I forgot to ask earlier. Finding bread without tons of added ingredients is difficult, even with the artisan breads. I know that several people on my flist have bread machines. Recommended brands or styles? Features?
I agree with this suggestion. We borrowed several and I found that as long as you have one that makes a big enough loaf (1.5 pounds for us), they're all pretty much the same.
The nicest thing about borrowing one in my case is that we got lucky and when one of the owners realized how much room she had regained in her kitchen, she begged us to keep hers, gratis. They do tend to hog counter space.
Yeah, I know that's'a risk. I'm hoping that the right features, like one that I can just dump stuff in and go to work would help with that. Timers and the like. :-)
I'm stiil not sure, but if I do get one down the line, I'm interested in brands.
Perhaps I should ask if anybody has a slightly used one to sell. :-)
I'm pretty sure that mine has a timer; I remember putting the ingredients in it carefully so that they could sit overnight (no liquids touching the yeast and such).
I've had that sucker since high school, but I'm pretty sure that I know where it is. Want to try it? It's 1.5 pounds, IIRC.
I use mine several times a week - basic family bread, plus dough for dough, rolls etc.
I have a Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme - expensive, but worth it to me; it's had constant use with no trouble for 3.5 years now. http://tinyurl.com/ycodq9t
I can go on at length about bread and bread machine use, but I won't right now :D Suffice it to say that it's become part of the routine to throw ingredients in when I get home no a night we need bread, so I have bread ready by bedtime.
Don't have a bread machine, but here's a recipe I make constantly for no-knead bread that doesn't require having a bread machine or even getting your hands dirty. It's only good on a day you're at home, as it's cumulatively 2 hours of rising plus 20 minutes of baking, but there's only about 15 minutes of actual work involved. I do it whenever I have a day off, and just set a timer in my phone.
http://ozarque.livejournal.com/174694.html
I seriously make this whenever I have a day off. Except today.
p.s. I know that wasn't the question! I just figured, if you want to start rightnow, and don't have time to get a bread machine, you can't do better than that recipe. My aunt in Norway has never bought bread, and getting a bread machine was a big indulgence for her but helped a lot because of her arthritis. She uses it all the time. And my dad's cousin bakes constantly with his machine. So I know they're great, I just don't have one, or the room to put one.
We were given a bread machine a few years ago and I have never used it. I do visit it in the pantry every so often and tell it that someday we will get acquainted, but so far this has not happened.
I got a bred machine when I got married (too many years past now!). I found that the size and shape of the machine loaf to be awkward. The feature I did like was using it as a way to mix and knead and proof dough. Then I would turn it out and shape it and bake it into the shape I liked/wanted.
Borrow, if you can. Try it out and see if it will actually be what you want.
I am much more a fan of the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day. I made 75 bread bowls for a dayboard at an archery event that way.
Yah. I have a bread machine, but if I'm going to make bread, I'd rather make bread. I have a recipe from my grandmother that (with practice) doesn't take much more time than the bread machine, it's all in measuring out the ingredients.
When I worked at Kitchen Bazaar, the one we used to make bread for samples was Hitachi. Our staff home economist tested many many brands and said it was the best for performing consistently. The was more than a decade ago so I don't know how true that still holds.
I used Jeff's when I lived with him a couple of times a month. His brand sucked (I can't remember what it was) and he had lost the instruction manual, so it took some fiddling to figure out which order to put the ingredients. It also "walked" across the counted during the kneading phase so I always had to use it on the floor.
Most of them have timers. I would look for one that has a cool-touch exterior and is guaranteed not to walk off the counter!
I had a large Panasonic for sixteen years. Yes, that's SIXTEEN years. I used it often enough that I finally burned the motor out.
The features I used the most were the timer (ahhh, waking up to that heavenly smell of fresh bread) and the little yeast door. Well, the little yeast door was in the lid of the machine-- the first thing it did was open a little ball valve in the bottom of the yeast door and drop all the yeast into the mixing chamber. Thus, no worries about over-use of yeast if the wet and dry ingredients mixed.
My basic recipe is three cups of King Arthur bread flour, a cup and 5/8 of water, 2 t. butter, 1 t. salt, 1 1/2 T yeasst and 2 T. dry milk powder. This makes a very simple yet tasty sandwich bread. It's a two pound loaf.
King Arthur all the way. Accept no substitutes. ;) I can truthfully say that KA produces a superior loaf both taste and texture every time.
Anyway, variants are to substitute out 2 cups of flour for whole wheat (if you don't use that last cup of white, it's a VERY dense loaf), add 1/4 cup of goodies such as wheat germ, linseed, 7 grain cereal or wheat berries; crack an egg into the measuring cup when doing the water and filling the rest of the cup with water; or substituting milk for the water.
The dry milk powder affects the interior texture of the loaf, making it a bit more cake-like (this is called 'crumb'). Dry milk powder is scalded milk. Butter adds a little flavor and helps the crust brown. You can use a different fat like vegetable or olive oil, but I like butter's taste best. Scalding milk changes the sugar structure of the milk; it both promotes yeast growth and tends to prevent the opportunity for airborne bacteria to move in and compete with yeast and turn your loaf a little bitter.
In short, I miss my old Panasonic. I now have a cheap machine I found at a yard sale that I'm thinking of replacing it with a nice Zojirushi, but I haven't gotten around to it because most of my breadmaking lately has been by hand. Well, actually via the KitchenAid.
I have used my machine for about 4 years... To be honest I can't think of the brand name. However, I only baked the loaf in it a couple times. I now exclusively use it to make dough and then put the contents into bread loaf pans and bake that way. It's a little extra work but makes a FAR better loaf than in the machine i think.
Ok, *my* question to those of you who are only making the dough in the machine but not baking it, is this just because of the lack of stand mixer? As in, if you had one would the bread machine then just gather dust? Or do you use the bread maker for anything else?
Part of the problem with baking the dough in the machine is that the mixing paddle gets stuck in the loaf (baked in) and is a PITA to remove.
Because of the size/shape of the BM loaf, I've struggled to slice mine without squishing the loaf. If you bake the loaves seperately, you can make smaller loaves that slice easier.
I don't have a stand mixer, but my handmixer does have dough hooks. I don't like using them, but I was taught not to overmix bread dough (just mix it enough to mix it, not a smidge more), and I feel like they mix it too much and make the dough too stiff.
The bread machine (at least, mine) doesn't seem to have quite as bad of an 'overmixing' problem as the dough hooks on the hand mixer because of speed and penetration.
Hopefully that answers your question about why you might mix but not bake in a BM, even if you had a stand mixer!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-17 06:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-17 06:50 pm (UTC)The nicest thing about borrowing one in my case is that we got lucky and when one of the owners realized how much room she had regained in her kitchen, she begged us to keep hers, gratis. They do tend to hog counter space.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-17 07:00 pm (UTC)I'm stiil not sure, but if I do get one down the line, I'm interested in brands.
Perhaps I should ask if anybody has a slightly used one to sell. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-17 09:23 pm (UTC)I've had that sucker since high school, but I'm pretty sure that I know where it is. Want to try it? It's 1.5 pounds, IIRC.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-17 06:59 pm (UTC)I have a Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme - expensive, but worth it to me; it's had constant use with no trouble for 3.5 years now. http://tinyurl.com/ycodq9t
I can go on at length about bread and bread machine use, but I won't right now :D Suffice it to say that it's become part of the routine to throw ingredients in when I get home no a night we need bread, so I have bread ready by bedtime.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-17 07:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-17 07:05 pm (UTC)http://ozarque.livejournal.com/174694.html
I seriously make this whenever I have a day off. Except today.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-17 07:07 pm (UTC)My aunt in Norway has never bought bread, and getting a bread machine was a big indulgence for her but helped a lot because of her arthritis. She uses it all the time. And my dad's cousin bakes constantly with his machine. So I know they're great, I just don't have one, or the room to put one.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-17 07:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-17 08:53 pm (UTC)Borrow, if you can. Try it out and see if it will actually be what you want.
I am much more a fan of the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day. I made 75 bread bowls for a dayboard at an archery event that way.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-17 09:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-17 10:23 pm (UTC)I used Jeff's when I lived with him a couple of times a month. His brand sucked (I can't remember what it was) and he had lost the instruction manual, so it took some fiddling to figure out which order to put the ingredients. It also "walked" across the counted during the kneading phase so I always had to use it on the floor.
Most of them have timers. I would look for one that has a cool-touch exterior and is guaranteed not to walk off the counter!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 05:56 am (UTC)The features I used the most were the timer (ahhh, waking up to that heavenly smell of fresh bread) and the little yeast door. Well, the little yeast door was in the lid of the machine-- the first thing it did was open a little ball valve in the bottom of the yeast door and drop all the yeast into the mixing chamber. Thus, no worries about over-use of yeast if the wet and dry ingredients mixed.
My basic recipe is three cups of King Arthur bread flour, a cup and 5/8 of water, 2 t. butter, 1 t. salt, 1 1/2 T yeasst and 2 T. dry milk powder. This makes a very simple yet tasty sandwich bread. It's a two pound loaf.
King Arthur all the way. Accept no substitutes. ;) I can truthfully say that KA produces a superior loaf both taste and texture every time.
Anyway, variants are to substitute out 2 cups of flour for whole wheat (if you don't use that last cup of white, it's a VERY dense loaf), add 1/4 cup of goodies such as wheat germ, linseed, 7 grain cereal or wheat berries; crack an egg into the measuring cup when doing the water and filling the rest of the cup with water; or substituting milk for the water.
The dry milk powder affects the interior texture of the loaf, making it a bit more cake-like (this is called 'crumb'). Dry milk powder is scalded milk. Butter adds a little flavor and helps the crust brown. You can use a different fat like vegetable or olive oil, but I like butter's taste best. Scalding milk changes the sugar structure of the milk; it both promotes yeast growth and tends to prevent the opportunity for airborne bacteria to move in and compete with yeast and turn your loaf a little bitter.
In short, I miss my old Panasonic. I now have a cheap machine I found at a yard sale that I'm thinking of replacing it with a nice Zojirushi, but I haven't gotten around to it because most of my breadmaking lately has been by hand. Well, actually via the KitchenAid.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 03:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 03:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 04:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 05:30 pm (UTC)Because of the size/shape of the BM loaf, I've struggled to slice mine without squishing the loaf. If you bake the loaves seperately, you can make smaller loaves that slice easier.
I don't have a stand mixer, but my handmixer does have dough hooks. I don't like using them, but I was taught not to overmix bread dough (just mix it enough to mix it, not a smidge more), and I feel like they mix it too much and make the dough too stiff.
The bread machine (at least, mine) doesn't seem to have quite as bad of an 'overmixing' problem as the dough hooks on the hand mixer because of speed and penetration.
Hopefully that answers your question about why you might mix but not bake in a BM, even if you had a stand mixer!