Bread Machine

Bread Machine, YES OR NO


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sassandgroove

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Allright, 'fess up! Who has bread machines?

The recent budget thread and the how do you stretch your food threads have me inspired to save dough! (Yay for punny.) Someone mentioned a bread machine. It got me thinkin'. I love bread. I love baking. But I don't have the time I'd like to make bread on a regular basis. (LM Ashton,I'll look at your thread shortly!)

SO: Do you have a bread machine?
Do you like it?
Did you get a mega expensive one or a modest one? Why?
Do you think it saves you time?
Do you think it saves you money?
Why or why not?
If it breaks, are you gettin' a new one or not bothering?

Thanks in advance for responses. :D:D
 
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Adam Israel

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I used to have one. I don't remember the model or brand, but it did make loafs that were longer, like the ones you get in the store. I seem to remember a majority of makers make vertical loafs.

I loved having it and plan to get another one sometime. I don't know that it saves time or money, but fresh bread tastes yummy and there are a variety of breads you can make that you don't normally see in the store, like Pizza bread and Chili Cheese bread. Endless possibilities.
 

Haggis

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Allright, 'fess up! Who has bread machines?

The recent budget thread and the how do you stretch your food threads have me inspired to save dough! (Yay for punny.) Someone mentioned a bread machine. It got me thinkin'. I love bread. I love baking. But I don't have the time I'd like to make bread on a regular basis. (LM Ashton,I'll look at your thread shortly!)

SO: Do you have a bread machine? Yes
Do you like it? Yes, it's okay
Did you get a mega expensive one or a modest one? Dunno Why? It was a gift
Do you think it saves you time? No. It's faster to go to the bakery.
Do you think it saves you money? No.
Why or why not? I wind up wasting flour.
If it breaks, are you gettin' a new one or not bothering? Probably wouldn't bother.

Thanks in advance for responses. :D:D

I do love good, fresh, homemade bread. And I am no baker.

Yes, the stuff my breadmaker makes is pretty good, but the odd shape is troublesome, and much of it winds up going to waste.

I think for a family with kids, it might be a godsend. Not so much for me. Besides, I really, really like eggplant.
 

KTC

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I'd rather make eggplant parm. (and eat it) than just about anything. Bad choice in a bread maker poll... the eggplant wins every time.

My brother and his wife became socially broken when they got their bread maker. I remember it vividly. It was scary! They made bread morning, noon and night. It was like a high. If their house wasn't filled with the aroma of fresh bread... they might as well have been junkies missing their fix. They jonesed like nobody's business. And it was a challenge to them to make as many different kinds of breads as there were flavours in the universe. It was pretty wild, really. I had a penchant for the paprika and peppered olive oil/rye bread. Yummy!

Honestly... it was amazing how many kinds of bread they always had. But they soon grew to the boundaries of their walls. We call them The Fatties now and no longer invite them to Christmas dinner.

They wouldn't come anyway... they'd be at home. Makin' and eatin' bread.


I say go for it.
 

alleycat

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My mother is a long-time bread maker. She even sells loaves around Christmastime, as well as hand them out as gifts. People drive out to her house just to pick up bread,

One year I gave her a bread machine. Well, she looked it over, said "thank you very much" . . . and promptly put it back in a closet somewhere where it didn't see the light of day until she put it in a yard sale a few years later. So much for good intentions.
 

sassandgroove

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*Makes a mental note to get my mom's eggplant parmesan recipe for Haggis.*

Yikes, three posts while I read then type this to Haggis!
 

Sarpedon

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I've never made bread in a bread maker, and disliked every loaf I've tasted from one.

At the height of my bread making, I'd do it weekly, always in the oven, always hand kneaded, on cookie sheets, with a pan o boiling water.

Down with the bread machines!
 

sassandgroove

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My momma didn't make bread, so I wouldn't be able to compare it to hers. Well, she'd make banananananana bread and such, but not yeast bread.
 

alleycat

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I've never made bread in a bread maker, and disliked every loaf I've tasted from one.

At the height of my bread making, I'd do it weekly, always in the oven, always hand kneaded, on cookie sheets, with a pan o boiling water.

Down with the bread machines!
Hi, mom!

(Just kidding.)
 

Shadow_Ferret

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We have a breadmaker. Not sure what it cost, we stole it from my dead aunt. But I love fresh bread and use it quite a bit. I've never been keen on the square loafs it makes, so I generally use it to knead the bread then put the dough into a traditional breadpan and bake in the oven.

I've never made bread in a bread maker, and disliked every loaf I've tasted from one.

That makes no sense. Bread is bread is bread. You follow the recipe and it shouldn't matter if you make it in the breadmaker or the oven.

Unless you're talking about those package bread mixes. Those are awful.
 

Shadow_Ferret

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Well, if we had a stand mixer, probably. Can't afford $300 at the moment though.

ETA: Oh, sorry, you were asking if you could use it, not if we'd use it. Misread your post.

I'm sure you can mix bread in a mixer, that's all a breadmachine is. A mixer with a little tiny paddle on it.
 

Haggis

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Interesting Ferret. I have a stand mixer, wonder if I could just use that to knead dough and skip the bread machine.

A buddy of mine used to use his Cuisinart to knead his dough, and he made great bread. I see no reason your stand mixer couldn't do the job, as long as it's heavy enough. I'm sure bread making purists would disagree.
 

KTC

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My momma made bread every second morning for all my childhood. I almost didn't notice. I liked that there was always a coffee mug with rising yeast in it on the kitchen counter, though. It was somewhat comforting.
 

johnnysannie

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I have a bread machine, a Sunbeam model that makes a normal shaped loaf. I use it quite a bit but I also often make bread the old-fashioned way, hand-kneading, etc.

We love our homemade bread.

I sometimes make other homemade breads too and this is one of the easiest recipes for a quick homemade bread I've ever used. It's Italian cheese bread, a lot like the foccia (sp?) you can buy in bakeries. I also sometimes make the same dough, substitute tomato sauce for the salad dressing and make homemade pizza.

Here's the recipe:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp spoon
1 tsp sugar
1 tablespoon yeast
1 cup warm water (120-130 degrees)

Mix first four ingredients, then combine water and oil, add to flour mixture. Add extra flour if needed to make a soft dough. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until elastic - not long at all -

Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise for 20 min.

While the dough is rising, combine
1/4 to 1/3 cup Italian salad dressing
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried thyme
dash of pepper
1 tablespoon grated mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella

Once dough has risen to about double the original size, punch dough down and place on a greased 12 inch pizza pan. Pat the dough out into the circle of the pan then brush with the salad dressing (or if making pizza, spread the tomato sauce).

Combine the other seasonings and cover, sprinkling the cheese on last.

If you are making pizza, here's the time to add whatever toppings you might want - fresh mushrooms, onions, black olives, green peppers, cooked meats, whatever.

Bake at 450 degrees (pre-heat the oven first) for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

It's good and it's quick to make.
 

dolores haze

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I love my Breadman!

I love the smell of baking bread. My kids love the different kinds of bread and even eat the crusts. I have to make a loaf every two days to keep up with the demand. I don't think it saves me money. I could go buy a cheap, air-filled sliced loaf for much less than the cost of bread flour and yeast. But the homemade bread is fresher, healthier and so much tastier.

I'd buy another machine very quickly if mine broke, but I've been using it several times a week for two years and have had no problems with it. Fresh bread with hearty, home-made soups in winter and with delicious salads in summer - what could be better?

I want to try sourdough, but have no starter. My most popular loaf with the kids is Italian Herb; my husband's favorite is Rye; my favorite is pulling the ready dough out and baking fresh, crusty baguettes in the oven.

Yeah, I love my Breadman!
 

Kate Thornton

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I make bread from scratch once in a while & don't have room for a machine. I do have a stand mixer with a bread hook, though.

I am diabetic and have to watch carbs, so making lots of heavenly homemade bread slathered with butter is out for me. But I do it once in a while anyway, especially if company is coming so I have to share.
 

DeborahM

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I have a bread machine, a Sunbeam model that makes a normal shaped loaf. I use it quite a bit but I also often make bread the old-fashioned way, hand-kneading, etc.

We love our homemade bread.

I sometimes make other homemade breads too and this is one of the easiest recipes for a quick homemade bread I've ever used. It's Italian cheese bread, a lot like the foccia (sp?) you can buy in bakeries. I also sometimes make the same dough, substitute tomato sauce for the salad dressing and make homemade pizza.

Here's the recipe:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp spoon
1 tsp sugar
1 tablespoon yeast
1 cup warm water (120-130 degrees)

Mix first four ingredients, then combine water and oil, add to flour mixture. Add extra flour if needed to make a soft dough. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until elastic - not long at all -

Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise for 20 min.

While the dough is rising, combine
1/4 to 1/3 cup Italian salad dressing
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried thyme
dash of pepper
1 tablespoon grated mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella

Once dough has risen to about double the original size, punch dough down and place on a greased 12 inch pizza pan. Pat the dough out into the circle of the pan then brush with the salad dressing (or if making pizza, spread the tomato sauce).

Combine the other seasonings and cover, sprinkling the cheese on last.
 

stormie

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I've had my bread machine for about eight or nine years now. It's a Breadman with touch controls, at that time it cost about $170, and I use it on average once a week (less in summer, more in winter). It is getting on in years, as it sometimes gets quirky. If I feel like it, I don't bother with the machine and get all my aggressions out on kneading the dough. That's rare lately, as I've been keeping calmer. :D

If my machine broke, yeah, I'd look into another one, but the price would have to be okay.
 

zenwriter

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I love making bread -- but no machine for me. When I'm in a rush, I make beer bread. It's very fast and easy to make. Highly recommended.
 

L M Ashton

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I want to try sourdough, but have no starter.
You can make your own starter (I think there's at least one link to instructions) or you can join a sourdough group and put out a plea for sourdough starter, and most likely you'd get offers to mail it to you for the cost of postage. I went the make-my-own-starter root cuz I live in Outer Darkness, and where am I going to find someone with a starter here? Mine was bubbling enough that I was using it at day three, and it raised bread fine. Azure Skye decided to start her own and she's got bubbles and the right kind of smell at day two. Hers will likely be ready for making bread in a couple or three days, possibly sooner. It's honestly not at all difficult to make a sourdough starter.


I had a breadmaker in Canada which I used somewhat regularly. I don't have one here and won't be getting one. The low-knead techniques I use mean that there's a sum total of less than a minute of kneading, so why would I need a bread machine when I've already got methods that make it so easy and so hassle-free to make bread? I mean, seriously, in the middle of the worst of the chikungunya virus that Fahim and I caught, I had seriously nasty dizziness issues and bone crunching pain and it still wasn't a hassle to make bread. Cook anything to eat, yes. Make bread, no. Besides, most bread machines can't handle the longer rising times that sourdough bread requires.