Does the bread maker save your family budget?

shellsmithcat

I have a Panasonic breadmaker and love it. Have a loaf on the go as we speak.

Ben84

We had one some years ago. I didn't like it that much and don't even recall what happened to it in the end! It wasn't very flexible really compared to making bread myself, plus the bread wasn't as good and it didn't bake that well either.

I used to knead the dough by hand, but these days I always make bread with my kenwood mixer and the dough hook. I've found a way to make it very quickly and the total work is minimal. I knead the dough in the kenwood mixer with a plastic bowl (dough doesn't stick to plastic, so it's easy to clean), then I set the plastic bowl in a larger bowl with hot water inside and put a wet cloth over the top. It rises incredibly fast this way the first time. Then I shape it however I like, and since the yeast got well activated from the heat earlier, I find it keeps going and rises up again fast. I can go from mixing the dough to baking the bread in quite a short time. I think today was around 1.5 hours, and the time actually spent making it and cleaning up was around ten minutes. I imagine other people have their own quick methods too, but this one works for me. I do also sometimes make the dough the night before and leave it in the fridge to rise slowly. This is particularly good for pizza dough which only needs to rise the once anyway, so it will be ready to use instantly any time I want the next day.

tooties

Hi,
I would highly recommend a panasonic i have had mine for years and would never go back to supermarket bread. It's quick easy and so convenient.
If anything happened to it a replacement would be bought the same day.

regards

thriftwizard

I also make bread by hand and in my Panasonic - which is 10, and took over from one that did 12 years before that. Where it did save us money, big time, was pizza dough... with 7 of us in the house, I could do two big batches of HM pizza dough & let the kids roll them out & choose their own toppings. Yes, I could have made it by hand, but not whilst supervising homework, making costumes "needed" for the next day, fishing stray small guests down from trees, refereeing, etc. etc.

Now its main use is for "overnight" loaves; warm fresh bread & string coffee for an early breakfast sets you up just right for a hard day on the market stall!

philkenning

I also have a Panasonic have tried other makes and they are by far the best. I reckon a loaf costs 44p including the electricity so a lot cheaper than shop bread even sliced bread and tastes a lot better.
Yes there is a hole in the bottom but it's really not the end of the world and you can decide how much sugar and salt you use although both are essential for a good bake so never try and do without.
my recipe for a basic white loaf is
310ml of warm water (21 - 30 degrees)
485g white bread flour (75p for 1.5kg in Aldi and Lidl)
2 teaspoons sugar (use the measure that comes with the machine)
1 1/4 teaspoons of salt
36g of vegetable oil
7g yeast (I use Allinsons 99p for 100g in Tesco) keep it in the fridge!

cooks in 1hr 55 mins and takes about 2 minutes to put the ingredients together.
I make a loaf every 2 days or maybe 3 and the bread keeps fine for this long in a closed bag.
I bought a second hand bacon slicer cheap on ebay which I use to slice the bread after cooling for an hour or so.
The difference in loaves between a Panasonic and other makes just can't be believed until you have seen it.
Good luck you will never go back to shop bread!

psouth

If you have a slow cooker, don't bother buying a bread maker until you try the SC method. Make bread up as usual, knead. 1 hour proving on low then cook 45 minutes - 1 hour on High. Just oil or line the crock. Obviously, if you want to have a loaf cooked for breakfast, this doesn't have a delayed timer!

surfsister

psouth this sounds good - you just prewarm the slowcooker and place it in well geased?

i was going to say look on freecycle for a free breadmaker as often on there but slowcooker sounds ideal.

surfsister

psouth this sounds good - you just prewarm the slowcooker and place it in well geased?

i was going to say look on freecycle for a free breadmaker as often on there but slowcooker sounds ideal.

tenuissent

I am another who has always made bread by hand, over the last 50 years, and have watched my daughters and their friends becoming annoyed with the drawbacks of the bread machines they asked for as wedding presents. One has gone back to hand making, the other just buys all her bread.

I buy flour and yeast in bulk via Amazon, make 6 medium loaves at a time and keep them in the freezer until needed. I use only one rise, and it takes perhaps 20 minutes to fill the tins from scratch, before leaving them to rise under a damp cloth.

My tins are up to 70 years old by now and are not non-stick, but I roll each lump of dough in mixed seeds (also bought in bulk, or they can be very expensive) and they slide easily out of the greased tin. I love the taste of slightly singed seeds (possibly more so than my husband does, but seeds are good for us!).

I sell the loaves occasionally to support my choir, sell out quickly, and am constantly asked for the recipe. We like a dense loaf, not a soft over-risen one, and other seem to like it too. I am convinced it saves us money and we much prefer it.

I would never want a bread machine, making only one loaf at a time, cluttering up our kitchen.

Helenca_2

I used to have a bread maker which I did not like. I now have a Kenwood mixer with a dough hook. I do not put sugar in the bread as it is not necessary and only 1 teaspoon of salt and two teaspoons of yeast. If you are in a hurry and do not have a proofing draw as they do on TV once my bread has mixed in my mixer which only takes 12 mins I put it into a tin and place it in a heated seed tray which makes it rise in about 30 mins then take it out and knead it for a few mins put it into your bread tin back into the heated seed tray for about 30mins and then into a hot oven for 30 mins and job done. Allow to cool until thoroughly cold and put in a plastic bag. This will last for about three days if allowed to. If your kitchen is warm you do not need the seed tray and the proving will take approximately 45 mins. Hope this helps.