breadmaker vs hand made bread

[Andy Hamilton]

I have now had by breadmaker for a week or two and I don't know what I ever did without it. I have made more bread recently than I did in the whole year last year definelty a convert.

[wulf]

As well as baking loaves, I also often use my machine to supplement handmaking - the machine makes the dough and then beeps when it's ready for me to come and finish off the shaping and baking (eg, baguettes, foccacia, fougasse, etc).

Wulf

[bwaymark]

I started off using a breadmachine, and they are great, but machines break, as mine did, and soon started doing it by hand. Now days I compromise and use an old kenwood to kneed the bread but do the rest myself....

[red]

the thing I have against them is that people will soon forgot how bread is really made without a machine.

This is a particular soapbox of mine, that people don't know how to cook anymore, magazines are full of recipes that are just assembly jobs on ready made food, etc etc.

I'm convinced a generation of children are going to grow up thinking bread should have a hole in the middle of the loaf... and a lesson in 'how to make bread' will start with 'buy a breadmaker'..

the other thing is most people who get one start off raving about them, about waking to the smell of fresh bread and so on, and then after a few months it gets put away.. and thats that.

but maybe I'm just whining cos I have a small kitchen and no counter space.......

[Jo]

We used to make all our own bread by hand and found it no problem at all. In fact, I really enjoyed the kneading etc. BUT - that was before I started working full-time (saving hard right now). So now we have succumbed to a breadmaker and it is so wonderful not to have shop bread all the time again. I dare say it will break down one of these days but hopefully I will have been able to give up working full-time by then and will have the time to bake again.

Mind you, if I happen to hit the supermarket when the bread is reduced to 10p, we buy the shop bread and are grateful.

Jo

[Welsh Girls Allotment]

i've got a bread maker - or cake maker as my husband calls it because it always come out horrid ! I stopped using mine because it goes for about 2 hours and is incredibly greedy on electric however all this talk makes me want to try again can anybody give me a recipe and ideas for faultless bread ??


www.welshgirlsallotment.blogspot.com

[wulf]

I've posted several breadmachine related entries, including my basic loaf recipe, on my blog - see del.icio.us for an index of the relevant entries.

Wulf

[Chickpea]

I have now had by breadmaker for a week or two and I don't know what I ever did without it. I have made more bread recently than I did in the whole year last year definelty a convert.

Yeah, that happens at first. Then you notice you've put on 4lbs and you cut back on the bread a bit.

[Andy Hamilton]

[Yeah, that happens at first. Then you notice you've put on 4lbs and you cut back on the bread a bit.

ah but I lost at least 4lbs when I gave up buying plastic for 2 weeks, no snacks you see....

[Muddypause]

Don't forget, also, that you are in control of how much fat and salt, and other undesireables go in the mix. I have to concede to eating rather a lot when I first got my breadmaker, but I cut that back after a while, and also halved the amount of salt that the recipe called for and eliminated the fat altogether.

Now, after a few years use (3 or 4 times a week) the breadmaker has finally died. I did try handmaking bread for a few days, but in truth the enthusiasm for that wains after a while. To reflect upon Red's comments, I actually think I learned quite a lot about breadmaking by using the machine - varying the mix, and trying out different things is fairly painless, when you don't have to put in a lot of work before you know whether it has worked or not.

[Wombat]

Fair enough, we bought a bread maker and did get some use out of it, but now I do it by hand and use the solar oven.

Nev

[wulf]

This is a link to the book I've been using as my main breadmachine recipe inspiration; a mouthwatering collection!

Wulf

[Wormella]

I started off using a breadmachine, and they are great, but machines break, as mine did, and soon started doing it by hand. Now days I compromise and use an old kenwood to kneed the bread but do the rest myself....

Thats pretty much what we do. We found we were using it more for the dough setting then the bake bread.

[dibnah]

I don't find bread making hard or time consuming so have never bothered with a bread maker, just another machine I don't need.

[PurpleDragon]

I used to make my own bread, but I find that nowadays my hands aren't up to the kneading. Even typing too long is sore in some weathers.

BUT I can't afford a breadmaker - not even an eBay one unfortunately. I would absolutely LOVE to bake my own bread again. YUM YUM!