Fast forward to a month ago, a friend brought me a loaf a bread that she had made in HER bread machine. Hmmm, it smelled good, it looked good, I tried a piece with butter and oh my. THIS was what I think of when I think of good bread. This bread is the kind you only have in dreams because no one makes it like this. Me and my girls finished the loaf that very day. Didn’t save any for my poor husband to try. In all fairness though, he once referred to homemade bread as ‘It’s just bread!’ so I felt justified. My friend was kind enough though to make us more and once he tried it he agreed it was the best EVER and we started looking for a comparable American model (their’s was from Japan).
Now I have my own machine, it was an early birthday present 
It’s a Panasonic Automatic Breadmaker, Model # SD-RD250. So far all the recipes we tried we liked but my friend’s recipe isn’t in there. She has graciously allowed me to share it though, hope you guys like it as much as we do!
Oh-and our machine only makes Medium and XL loafs, this recipe is XL but it can be cut in half.
2 tsp. active dry yeast
500 mg bread flour
40 g butter
200 cc milk
160 cc light cream
4 tbs sugar
2 tsp salt.
We don’t always have light cream so sometimes I’ll use 1 1/2 c. water and 1/3 c. plus 2 1/2 tbs dry milk powder in place of the milk and cream.
Some of you are probably wondering what it would compare to, it’s not like Italian or French bread with the thick chewy crust or giant holes going through it. It looks pretty much just like sandwich bread….but oh so much better. It’s been over 2, possibly 3 weeks since we used store bought bread, all homemade now