Krusteaz Country White Bread Mix, 14-Ounces

I make bread from scratch with regularity, but I picked up two of these mixes purely out of curiosity. At such a low price, what the heck. Surprisingly, they made excellent bread with a great crumb, very nice crust and a pleasant flavor. I followed the directions on the box to make a one and a half pound loaf. I used my bread machine set on a dough cycle. My machine makes a two pound loaf, so this smaller loaf was no problem. At the end of the dough cycle I removed the dough, shaped it and allowed it to rise for approximately one hour. Into the 450 degree oven for 20 minutes and it was perfect. I did substitute my yeast for the package yeast (1-1/2 tsp) because I figured after a long ride in the back of a UPS truck it was likely bad. That substitution proved to be right because when I tested the package yeast it had indeed passed on, probably about the same time Jimmy Hoffa did. So, overall it was a very good loaf of bread for the price. Cannot say it was a time saver, measuring dry ingredients is not a huge time suck, but if you do not normally make your bread from scratch this mix is a good place to start, and you end up with a loaf of bread you can proudly say was homemade. Your house will smell great too!

Tastes so good and not complicated for an amateur. My husband loved it! I came back to buy a bunch.Update: I'm back to buy even more. I do not use a bread maker or a loaf pan. I use a large square cookie pan and shape it by hand so the bread can expand to its full potential. I also make sure the water is warm. And make sure I give time for it to rise. It's perfect each and every time! I wait about 15 minutes before I cut it.

I use this in a bread maker (up to the dough cycle, then shape and bake it in the oven) as the base for a variety of breads. For some I add garlic and/or herbs, such as oregano, basil, thyme. I also made an "apple bread" to celebrate apple season this fall. I just use the directions on the box and do not change anything when I add the other ingredients except for adding about an additional half teaspoon of yeast. I find that shaping it as shown on the box is not as satisfactory as baking it in a bread pan, but the best result is with a "bread cloche" (I use an old ceramic coated cast iron little dutch oven instead of an expensive cloche.) My way of getting a browned chewy crust with a soft inside is on the final egg wash -- I add about a half teaspoon of tapioca starch (any other starch would probably work) to the beaten egg yolk, spread it on the loaf for the last five minutes of baking, and it always comes out with a wonderful dark chewy crust (not just for this particular bread mix, but for any other I have tried.) These bread mixes may add up to a more expensive loaf than starting from scratch, and a mix and bread maker may not satisfy those whose ego want to say they made it from scratch, but the convenience is certainly worth the little difference in price, I get my ego trips elsewhere, and whenever I see the label "Krusteaz" on a box I feel I can trust the product.

I make a lot of bread with my machine. I use Krusteaz Hawaiian, sour dough and country white. I doctor them up with herbs and spices to create variety and special combinations. With the Country White, I add rosemary and sage or Italian herbs & spices depending on who the recipient is. They love them! The mixes are cheaper than store bought bread and who can resist fresh, warm scented bread. Makes the whole house smell like a Thomas Kincade painting. Bravo!

I love this mix, works great in my bread machine and flavor is sooo good.) I am completely satisfied with this product and purchased more. The stores are not carry it i Phoenix right now and was sooo pleased to find on Amazon!!!

I have never made bread before and was nervous it would turn out bad. Wrong! This bread mix was so easy, just add water and yeast packet, wait for it to rise covered, then uncovered and that`s it. Bake and bingo!, you have bread. It looks like bread and taste like bread. I will be buying this bread mix over and over.

I bought several boxes(15) Went to use 3 boxes to make a batch of cinnamon rolls. The dough would not rise for anything. The yeast must be bad. I always sit my dough next to the wood stove with great results. Not this time. Sat for 3 hours and remained the same size. Very sad since these were made for my thanksgiving. Ruined. So now I have 12 boxes of bread that I fear will do the same.

This was OK. It is 1 hour if you have a bread machine, otherwise it is several hours. Didn't rise to a nice high round. Round, but too flat. It tasted OK. Not worth the trouble.