Bread Makers

[Yorick]

Our lass has been making noises about getting a bread making machine, so we may as well get a good one.
Oh, do any of them let you make stuff like baguettes?

What you got ?

[mangocrazy]

Not trying to be clever, but does Pen realise how easy it is to make bread without a machine? I make my own bread and it takes 15 minutes tops to mix the ingredients, an hour or so in the airing cupboard for the bread to rise, then bung it in the oven for half an hour or so. All you need is flour, water, salt and yeast and the ability to hand-mix.

What put me off bread making machines is that you either have to interrupt the sequence to retrieve the paddles after mixing or you have to dig the paddles out of the bread once it's cooked. And even if you retrieve the paddles, the loaf still has two holes in the bottom where the paddle shafts are. It just seems an unnecessary complication of what is actually a very simple process.

[Count Steer]

Panasonic always do well in reviews. Some good prices at the moment here: https://www.lakeland.co.uk/in-the-kitch ... readmakers

If you want baguettes you'll have to haul the dough out, shape it and bake it in the oven.

[Mr Moofo]

Dead easy to make bread the manual way - and it tastes way better

[Count Steer]

Dead easy to make bread the manual way - and it tastes way better

Bread makers have their place. Some friends/neighbours use theirs routinely. They experimented, settled on a recipe and run it overnight so there's a fresh loaf in the morning.

(I went in the opposite direction. Anyone want to buy an industrial dough mixer? It weighs 75kg....buyer collects ).

[Mr Moofo]

Dead easy to make bread the manual way - and it tastes way better

Bread makers have their place. Some friends/neighbours use theirs routinely. They experimented, settled on a recipe and run it overnight so there's a fresh loaf in the morning.

(I went in the opposite direction. Anyone want to buy an industrial dough mixer? It weighs 75kg....buyer collects ).

Is it a Hobart?

[Trinity765]

I made my own bread for years but I'd still like a bread maker. It's the being able to walk away from it. Making bread means you're in and out of the kitchen even if it is easy you can't go far away.

My Mum had one and it was great - I can't remember which brand but it wouldn't have been a top of the range one. The only downside was it left a small hole in the bottom of the bread where the stirry thing was but apart from that, as good as handmade. You can put them on a timer and wake up to the small of fresh bread. Or chuck everything in, go shopping and forget about it and when you get home - fresh bread. I think they're good value and a lot of fun.

[mangocrazy]

If the latest bread makers have managed to avoid leaving the mixing paddle/blade actually in the dough when it's baked, so that you get a complete, fully formed loaf without any mechanical inclusions, most of my objections would fade away.

But it's still so ridiculously simple to do it manually. OK, it takes a bit of familiarisation but once you've overcome that it becomes routine.

[Yorick]

If the latest bread makers have managed to avoid leaving the mixing paddle/blade actually in the dough when it's baked, so that you get a complete, fully formed loaf without any mechanical inclusions, most of my objections would fade away.

But it's still so ridiculously simple to do it manually. OK, it takes a bit of familiarisation but once you've overcome that it becomes routine.

Hmm. She wants one. It's Xmas soon. No contest

[Count Steer]

Dead easy to make bread the manual way - and it tastes way better

Bread makers have their place. Some friends/neighbours use theirs routinely. They experimented, settled on a recipe and run it overnight so there's a fresh loaf in the morning.

(I went in the opposite direction. Anyone want to buy an industrial dough mixer? It weighs 75kg....buyer collects ).

Is it a Hobart?

I wish! It's a Buffalo. Built like a Hobart, looks like a Hobart...but a fraction of the price.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I agree with Trinity.

Making bread isn't that complicated no, but it's the time "nearby" which is the faff. S'probably fine if you're unemployed

On reflection, my Mum had a breadmaker before but now she's a layabout she's into hand stretched sourdough and what not.

[Count Steer]

I made my own bread for years but I'd still like a bread maker. It's the being able to walk away from it. Making bread means you're in and out of the kitchen even if it is easy you can't go far away.

My Mum had one and it was great - I can't remember which brand but it wouldn't have been a top of the range one. The only downside was it left a small hole in the bottom of the bread where the stirry thing was but apart from that, as good as handmade. You can put them on a timer and wake up to the small of fresh bread. Or chuck everything in, go shopping and forget about it and when you get home - fresh bread. I think they're good value and a lot of fun.

The clever ones will even add stuff like dried fruit at the right time if you want something more than plain bread.

[Trinity765]

I made my own bread for years but I'd still like a bread maker. It's the being able to walk away from it. Making bread means you're in and out of the kitchen even if it is easy you can't go far away.

My Mum had one and it was great - I can't remember which brand but it wouldn't have been a top of the range one. The only downside was it left a small hole in the bottom of the bread where the stirry thing was but apart from that, as good as handmade. You can put them on a timer and wake up to the small of fresh bread. Or chuck everything in, go shopping and forget about it and when you get home - fresh bread. I think they're good value and a lot of fun.

The clever ones will even add stuff like dried fruit at the right time if you want something more than plain bread.

Oh she did that. My fav was sun dried tomato bread

[mangocrazy]

If the latest bread makers have managed to avoid leaving the mixing paddle/blade actually in the dough when it's baked, so that you get a complete, fully formed loaf without any mechanical inclusions, most of my objections would fade away.

But it's still so ridiculously simple to do it manually. OK, it takes a bit of familiarisation but once you've overcome that it becomes routine.

Hmm. She wants one. It's Xmas soon. No contest

In that case it has to be done. I fully understand the 'want' imperative...

[weeksy]

Why's it an issue having a hole in the bottom?

We use ours regularly, it makes great bread.

If making by hand, I'd never make one

[mangocrazy]

Why's it an issue having a hole in the bottom?

We use ours regularly, it makes great bread.

If making by hand, I'd never make one

The one I had was, to be fair, an Aldi/Lidl job and you had to either stop the process at a certain point to remove the mixing paddles or have the paddles baked into the loaf and retrieve them later. This didn't seem quite as hands-off as I'd been led to believe.

I'm really not knocking bread machines. I'm sure more modern and less council-house spec ones than mine would be better. It still made perfectly good bread though. But for me, it's no big deal to do it manually.

But then I am retired...

[Count Steer]

Why's it an issue having a hole in the bottom?

We use ours regularly, it makes great bread.

If making by hand, I'd never make one

The one I had was, to be fair, an Aldi/Lidl job and you had to either stop the process at a certain point to remove the mixing paddles or have the paddles baked into the loaf and retrieve them later. This didn't seem quite as hands-off as I'd been led to believe.

I'm really not knocking bread machines. I'm sure more modern and less council-house spec ones than mine would be better. It still made perfectly good bread though. But for me, it's no big deal to do it manually.

But then I am retired...

So am I

But. I spent years mixing, kneading, faffing about with sourdough, going through all the Bertinet (and others) recipes etc. Finally realised the local M&S 'Signature' sourdough loaf was better than any of mine.

Still do the fougasse, cheese straws and other novelty stuff but really, for a decent sourdough or ciabatta...buy one.

[Horse]

Why's it an issue having a hole in the bottom?

We had one years ago that had two paddles and often left them stuck in loaf.

Current Panasonic has one paddle, which doesn't. The hole in the loaf isn't an issue - you're only going to eat it, not frame slices on the wall

It does the 'add stuff' too.

We use ours regularly, it makes great bread.

Ditto. And dough, eg for non- 'loaf tin' shaped breads.

If making by hand, I'd never make one

Ditto. Even with an oven that proves dough.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Why's it an issue having a hole in the bottom?

We use ours regularly, it makes great bread.

If making by hand, I'd never make one

The one I had was, to be fair, an Aldi/Lidl job and you had to either stop the process at a certain point to remove the mixing paddles or have the paddles baked into the loaf and retrieve them later. This didn't seem quite as hands-off as I'd been led to believe.

I'm really not knocking bread machines. I'm sure more modern and less council-house spec ones than mine would be better. It still made perfectly good bread though. But for me, it's no big deal to do it manually.

But then I am retired...

So am I

But. I spent years mixing, kneading, faffing about with sourdough, going through all the Bertinet (and others) recipes etc. Finally realised the local M&S 'Signature' sourdough loaf was better than any of mine.

Still do the fougasse, cheese straws and other novelty stuff but really, for a decent sourdough or ciabatta...buy one.

I never make a loaf to be fair...pizza is the main reason I started doing Sourdough. Can't knock crumpets or foccacia either!

Not making much foccacia at current olive oil prices though

[mangocrazy]

The one I had was, to be fair, an Aldi/Lidl job and you had to either stop the process at a certain point to remove the mixing paddles or have the paddles baked into the loaf and retrieve them later. This didn't seem quite as hands-off as I'd been led to believe.

I'm really not knocking bread machines. I'm sure more modern and less council-house spec ones than mine would be better. It still made perfectly good bread though. But for me, it's no big deal to do it manually.

But then I am retired...

So am I

But. I spent years mixing, kneading, faffing about with sourdough, going through all the Bertinet (and others) recipes etc. Finally realised the local M&S 'Signature' sourdough loaf was better than any of mine.

Still do the fougasse, cheese straws and other novelty stuff but really, for a decent sourdough or ciabatta...buy one.

I did have a dabble with sourdough but could never get a consistent result, so I just stick to good old plain wholemeal loaves these days, no fancy stuff. Makes brilliant breakfast toast. Like you, when I fancy some sourdough I buy it. I might have another go, but sure if I can BA.

I also do my own pizza base mix by hand, again it's no hardship and takes the same amount of time as making a loaf of bread. I make a batch big enough for 4 bases and freeze the ones I don't use. They thaw and work perfectly. I use Gilchester Organics Pizza and Ciabatta flour with a bit of added semolina and it turns out well.