My favorite bread machine bread recipe

Before I forget... I was asked to share my favorite bread machine bread recipe.  It has been on my recipe blog for years but I added this picture today.  I thought I'd post it here so the requester will see it right away.  :)

This has been my "go to" bread recipe since I received my bread machine as a Christmas present (a very long time ago). I tweak the ingredients for whom I'm making the bread and what I'm going to use it for. If it is for my husband (who slices the bread and freezes it, getting out only enough for breakfast each day), I make it 100% freshly ground whole wheat.

My son and I like it best half-whole wheat and half-King Arthur bread flour. For cinnamon rolls, I like to make it with three cups bread flour and one cup whole wheat flour. (I rarely make it with all white flour.)

If I'm using it to make a sweeter, richer, dough (for cinnamon rolls or to make dinner rolls), I use milk instead of water and use butter instead of oil. When I do this, I warm the milk up and then add the butter and honey to the warm milk to mix well.

As with any bread machine recipe, all ingredients should at least be room temperature (if not warmed a bit in the Winter).

This makes one loaf of bread or six to ten smallish cinnamon rolls.

Whole Wheat Honey Bread (also cinnamon rolls)*

1 Cup and 2 T. water (just slightly above the 1 C. line)
4 Cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

3 T. honey (or brown sugar)
2 T. shortening (I use mild olive oil or butter)
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Place water, salt, honey and shortening in machine pan. Add flour and then sprinkle the yeast on top.

Put on dough cycle, will take approx. 1 ½ hours until finished. Take out of bread machine, mold into a loaf, put in greased loaf pan. Let rise until slightly over the top of the loaf pan, slash a few times on top.  

Bake 30-35 min. at 350 degrees.

*Your bread machine may require a different order of ingredients but this seems to be the order used with most machines.  If using butter, make certain it is room temperature.  

If making cinnamon rolls: 

Roll out into a rectangle, butter the dough (except about an inch at the bottom so it seals well), sprinkle with cinnamon, sprinkle with brown sugar, pat the sugar into the dough, roll up, cut into about one inch slices. 

Place slices in two 9" cake pans (or whatever you have, I've also put them all in a 9 x 13 dish) and let rise about 30 min..longer in cold weather.

Place into preheated 350 degree oven and bake about twelve minutes or until golden on top. Let cool a bit and frost with frosting: 

Frosting for cinnamon rolls:  1/4th cup (one-half of a stick) butter-room temp mixed with 3 cups confectioners sugar. Add just enough milk until you get the consistency you like (I like mine thinner then I'd use to frost a cake but not so thin it becomes a glaze).