October 11, 2006

• This slice of life post brought to you by the letter s "E" and "Z" and the number "8".
• 1. They can make pretty good bread. 2. They will gather dust in two months. I have used mine for all kinds of bread, and just as a kneading machine for rolls and buns and things that you bake in a conventional oven. Is it easier than making bread without a machine? Of course! Is the time and work and cost of ingredients worth the $2-3 you'd spend at the bakery for a similar or better loaf? Prolly not. I continue to use mine to create something that I can't buy, and that's bird bread for my parrots. It is great for that, and allows me to concoct a nutritous little something that I'd otherwise not have the time nor inclination to do. But, like blenders and waffle makers, these make great wedding present/dust catchers for all those kitchen cabinets that you need to fill.
• Well, my wife's been making bread without the breadmaker (yes, we own one) and finds it only ever so slightly more tedious. I don't think they're worth the cash. Just make it the old fashioned way and get take turns with whoever is around kneading the dough.
• I must disagree with RTD - just as there is *no* substitute for the exquisite stress relief to be garnered from kneading bread dough the old-fashioned way, there is also nothing quite like the heavenly smell of bread baking in your own home. To be able to toss some yeast, salt, flour, sugar, shortening and liquid in a bucket and wake up to that glorious scent and taste is a modern miracle, in my books! And you get to control the chemical content and add exotic stuff like olives, nuts, cheese, cinnamon - whatever. Greatest invention since sliced bread!
• I've had a Black & Decker number for about 3 years. I loved the bread that I could make with it, but I got tired of making one large loaf that would dry out, so I started using it only to make the dough, then making rolls or a French loaf and baking that in the oven. I don't use it often these days because my current roommates are slobs and don't keep the kitchen in general clean and I don't have as much free time to bake bread. If the girlfriend is over for dinner, I'll bake up some rolls or something in advance. The pros of the breadmaker is that you can have fresh bread with that awesome smell whenever you want without leaving your place, but the downside is that you have to either plan it out in advance or wait three or five hours instead of the instant gratification of popping over to the local baker's. It's a lot like making your own wine and beer, I'd imagine.
• Does breadmaker bread beat the baker's bread? No. Never. Of course not. What were you thinking? It's not horrid bread. And it has often kept me from having to clean out my toe jam, find a pair of skivvies, gargle, comb my hairs, toss on a wife-beater, find the thongs, put on some shorts, take a shower, trim my eyebrows and go to the store taking away from my WOW time.
• I have to agree with dayfat; I've made probably 20 loaves in the 6 years I've had it. Each one is initially very good. Except those that had too much water and ended up squishy. Or those where the top fell in and got a half loaf with the same weight. Or those that didn't mix properly and ended up with something other than bread. The ones that do come out OK dry very quickly; be sure to let them cool then wrap in a clean linen towel (reusable) or a ziplock back (longer lasting.) Be sure to make variations - the beer bread was fantastic. Of course, if Mrs. Helper wasn't celiac, I'd probably make more.
• (ps - make sure you have a nice long bread knife to cut the loaves; they're often less dense than store-bought bread, meaning they end up floppier and harder to cut well without a blade that you can really slice with...)
• Your honor, I request to re-examine the witness. Both in the town closest to me, 15 minutes away, or in Rocket88 town, maybe 25 minutes away, there are similar, wonderful, local, small bakeries where true artists get up at fuck o'clock in the morning to bake sweet everythings for me to enjoy. I can walk in there with only a coin or two and walk out with a pile of the most wonderful smelling and tasting stuff in the world. Did I make it myself? No. Did I help a small, local family put groceries in the cupboard this week? Sure did. We take our pleasures in many ways.
• Bang on, Ralph. I have several friends & family who own bread machines, none of whom still use them regularly. I'd say do it the old fashioned way if you want to make real bread at home or visit your local baker. You can also buy frozen bread dough to cook at home, which will give you the great aroma but that's sorta cheating.
• You make bread out of birds?
• I cheat with the frozen stuff once in a while for the smell. Otherwise, well, getting a loaf of fresh-baked bread whenever the hell I want? That's what the Industrial Revolution was all about.
• Meaning I buy it.
• you will never convince me that the waffle iron is anything other than a sacramental tool! /mr. medusa uses my waffle iron just often enough to keep the dust off :D
• Somewhre in my kitchen are these things, csv with the approimate date of last use: Waffle iron, 3 yrs Deep Fat Fryer, 2 yrs Tortilla skillet, 2 yrs Blender, 1 yr Toaster, today George Foreman-type griller, today Bread Maker, 3 months (bird bread gets frozen in chunks and saved) 3 different coffee bean grinders, 2 yrs Microwave, today Espresso Machine, 4 yrs The mind is a terrible thing, however, as I now have a hunger for the waffle iron, thanks to the Medusa family. Prolly have no syrup, tho.
• OK, we're obviously the exception here, but we use our breakmaker three, four times a week & have done ever since it was given to us about five years ago. It helps that a) it makes decent brown / wholemeal bread (not all breadmakers can manage this I'm told: we have a Panasonic one which always seems to get the best reviews in Which?, Good Housekeeping etc etc) and b) we need to make gluten-free bread as well. We also spent a while using it to make cow's milk-free bread (most supermarket bread contains some kind of cow's milk product) when my wife was breastfeeding & any milk in her diet would cause the baby to have major stomach cramps in the night. No, the breadmaker doesn't make bread as good as a decent baker, but it does make bread that's miles better than ordinary supermarket bread & since we don't have a bakery within anything like a reasonable distance, I'll take the breadmaker bread over the supermarket bread any time.
• We live on homemade bread, without a machine, and we're sick as dogs, but it tastes so much better than anything other kind of bread you can imagine.
• And my lovely daughter is making cinnamon rolls right now. Ha ha ha ha ha.
• George Foreman-type griller, today Me being a bit slow when it comes to these things, I only recently realized, after years of use, that my GEORGE FOREMAN LEAN MEAN FAT-REDUCING GRILLING MACHINE TM can grill up bacon fairly decently. Had no idea. It's not coureur-des-bois quality bacon, but still pretty good. Bacon I can leave alone and take a shower in the meantime. Mothra be praised!
• I had a bread machine that I begged and pleaded with a boyfriend to give me as a Christmas gift. "Oh, we'll have fresh bread whenever we want!" Convincing, eh? It was a very pricey little thing from Williams-Sonoma, which made excellent bread, especially with their prepackaged mixes. I'm not so good at baking, so the machine made it very easy for me. But I wasn't pleased with the short life-span of the bread, and I lost the user manual with all the good recipes, both of which are why I stopped using it. The boyfriend lasted about a year after that gift. Much, much later, I threw out the bread machine, too.
• MonkeyFilter: where true artists get up at fuck o'clock in the morning to bake sweet everythings Mornin' folks!
• *blows coffee kisses to Pete
• For years I've thought about picking one of these up. Fresh bread in the moring, with the wacky things that I'd add to it, because no local bakery would makes them? (applesauce-blueberry?, jalepeño-cheddar? wholewheat-cranberry? Earl Grey?) Now you're all starting to persuade me to give up on my dreams. ** wanders off to cry into some Wonderbread **
• All I can say is look at epinions before you buy! We had awful problems with a Breadman machine (unfortunately it's the "house brand" at Wal-Mart), and from what I see there the models are very hit or miss.. probably depends what factory in China they contracted with. The model we had has a well-documented problem with the pan coming off the spool. But other than that, breadmakers do a damn fine job as long as you aren't looking for NYC bakery gourmet type results.
• Yup, the epinions people seem to like our breakmaker. (Actually, there's a newer one than that which has a little tray you can fill with nuts / whatever & it will drop them into the mixture automatically for you at the appropriate moment. You probably want that one...)
• I've got a Breadman Ultimate, and I've used it at least twice a week for three years. It has earned its piece of my very limited countertop real estate. However, I use it for dough-making only. I almost never bake in it. I don't like the texture of the machine-baked loaves, and it's trivial to slap the wad of dough into a pan. It makes entirely adequate basic breads and pizza dough. Not as good as the bread from a good boulangerie, but infinitely better than what passes for bread in the local supermarkets.
• I don't own a breadmaker but I grew up with one, and I loved it. My mother made bread in it all the time, a couple times a week- just regular wheat bread. It was and still is the best bread I've eaten. So fresh, so good.
• hicinbaby!
• I find our bread maker to almost be cost effective. Regular whole wheat bread from the store is better for sandwiches, but creating a loaf for dinner, or one for breakfast, is a treat. And it makes the house smell good. Favorites include herbed dough for pizza and cinnamon-raisin bread with dried cranberries and/or sliced dried apricots. Also, egg bread. I have found that the lubrication on the stem that leads out of the bottom of the pot tends to wash away. This requires that the stem be disassembled before it freezes in place, cleaned, and lubed. More work than I want, so I don't do it as often as I should. Does anyone know what the right sort of oil is? I use mineral oil now. Will I get another one when this one dies? Perhaps.
• I use my Black and Decker bread machine fairly often (1-2 times a week) in the winter. I got it for $25 as an out-of-box clearance at the store, and it works just great for making regular white, wholewheat, and flavored white (or wheat) loaves. It's absolutely terrible at making french bread, but I think that's probably asking too much of it! I've tried baking my own (non-machine) bread, and it just doesn't work. I think part of the reason is that I live in rental properties with cheap ovens that don't heat evenly, so one of the things I like best about my machine is that the bread rises and bakes evenly every time. I'd say to get a machine that makes smaller, rather than larger, loaves if you're worried about the loaves going bad quickly. If you do end up with stale bread, just make croutons or bread pudding!
• I have a friend who eschews the prepackaged mixes and got a book of bread machine recipies and is very happy with the results. Mine's in storage now, but when I get it back I plan to do the same. I haven't used it much up to this point because I had roommates and it makes a lot of noise. Get some big tupperware things because the resulting bread does tend to dry out more than store-bought bread (maybe because it doesn't have all the preservatives and chemicals).
• Oo, lots of good info and opinion here. Thank ye all kindly! If I can summarize: No to the machine: RalphTDog, NickD, islander and Lara. Yes or qualified yes: fishtick,dayfat,Hamburgerhelper, pharm, Skrik, mickey, rolypolyman, hicinbaby, mndz, and Earwax. The Yes' appear to have the field. I will check out the Panasonic model (thanks pharm!).
• If you don't have a good Kitchenaid standing mixer yet, I would invest in that. Like a breadmaker, you can use it to drastically cut the effort needed to make bread. Unlike a breadmaker, you can use it to make sausage.
• I don't have a breadmaker, but I can answer the question "Does it make GOOOOOD bread?" Some friends of mine are game designers. Every Thursday they have a game night at their place. They usually make two kinds of bread, and it's always different-- like Northern Exposed, they're creative with the add-ins. So I've eaten many different types of bread-machine bread, and I can say with confidence that it is GOOOOOD. (Though I wouldn't know about the longevity of the loaves, because it's usually all gone in seconds.) Of course, kneading bread yourself is fun too. Either way.
• For those of you who like to try oven-baked bread, but have temperature proglems, try baking in a (seasoned) cast iron skillet. The cast iron absorbes the heat and provides consistency for the loaf. I've got a potato bread recipe that wowed everyone, even in Mexico, where the stoves I met were, um, lacking, but it came out perfectly every time. Email me if you're interested.
• My mother used to bake cornbread in a cast iron skillet. So good.
• *wishes to get invited to game nights with fresh bread*
• My two cents: I don't have a bread machine because, like a blender, it would gather dust. My mom has one, though, and the bread she makes is really good. Especially when it's hot from the pan thingy and you slice it and slather it with butter and eat it while it's still too hot to really chew. Goddamn. On the other hand, I took up baking my own bread this summer, and I have to say, sorry Mom, mine's better. Found an easy recipe and haven't had any failures yet. It's incredible, if I do say so myself. I store it in ziplok bags. It's soft for about a week, edible for two. I'll have to try the cast iron skillet thing, though. That sounds awesome. BTW, if you're interested, I found my bread recipe at Hillbilly Housewife. Don't laugh (too hard) -- some really great things there. Only thing I would suggest over her basic bread recipe is to proof the yeast instead of just tossing it in (which I did until I learned about proofing). Good stuff. I'll shut up now. Have a good one.
• How to Proof Yeast For those of you who didn't know. Unlike me. Who totally knew but looked it up just to be on the safe side, y'know
• Well, I used to sell these things, along with other kitchen appliances and goodies, and I like to cook, bake especially, so I'll rample out a few more cents on the subject... Bread makers are very much like treadmills or unicycles. Nothing wrong with the general design idea, but a lot of well intentioned people buy them, only to find the equipment gathering dust within a quick couple weeks. Why? Bread machines require time and effort. Sure, they're great labor savers, but you still have to put the effort into running the machine. As a result, I'd guess they're generally used by a very specific demographic - people who are definitely into food, baking, and enjoy good bread, but not so much that they want to invest the time in making bread themselves, possibly because of time contraints. If you fit that profile, there's a good chance you'll get into the habit of using the bread machine regularly. If the above profile doesn't sound like you, it's probably a waste of money. Bread machines do make good bread. Much better than commercial, mass produced bread, which isn't even yeast-risen. If you like WonderBread, no problem, but it's crap bread. I like McD's on occasion, but I don't try and pretend it's good food. That said, if you have access to an artisan bakery, their bread will be much better than the bread machine's. Possibly more expensive though, too. And the bread machine is great for allowing you to sample a wide variety of bread recipes, finding the ones you truly love. like blenders and waffle makers, these make great wedding present/dust catchers After selling kitchen appliances, I'd say that almost all fall into the category of 'dust-catchers'. There are very dedicated minorities (possibly as many as 49% in some cases) who simply cannot live without their wafflemaker/blender/juicer/etc, but most appliances, even coffee-makers, are simply extraneous to most people. That's probably why most appliances are crap. The majority of people can live with the aggravation of owning the crappy model, using it only once or twice a year to confirm their opinion that they don't need it. The dedicated minority who actually enjoys good waffles/juice/bread/etc searches through until they find the rare decent product.
• Thanks for that, Nal. I think if i get one, it would have to be a decent machine. Sadly, it looks like the Panasonic model isn't available in Canada(?)....
• Much better than commercial, mass produced bread, which isn't even yeast-risen. What?
• From what I understand, most commercial mass produced bread is not yeast-risen, for the simple reason that it is too expensive and difficult on an industrial scale. Storing (tens of) thousands of loaves in the proper environment for hours while they rise would seem a huge hassle. Instead, the dough is apparently fed into giant high-powered blenders that whip air into it, accomplishing the same general effect as yeast-rising, but without the flavor or structural benefits. Thus the monotone flavor and strange, spongey, collapsible texture of commercially mass-produced bread. There is yeast in the ingredients, but it's there only for minor effect and mild flavor benefits.
• Belated opinion: I have one (and a bread machine, too!), and used it fairly regularly for a couple of years. I stopped around the time I went vegetarian - not so much need for sandwiches. There were a couple of annoyances: Neither I nor my SO could learn to make good, regular slices. It was pretty dense, so thick slices (or weird thick sections) were often just too much. That could get very annoying. The little twisty thing that kneads the dough leaves a great big hole in the center of the loaf. You can avoid this by using the machine to do the kneading and rising, and then just popping the dough in the oven, but I never did - somehow it seemed like too much trouble to try to get all of the dough off the blade.
• Is this the thread where I spam my bread recipe at? http://allrecipes.com/recipe/uncle-bobs-soybean-bread/detail.aspx
• I've got a potato bread recipe that wowed everyone, even in Mexico Path, would you like to post the recipe here?
• Petebest!
• Nal: that's a remarkably insightful observation on the "dust catchers." Could I get you to come over to my house and smack me upside the head everytime one of them shows up in my Amazon Gold Box? I'm rearranging my kitchen and I've realized I have an entire cabinet full of small appliances that seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I only use them once or twice a year. My breadmaker isn't one of the ones in the cabinet, though. I'm gonna wear that sucker out.