Our Test Kitchen home economists have tested more than 3,000 bread machine recipes. Here are some valuable suggestions making the use of your bread machine as easy and reliable as possible.

• Use bread flour for each of our bread machine recipes unless they specify otherwise. This high-protein flour is especially formulated for bread baking.
• If you store flour or specialty grains in the freezer, warm the measured amount to room temperature before adding.
• Adding gluten flour to a bread that contains whole grain flour, especially rye flour, improves the texture of the loaf.
• Salt is necessary when making yeast bread because it controls the growth of the yeast, which aids the rising of the dough. If you are on a sodium-restricted diet, you'll find most of our bread machine recipes are lower in sodium than purchased breads. If you want breads even lower in sodium, experiment by reducing the salt in a recipes a little at a time.
• Make cleanup easy by spraying the kneading paddle of your machine with nonstick spray coating before adding the ingredients.
• If the kneading paddle stays in the bread when you remove the hot loaf from the machine, use the handle of a wooden spoon to help remove it.
• Fill the machine's pan with hot soapy water immediately after removing the baked bread. (Do not immerse the pan in water.) Soak the kneading paddle separately if it comes out with the loaf of bread.