Postive and negative comments on breadmakers please?

CFC

I gave away my BM. The bread wasn't fantastic and I didn't like the shape of the loaf or the hole in the bottom of it.

I kenwood chef it now, also then turn into rolls, fast and tastes better.

magnolia65

I bought a panasonic at christmas and have only bought one loaf since as it for an emergency.

The only thing I would moan about with it is the water measure cup....why didn't they give you a measure that hold the most amount of water you would use with their recipes...it's taxing work walking to the sink twice when I need 350 ml and the jug only hold 230 ml

thriftlady_2

apprentice_tycoon wrote:

If you want to bake (and knead) by hand the only one point to remember is that if you skimp on the kneading the bread will be heavy, it needs the kneading to develop the gluten which holds the air - that is the crucial point.
You can get free yeast from supermarket bakeries too.

Most recipes recommend 10 mins but I get away with only 4 mins kneading, and my bread isn't heavy at all

charlies_mum

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote:

my m.i.l has given me her breadmaker..... but no instructions:eek: .. i have had it for ages....

so i now want to use it .. so as someone got a hinari homebaker..

could you tell me what to do and how much of what.... thanks......

reading through the various breadmaker threads.... i understand that its not the best bread maker in the world..... if i get on with it i might try and save up for a panasonic one:D

I have a Hinari breadmaker and the recipe book, so if you want to know anything just PM me.

To be fair, I have been a bit disappointed with my efforts and I have followed the instructions to the letter, but my loaves are a bit chewy, so for my 50th birthday later in the year, I have asked for a Panasonic. Good grief, what an exciting life I lead since discovering OS

[Deleted User]

I have always had a chef and also got a bm a few years ago. I have been baking bread for over 30 years and decided to give the bm to my dd last year. I much prefer hand prepared bread and the chef gave me excellent results

I have turned to sourdough in the past month and that is giving me supreme bread but that is all made entirely by hand. There is something very therapeutic about kneading bread dough

By the way I freeze excess bread so one bake does a whole week

snow

By the way, have you heard about no-need technique? I tried it and it definitely works! And you need neither the BM nor Kenwood nor even your hands:rotfl: Only plenty of times for the gluten in your dough to be developed.:T

tim_n

I've had a breadmaker since 2001 (about 6 years) because I'm lazy and we used to get bacon misshapes from the local co-op for 99p a kilo! (great student life... fresh bacon sarnies!)

Now of course I'm all professional worker etc and don't use it nearly enough - not having got up at seven, set it off and come back at 11 from my first lecture! Work doesn't allow me to bake bread in the office :- (

Anyway, the one annoying point of my panasonic is the beeping! It does it on all of the cycles when it starts etc. Is there any way to stop it? It wakes me up so I can't put it on timer!

I do now dump out the loaf and stick it in the traditional pan. Not only does it taste better but I seem to get more as well. No annoying hole is the dealbreaker!

viv0147

Well as a man living alone, my friends mother made me a loaf in her breadmaker and it was wondeful what a great taste and of course so fresh. It was so nice I bought a breadmaker and now bake all my own bread its very easy to do and a little cheaper than a £1 a loaf but even if it cost more it would be worth it, I am also saving money on air freshener the smell of a loaf cooking is devine.

seraphina

newlywed wrote:

Is is possible to "over" rise the bread? To leave it to rise for too long? What happens does it just make it more "airy"??

Yes, you can over prove bread. If you leave your first rise too long, the dough won't rise properly (or will take ages to do so) on the second rise, so your loaves are flat. If you leave the second rise too long, then your loaf stands the risk of collapsing in the oven. You get a very high crust, then a big hole between the top of the crust and the start of the bready bit inside the loaf.

To see if it's risen enough, poke the dough with your finger. If it springs back straight away, it's not done rising. If it springs back to shape slowly, it's ready to knock back. If it doesn't spring back at all, then it's slightly overrisen.

[Deleted User]

snow I was reading about this method an hour ago. If you goggle Mark Bittman you`ll find a video on it. I am going to try this and finish by doing the 3x3 turns before plopping it into a very hot cast iron pan. I`ve got my starter out the fridge now and will start the proving in the morning. I`m going to be using the leaven instead of yeast and I`ll probably bake late tomorrow evening