wheat combinations, and does not contain the optimum amount of gluten for bread. Bread flour, on the other hand, is milled from hard wheat, and has almost one third more gluten (protein) than all-purpose flour. Next time you are in the grocery store, look at the nutrition facts category of the flour package and you will see the “protein”. On bread flour it will say “4g”, which means 4 grams protein per cup of flour. All purpose flour will say “3g”. This extra protein (gluten) is necessary to make the dough rise to its optimum.

A brief primer on flour. Whole wheat flour contains: Wheat bran - about 14% of the kernel. It is the outer covering and contains the most needed vitamins, minerals, proteins, and our richest source of food fiber; the wheat germ - about 3% of the kernel. This is the embryo or seedling from which the grain sprouts. It is one of the richest sources of vitamins B and E. It contains proteins, iron and the oils and fat that can cause whole wheat flour to turn rancid in hot weather. The wheat germ also contains over 30 valuable nutrients necessary for health.

The Endosperm contains about 83% of the volume of a wheat kernel. It is comprised of mostly starch and small amounts of protein. It contains almost no vitamins, minerals or food fiber.

You can see from the preceding several paragraphs why it is so beneficial to grind our own wheat berries, so that our bread contains the wheat bran and germ not found in most commercial loaves.

Because whole wheat flour contains the bran, the germ and the endosperm, it also has proportionately less gluten than the other types of flour. It will rise more slowly and not as high when used by itself. For this reason, I use 50% home ground, whole wheat flour, and 50% bread flour. I also add one tablespoon Vital Wheat Gluten per loaf, and 1 1/2 teaspoons diastolic malt to help the dough to rise.

In addition to some whole wheat loaves not rising as well as others, there are some ingredients that probably should not be added to whole wheat bread. The are what are called the brown spices and consist mainly of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. These spices contain a compound that is toxic to yeast. Limit their use when baking to only 1/2 teaspoon per cup of flour.

Several years ago, at the behest of a friend, we created this recipe.

Portuguese Yellow Bread

1/4 cup water or milk

1 jumbo egg

3 tablespoons oleo or butter

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups bread flour

2 tablespoons powdered dry milk

2 teaspoons yeast

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 drops yellow food coloring

Set machine on regular bread cycle, light crust.

Pat Biggerstaff is the gardening columnist for the Daily News. She lives in Middlesboro. To comment or suggest topics for future columns, e-mail editor@middlesborodailynews.com.