making your own bread - worth it?

MrsE_2

GemmaBuckle wrote: »

Hi,
I'm looking at getting a breadmaker I'm seriously considering the Morphy Richards 48268. It's under £50 on Amazon and the paddle drops away during the cooking cycle, so presumably no holey bread!
Gemma

Oh thats interesting, I wonder if this is the ONLY make/model that does this?

Meadows

Yes, totally worth it.

There are so many choices of bread you can make, add seeds etc, make fruit bread. Your imagination is the only thing to stop you.
I have two bread makers; one does the upright loaf the other the traditional loaf shape.
When I'm in a hurry I use the bread maker, if I have more time but can't be bothered to do the kneading I use the bread maker to make the dough.
When I want a good home made loaf I do it all from scratch. I quite often make up dough and allow it to rise in the fridge over night, this works a treat.
If it’s a sunny day I allow the dough to rise outside, this works quite quickly.
You can make bread by only allowing it to rise once or twice (once produces a more open texture).
Canadian Flour is meant to be the best flour to use, I came across some in Waitrose the other day and I am very impressed with this flour.

buxtonrabbitgreen

MrsE wrote: »

I thought about it, but when off the idea when I found out there would be a big hole (from a paddle) in the bottom of the loaf.

The paddle very rarely sticks in my Panasonic. Maybe occasionally if the mix is a bit too dry. My sister said ,when I took one out of the breadmaker ,"where's the hole then"

roomontheend

I have had insider information that a panasonic bread maker will have 25% off at debenhams on wednesday.

zippychick

MrsE wrote: »

Oh thats interesting, I wonder if this is the ONLY make/model that does this?

Another option there is to remove the dough just before it starts to cook, and take out the paddle, and plop it back in. Each BM has different times and cycles, so you can just look the times up in the instructions.:D

Going to try hand made bread again...

freakyogre

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

I had this problem too but I increased the milk in the loaf, kneaded it less and gave it a wash with milk and it has been ok since.

jackieglasgow wrote: »

It might be either A) too dry - poss try using milk? or simply put a tea towel (clean of course) over bread for the first 15 mins or so when it comes out of the oven, which helps keep the crust softer.

HTH Jackie X

ETA - sorry, I missed thriftlady's last post on page1 didn't meant to double post!

I didn't know you were meant to use milk I've been following the instructions on the bag which are (if I can remember correctly) bread flour, yeast, oil\butter, salt and water. At what point would I add milk? Any any particular milk or will anything do? And how much?

Sorry for so many questions! I've blitzed the remains of my rock hard rolls today, so have a big bag of breadcrumbs now

northwest1965

MrsE wrote: »

I thought about it, but when off the idea when I found out there would be a big hole (from a paddle) in the bottom of the loaf.

Is this a big problem with breadmakers? Also does the bread come out easily when cooked?

Kadeeae

Just going on the main (topic starter) question -

Yes, sooo worth it! Cheaper, tastes 10x better, no preservatives or unwanted ingredients, and best of all the gorgeous smell of fresh baked bread wafting through the house

jackieglasgow

I don't use milk at all, but I do add a bit of butter for some richness if I fancy it, usually 25g for 750g of flour. If adding milk, I would probably do about 10-15% of my liquid as milk (substitute for cold water then make up the rest of your volume). But you should find the teatowel trick should be all you need!

Jackie X

buxtonrabbitgreen

My ds says it is ok for me to post this. I had to buy a loaf yesterday as I didn't have time to make one before I went out for the day. I bought a Warburtons toastie. He has just said he doesn't like this sort of white bread anymore. It is too doughy and doesn't taste right. Now if there is one thing teenagers do well it is telling the truth, often not something I want to hear, like my new haircut makes me look butch.