Bread Maker - worth it?

pigpen

elliebean wrote:

Can I have your bread pudding recipe please, organic wanabe? I love bread pudding and haven't made one for years. Probably because my kids are far too old to want their crusts cut off any more!

And me too please!! ... sounds just the thing for those crusts that are always left int he bag until they grow fur coats!

JoeyEmma

I bought a bread maker following all the hype on here. To be honest, I didn't like the texture or flavour of the bread. Not sure if its the machine I bought as my (almost) inlaws have one of the legendary Panasonic Sdwhatevers and the bread at theirs is always lovely.

Mine sits in the cellar and comes out when I'm making HM pizza

organic_wanabe

This was originally posted by Morlandbanks (but I can't do complicated links):

8 oz(225g) bread (any bits you've got as long as it's not really hard crusts)
10 fl oz (275g) milk
2oz (50g)melted butter (marge works just as well)
3oz (75g) brown (can use white) sugar
6 oz(175g) dried mixed fruit (or whichever you've got of raisins, sultanas,currants and candied peel)
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp ground mixed spice
optional nutmeg grated over the top before baking

Tear bread into small pieces in a bowl. pour over milk, stir. leave for about 20-30 mins to soak in (you'll be surprised at how soggy that little bit of milk will make the bread in that time). Mash up a bit with a fork and make sure there aren't any lumps of bread that will ruin your pud. Add everything else (fruit last but no other particular order) and put into a 2- 21/2pt dish. grate over nutmeg and spinkle a little sugar if you like. Bake at gas 4 / 350f / 180c for about 1 hr 15 mins (unless you've got a fan oven, in which case, reduce temp and time accordingly.)

I have only used dried apricots in mine, but will get round to trying other variations soon. The bread I use is made with a mixture of wholemeal/white/oatmeal/sunflower seeds, but I believe anything works.

Enjoy!

pigpen

I'll try that in a minute!! thank you

Fivenations

organic_wanabe wrote:

Fivenations, what a great website - many thanks. Did you buy your sourdough starter through that site? My son has been at me for ages to make sourdough but I wasn't sure how to get hold of a starter. Any help would be much appreciated.

Hi
Glad you liked it. Not only is the website good but Dan is very helpful. Not many writers take the time to answer questions or are as open with their recipes.

I made the starter myself - it takes patience rather than skill.
http://undergroundbaker.blogspot.com/2006/10/good-god-i-forgot-recipe-leaven-recipe.html

I did not use any rye flour so it took a little longer to get going but is still going strong after 10 months. Good thing about sourdough bread is that it has lower Gi than ordinary yeast bread. It may also be suitable for those who have a slight wheat sensitivity as the slow fermentation breaks down the gluten or something ( but dont take that as a fact). Also tastes much better, though is not to everyone's taste.

julianj1

I have had a Panasonic SD253 for several years.

It is brilliant!!! At first I only baked loaves for special events or to take as presents to friends and neighbours, and the BM is so foolproof that I could come in after the pub on fri night, press the wrong buttons(!), and still get fantastic stuff from the timer for breakfast in the morning.

More recently, having got rather disgusted with industrial bread, I have been using it all the time. Given that the time taken is around 5 mins if you are going to mix up the ingredients yourself, or about 30 secs if you are just going to tip in a packet of ready-mixed, it is incredibly quick.

I did a careful calculation of the costs for a 400g wholemeal loaf.

Ingredients: about 32p total

Electricity used (I have a monitor) 6 p (4+ hour bake programme)

So I reckon 40p in all.

Although there is the capital cost of £80 I think it was well worth it.


Tips from me:

If you use slightly more yeast than specified (eg 3/4 tsp if 1/2 is in the recipe) the loaves are lighter. A tbsp Yoghurt also seems to help.

Vitamin C is available in powder form That's what I use. from

https://www.naturesbest.co.uk

In summary - I think a breadmaker is the best household utility item I have bought really. It makes fantastic presents, like my neighbours watered my plants when was away for a few days, and so I gave them a loaf and they were so chuffed!

Does anybody think that getting "better quality" stoneground organic bread flour is better? I just grab the cheapest that's on special offer, but maybe that's not the best option?

pigpen

*dances conga style*

I GOT ME A NEW TOY!!!
I GOT ME A NEW TOY!!!..
ta-daaa-da-da..
ta-daaa-da-da..

Oooooooohhhh what shall I be trying first... ??????

I even dashed off out to Chavsda for the fillers...

I cannot quite believe I am excited over a bread maker!! I might go to the pub in stead.. to steady my over excited palpitating heart!

organic_wanabe

julian1, I do a variation of the Italian Focaccia Bread in my SD253 (make the dough in the BM and finish it off in the oven) mainly because I find the bread quite difficult to cut when it is made in the big loaf from the tin. I double the quantity to make 2 loaves and use 275g organic wholemeal, 275g Lidl's cheap white strong bread flour, 50g oatmeal, 1 tsp yeast, up to 2 tsp salt, 2 tbsp olive oil, 400ml water and I throw in sunflower seeds and flaxseeds. It's delicious.

At the weekends, if I want to wake up to fresh bread, then I use one of the timer recipes from the instruction booklet.

morlandbanks

I bought mine in May and haven't bought a lof of bread since! I'm not sure of the cost exactly. Probably about half the price of a decent shop loaf, but I do have to make one every day, instead of a shop loaf lasting a couple of days. So it's probably about the same, price wise. But home made is much healthier and much tastier - just check the ingredients on your shop loaf and compare them to a receipe for a home loaf!

Sparky67

I've had a read through some of the posts here - I'd always thought that if I bought a breadmaker it would become another one of those gadgets that sits at the back of the cupboard...

We don't use oodles of bread - in fact just the opposite. My DH won't eat anything but white, and I like the low GI whole grain stuff, so, we but full size white loaves and end up binning half of them, and I buy the half size wholegrain loaves because otherwise I end up binning half of them too (and they are about 60p a go!)

Is a breadmaker a good option... would I get smaller and fresher loaves? I seem to be forever having to buy bread and throw it out at the minute (and no, I can't get it in the freezer because its choc-a-bloc)?