Perfectly risen, with a golden crust, its texture is a world away from the baked foam sold commercially.

While everybody loves homemade bread, few had time in their busy, stress-filled lives to make it -- until the advent of the bread machine, that is.

With this electronic marvel, breadmaking is no more difficult than home-brewed coffee. Simply measure the ingredients into the machine, press a button, and in a few hours a ready-to-eat loaf is yours. Why, you can even set the timer the night before and wake to the tantalising aroma of warm bread for breakfast.

Like all food-related appliances, most breadmaking machines come with a few basic recipes, but Richard W. Langer's "The Bread Machine Bakery Book'' -- now available at the Bermuda Library -- expands the horizons with a fascinating variety of breads for all tastes.

The author also includes the why's and wherefores of various ingredients, as well as tips and tricks for electronic baking.

Here's a recipe sampling: FRENCH WALNUT BREAD As taste and texture go, walnuts have a rather soft crunch, and in a bread machine, the kneading blade chops the pieces for you, so don't hesitate to use whole halves. The recipe given here produces a dense, nut-brown loaf with a fine, pebbly texture. The bread is rich and earthy and goes well with Neufchatel and other soft cheeses.

1 cup milk, whole or skim 1 egg 4 tbsp. walnut oil 11 cups walnut halves or large pieces 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 tsp. sugar 1 to 1 tsp. salt to taste 11 tsp. active dry yeast Unless the instructions that came with your machine specify that the yeast is to be placed in your baking pan first, followed by the dry and then the liquid ingredients, pour the milk into the pan and break the egg into it. Add the walnut oil and the walnuts, then the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Use a quick bake cycle for this loaf.

QUICK TOMATO BREAD This particular loaf of bread has a full-bodied tomato taste that goes well with stews and hearty winter soups.

1 cup sour cream 1 egg 1 tsp. olive oil 1 6-oz. can tomato paste 1 cup pitted black olives, well drained (optional) 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 cup whole-wheat flour 1 cup cornmeal 1 tsp. sugar 1 tsp. garlic powder or 2 cloves fresh garlic, pressed 1 tsp. dried basil 1 tsp. white pepper 1 to 1 tsp. salt to taste 11 tsp. active dry yeast POUR sour cream into baking pan of your bread machine, break in egg, add olive oil. Scoop tomato paste into pan, toss in olives if desired, and add all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, cornmeal, sugar, garlic, basil, white pepper, salt, and yeast, following the directions for leavening that came with your machine. Bake on a quick cycle.

CARROTT BREAD Here's a lovely saffron-coloured loaf flecked with orange that makes a delightful accompaniment to a consomme or an omelet. The carrot taste is subtle, but lends a nice background flavour to this moist, sunny, high-domed bread.

Note that in this recipe there is relatively little liquid, only half a cup of water to two cups of flour. That's because the carrots contain a surprising amount of moisture, and a more normal measure of liquid will cause the dough to overflow the pan onto the heating element.

1 cup water 1 tbsp. honey 2 tbsps. unsalted butter or canola oil 1 cup coarsely shredded raw carrots, well packed 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 2 tbsp. non-fat dry milk 1 tsp. dried basil OR, if preferred, 11 tsps. dried dill 1 tsp. dehydrated minced onion (omit if using dill) 1 to 1 tsp. salt to taste 11 tsps. active dry yeast PLACE water, honey, and butter or canola oil in your baking pan and shake in the shredded carrots, unless the instructions for your machine specify that the liquid ingredients are to be added last and the yeast first.

Next add flour, dry milk, basil and onion, or dill if preferred, and salt.

Measure in the yeast, following the instructions for the specific model of bread machine you have.

This loaf is best baked on a quick cycle with a light setting if your machine provides such a choice, as the heavier crust produced with the darker setting detracts somewhat from the delicacy of the bread.

CREAMY PUMPKIN BREAD The absence of liquid in this recipe is no mistake. Pumpkins are 98 percent water, and the sour cream listed among the ingredients provides all the additional moisture needed. In fact, if you dump the sour cream and the pumpkin into your pan in one fell swoop and try to weight them down with the other ingredients, the mixing blade, once engaged, will go round and round in the soft mush at the bottom, never drawing down the flour. To assure a proper mixing and kneading of this batter, the sour cream and pumpkin must be incorporated alternately with the dry ingredients.

1 cup sour cream 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 cup canned or freshly cooked and mashed pumpkin 2 tbsps. unsulphured molasses 2 tbsps. unsalted butter or canola oil 1 cup buckwheat flour 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice 1 to 1 tsp. salt to taste 11 tsps. active dry yeast SPOON half a cupful of the sour cream into the baking pan of your bread machine, add half a cupful of all-purpose flour, then the rest of the sour cream followed by another half cupful of flour. Add pumpkin and remaining cupful of all-purpose flour. Measure in molasses and butter or canola oil, buckwheat flour, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and yeast. If your machine has a separate dispenser for leavening, yeast should be placed there. Bake on a quick cycle.

SOUR CREAM BREAD Here's a loaf that uses no liquids in the traditional sense, just sour cream for moisture. This loaf is perfect for French toast, its open texture holding the butter and pools of syrup delectably.

1 cup sour cream 21 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour 1 tbsp. dark brown sugar 1 to 1 tsp. salt to taste 11 tsps. active dry yeast SCOOP sour cream into baking pan. Add flour, brown sugar, and salt. Position yeast according to directions given for your machine, unless you have a machine with its own dispenser for leavening, in which case the yeast should be measured into the dispenser the very last thing. A quick bake cycle gives the best results with this recipe.

PEANUT BUTTER BREAD Peanut butter is ordinarily salty enough so that no additional salt is needed for this bread. However, if what you have around the house is the unsalted variety, you might want to add a dash or two of salt.

1 cup milk, whole or skim 1 egg 2 cup smooth peanut butter 11 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar 4 tsp. double-acting baking powder POUR the milk into your baking pan, break the egg into the milk, and ladle in peanut butter, followed by flour, brown sugar, and baking powder -- unless for your particular machine the leavening is to be placed in the pan first and covered with the rest of the dry ingredients before the liquids are added, in which case the order should be reversed. Set your machine on quick bake for this bread.

SCANDINAVIAN CARDAMOM BREAD Granulated sugar can be substituted for pearl sugar in the glaze, but it's really not the same. Pearl sugar crystals are fairly large, as their name implies, and they don't dissolve into a glaze as regular sugar does, but rather remain brilliantly white and sparkling on top of a loaf.

If possible, buy whole cardamom for your baking. This will mean peeling and grinding the seed. But the flavour of freshly ground cardamom is far more intense than the pre-ground variety, which almost always includes the flavourless paperlike husk.

1 cup light cream 1 egg 1 cup unsalted butter 21 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 cup sugar 1 tsp. hulled cardamom seeds, finely ground Dash salt 11 tsp. active dry yeast Glaze 1 egg 1 tbsp. cold water Pearl sugar for garnish POUR cream into bread machine pan and break egg into it. Add butter, cutting it into chunks first if it's hard, so it will blend more uniformly into the dough. Measure in flour, sugar, cardamom, salt, and, following the instructions given for leavening for your particular machine, the yeast.

Use the short cycle, and a light loaf setting, if available on your machine, for best results in baking this bread. As soon as the loaf is done, pull the pan from the machine and immediately close the lid to retain heat. Remove loaf from its pan. Beat together egg and water and paint the top of the loaf liberally with this mixture, using a pastry brush. Sprinkle generously with pearl sugar and gently fit bread back into its baking container. Pop the pan back into the bread machine for another two minutes or so.

The residual heat of the machine will bake the glaze on, causing most of the pearl sugar to adhere. Remove the loaf to its cooling rack with care.

BASIC OATMEAL BREAD This recipe makes a fine-textured, nutty, golden loaf. The use of bread flour instead of plain unbleached flour is helpful in this instance, giving the loaf more loft. But in any case, don't expect a really tall loaf. The bread will be nicely rounded on top, but rather squarish. What it lacks in height it will make up for in taste.

1 cup milk, whole or skim 2 tbsp. unsalted butter or canola oil 2 cups bread flour 1 cup uncooked oatmeal (not instant) 2 tbsps. dark brown sugar 1 to 1 tsp. salt to taste 11 tsps. active dry yeast Glaze 1 egg white 2 tbsps. milk, whole or skim Oat flakes for garnish REMEMBER to follow the instructions for placement of the yeast provided with the specific model of bread machine that you have. Put the cupful of milk and the butter or canola oil in the baking pan first, unless directed to reserve the liquids till last, and add flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, salt, and yeast.

Use either your machine's regular or its quick-bake cycle for this bread. When you remove the finished loaf from its pan, while it's still piping hot, quickly whip together the egg white and the two tablespoons of milk and brush this glaze over the top of the hot bread. Sprinkle dome of the loaf liberally with oat flakes. Don't worry, some will always fall off. Return loaf to pan and the pan to its baking slot in the machine. The oat flakes will cling firmly as the glaze cooks on from the retained heat of the bread and the oven and then cools, imparting the distinctive traditional look that makes oatmeal bread instantly recognisable.

SOURDOUGH RYE BREAD This comes close to the real thing in the old European tradition. The sours in Europe were always based on rye flour, which has a tendency really to ferment.

However, to keep your starter from getting out of hand, I would recommend replenishing it with milk and unbleached all-purpose flour even if you regularly use it for making rye bread. A sour based on fermented rye flour tends to be too strong for all but the most fanatical devotees.

11 cups rye flour 11 cups whole-wheat flour 11 cups sourdough starter, at room temperature 1 cup warm water 1 tbsp. olive oil 2 tbsp. unsulphured molasses 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour 2 tbsp. instant espresso 1 tbsp. caraway seeds 1 tbsp. dehydrated minced onion (optional) 1 to 1 tsp. salt to taste 1 to 11 tsp. active dry yeast MEASURE rye and whole wheat flours into the baking pan of your bread machine first, then add sourdough starter, water, oil, and molasses, followed by all-purpose flour, espresso, caraway seeds, onion if desired, salt, and yeast, placing the yeast in its own dispenser if your machine has such.

Use a full bake cycle for this bread. Even with the addition of yeast, the heavy flours called for make it a slow-rising loaf.

Egg Glaze Here's a glaze that complements almost any loaf of bread. Small seeds sprinkled over it add a decorative visual accent.

1 egg 1 tbsp. water or milk, whole or skim Small seeds for garnish: poppy, caraway, sesame BREAK egg into a bowl and whip with water or milk. As soon as you've taken your bread from the oven warm, while bread is still in its pan and hot, paint loaf top with glazing mixture, using a pastry brush. If bread is a dense one that looks as if it might need a bit of shaking to loosen it from the pan, knock it out first, to make sure it won't give your any trouble later after it's been glazed. Then slip it right back into the pan before brushing it with the egg wash.

Sprinkle small seeds such as poppy seeds, caraway seeds, or sesame seeds liberally over the glaze.

Pop pan back into still-warm bread machine for two or three minutes and let residual heat from your electronic oven bake the glaze to a nice gloss.

MOCK BOSTON BROWN BREAD 1 cup sour cream 1 cup water 1 cup unsulphured molasses 1 egg 1 cup raisins (optional) 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour 1 cup whole-wheat flour 11 cups unprocessed wheat bran 1 cup cornmeal 1 to 1 tsp. salt to taste 1 tsp. baking soda 2 tsps. double-acting baking powder SCOOP sour cream into bread machine baking pan, add water and molasses, and break in the egg. Toss in a cupful of raisins, if desired. Because this bread is baked on a quick cycle, whole raisins will survive the kneading process relatively intact. If your machine has an interruptible mix cycle, the raisins can be added separately instead after all the other ingredients have been blended together. Measure in all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, wheat bran, cornmeal and salt. Scatter baking soda and baking powder more or less evenly over these dry ingredients. Bake on your machine's quick cycle.

CONFECTIONERS' SUGAR GLAZE More than an everyday glaze, less than a frosting, a powdered sugar glaze adds a delicate confectionery touch to a loaf of bread. Sweet glazes are usually reserved for coffee breads and cakes, but they occasionally grace a plain milk bread intended for a festive brunch.

1 cup confectioners' sugar 2 to 3 tbsp. water or warm milk, whole or skim SIFT powdered sugar into a small bowl and add liquid, a few drops at a time, beating until smooth and dribbly. Drizzle over warm bread just out of its baking pan. Spiral and crisscross patterns are attractive.

MOLASSES GLAZE Molasses adds a dark sheen to hearty ryes, pumpernickels, and raisin breads.

Use it with restraint, however, lest it remain too sticky.

1 tbsp. unsulphured molasses 1 tbsp. hot water dehydrated onion flakes or small seeds for garnish (optional) STIR molasses and water together briskly and spread liberally over the top of your bread with a soft brush as soon as the loaf is removed from your electronic over. In the case of a solid loaf, such as country rye or pumpernickel, knock the loaf out of its pan first to ensure that it won't give you trouble later, then return it to the container before applying the glaze.

Sprinkle dehydrated onion flakes or some other attractive garnish such as black sesame seeds or flaxseed over the molasses if you'd like. Then return the loaf to the still-warm bread machine briefly to firm the gloss on.