hungryhorace

I wouldn't even know where to start with making bread, I hope with a bread maker I could just put the ingredients in and it'd do the hard work

Speedwell

Well the hard work is just the mixing. I tend to overmix and overknead and use too much flour... in other words, I overcomplicate things and assume it takes much more work than it actually does! A good strong food processor can handle the hard part for you and be useful in other ways in the kitchen too. I actually have a Vita-Mix. I did the thing where you start with a handful of whole-grain unground bread wheat, and end with dough. It really does work, but it's more work than necessary. One packet of bread yeast in 600ml of tepid water, leave to bloom while you weigh the flour and dump it into the food processor with a pinch of salt (if you use it), then dump in the water and whiz to mix till it forms a ball on the blade. Take it out and knead it on a floured countertop for a bit (stretch those gluten strands!). The rest is pretty easy. All the possible ways in which bread could go wrong have been known for a thousand years and you can get all the help you want online. They say your first loaf is OK, the second is pretty good, and the third is perfectly satisfactory. Get those three loaves out of your system and you'll be surprised you ever wanted to spend the money on a machine.

WEBlue

Yeah, that big paddle used to be a problem with my lastbreadmaker 15 years ago, but the newer ones have a smaller thinner mixing blade that doesn't leave that gaping hole in the bottom of the loaf. And my Cuisinart breadmaker will beep at you (if you're around, which I'm not always) once the next-to-last rising is done so you can take the blade out for the final rise and bake. My breadmaker isn't perfect by any means, but the technology has improved.

Why use a breadmaker? If you'll be home for the 3-4 hours while it's making the bread, maybe you don't need a machine to do it. But I'm not able to be home all day to be sure I check the risings, punch it down, whack it in the oven, check the baking & take it out.

So much easier to put everything into the breadmaker and let it do its own 'thang' for all those hours, then come home to a nice finished loaf. Or to do it overnight & wake up to fresh bread in the morning.

hungryhorace

How does this look? http://amzn.to/16bBw6D Would it do the job ok for British bread?

Speedwell

Panasonic makes good breadmakers, but it's not necessary to spend that much unless you just want to. Also look into high-rated Breadman machines.

hungryhorace

I always buy Amazon Used - Very Good / Like New. It's only $100 from them

robin1234

Yeah bread is dead easy but many people think it's hard so you get lots of compliments! When we ran a youth hostel in England, I made bread in quantities ... Sometimes ten or more pounds a day, and sold it to the hungry hostellers at a massive profit. (Profit for YHA, not me.). I used a Kenwood Chef, a really good heavy duty machine. I see you can buy them in the US now, but when we first came here Kitchenaid seemed to be the only mixers available. They're OK but not so robust.

My wife always uses our Kitchenaid to make bread but when I do now, I just make it by hand ... making a pound or two and you hardly need a machine.

Bob

http://vegbonvivant.wordpress.com/20...its-yummy-too/

I made this, but as rolls. Only 5 mins in a food processor/mixer and then 40 mins in the oven...no faffing around with yeast either.

Not the best looking but it is a easy one to try one

hungryhorace

Many thanks! Have sent this to the missus

Jerseygirl

There are some bread recipes in The Recipe Thread.

Guindalf

Of for some decent thick cut, fresh, crusty rolls!

Oh, I'll be there next week! Yay, bacon and/or sausage sarnies, here I come!!!!

Karrie72

I love my bread oven and my kitchen aid makes great dough too.

I do agree that its easy to over think bread. When I was in England this summer my Mum introduced me to a new way of making bread she'd found out about. Make a wetter dough and instead of pounding at it for 10 minutes, simply arrange the dough into a flat shape. (not very technical sounding I know, I'll see if I can provide a link) But the result is the most gorgeous focaccia style bread.

Any way, much as I love bread I can't eat much anymore as it doesn't do much for my figure.