Thinking of buying a bread machine
Discussion
We've used a bread maker for more years than I can remember. It's convenient when you want to wake up to the smell of fresh bread & effort-saving when you use it to make dough for something 'a bit fancier' — rolls / shaped loves / pizza bases / home-made naan ( 
) etc.
On the rare occasions that we do buy bread (admitedly from a supermarket....) it usually seems to be lacking in flavour & quite salty.
Just be aware that some British bread flour is not as strong as it might be at the moment — so you might get flat / sunken tops, which will be a bit disappointing for a 'first timer'.
Following advice on another thread on this subject, I now routinely put 15ml lemon juice (in place of 15ml of water) in the mix with 500g flour when using British flour (as opposed to the stronger Canadian flour) & have been getting far better / more consistent results since.
) etc.On the rare occasions that we do buy bread (admitedly from a supermarket....) it usually seems to be lacking in flavour & quite salty.
Just be aware that some British bread flour is not as strong as it might be at the moment — so you might get flat / sunken tops, which will be a bit disappointing for a 'first timer'.
Following advice on another thread on this subject, I now routinely put 15ml lemon juice (in place of 15ml of water) in the mix with 500g flour when using British flour (as opposed to the stronger Canadian flour) & have been getting far better / more consistent results since.
We've used a breadmaker for years, firstly an LG and for the last 15 years a Panasonic, the LG was quite OK but the Panasonic is miles better.
It's useful if you just want to spend a few minutes, and it really is less than 5 minutes, measuring stuff out and starting it off. Several hours later a loaf, albeit differently shaped from a bought loaf, and with the paddle imprint in the base.
Ours gets 50% use in the full cycle, mostly 50/50 wholemeal/white or granary or seeded, and 50% making doughs for baps, fruit teacakes, pizza dough and so on.
Having said that, we have both agreed that when the bread machine claps out we would be more likely to buy a decent mixer with a dough hook, eg Kitchen Aid/K Mix and make our bread that way.
I have some sourdough starter that I'm trying to get going. If that's a success then we may well buy such a mixer earlier and convert all bread making to "doing it by hand." I have no difficulty kneading by hand but Mrs F finds it causes problems.
It's useful if you just want to spend a few minutes, and it really is less than 5 minutes, measuring stuff out and starting it off. Several hours later a loaf, albeit differently shaped from a bought loaf, and with the paddle imprint in the base.
Ours gets 50% use in the full cycle, mostly 50/50 wholemeal/white or granary or seeded, and 50% making doughs for baps, fruit teacakes, pizza dough and so on.
Having said that, we have both agreed that when the bread machine claps out we would be more likely to buy a decent mixer with a dough hook, eg Kitchen Aid/K Mix and make our bread that way.
I have some sourdough starter that I'm trying to get going. If that's a success then we may well buy such a mixer earlier and convert all bread making to "doing it by hand." I have no difficulty kneading by hand but Mrs F finds it causes problems.
solo2 said:
Interesting about Panasonic. Any particular model you suggest, is it a case of the dearer the better?
It's generally down to what colour of machine you want & whether you want/need the raisin/nut & yeast dispensers. The raisin/nut & yeast dispensers do make an audible 'clunk' when they open, so if you're running it overnight & the machine is within earshot of your bedroom & you leave your kitchen / bedroom doors open at night, you may hear it. To counter that, I've been told that not putting the nuts/seeds into the mix until later on in the kneading process may increase the life of the non-stick coating on the pan.
If you're going to use raisins or other dried fruit in the mix, I think the raisin/nut dispenser would be essential, as mixing them for too long would probably turn them to mush.
Mobile Chicane said:
It falls into two camps: those who got it as a wedding present, used it once and never again. Or, those who use it all the time.
Panasonic seems to be the model to go for.
We asked for a Panasonic as a wedding present and 7 years later is it still going strong - although the pan and paddle need replacing (scratched from the seeds/nuts etc we use) and the raisin/nut dispenser has broken. A fantastic piece of machinery that gets used 2-3 times a week.Panasonic seems to be the model to go for.
I'm a bit unsure about the dispenser, as adding them by hand allows you to vary the timing from standard.
Therefore we don't have a nut/raisin dispenser on ours and still make seeded and fruited breads per earlier post. The machine has a setting part way through the kneading cycle, and if selected, there is a sound signal when to add seeds fruit and nuts.
Nuts do reduce the non stick coating life, that was what did for our LG in the end. It was not much more money to buy a new Panasonic than buy a new non stick pan.
Seeds less of an issue.
If you add fruit, e.g. raisins and sultanas, in at the start of the process then they do definitely suffer, and to my taste even adding them at the "add fruit" signal, they still suffer a little and the resultant bread / teacake is a little heavy.
To avoid this I've resorted to putting the fruit in at the end of the cycle. Normally at this point you would be shaping the dough, leaving it for a final prove and then baking. But if you take the dough out, give it another quickish knead by hand to incorporate the fruit, then shape and prove the results are far better.
Imho for fruited teacakes the fruit does need to have suffered a bit and the resulting heavier texture replicates more what grew up with as a child in the West Riding. But for a fruited loaf the heavier texture is a definite minus point.
Therefore we don't have a nut/raisin dispenser on ours and still make seeded and fruited breads per earlier post. The machine has a setting part way through the kneading cycle, and if selected, there is a sound signal when to add seeds fruit and nuts.
Nuts do reduce the non stick coating life, that was what did for our LG in the end. It was not much more money to buy a new Panasonic than buy a new non stick pan.
Seeds less of an issue.
If you add fruit, e.g. raisins and sultanas, in at the start of the process then they do definitely suffer, and to my taste even adding them at the "add fruit" signal, they still suffer a little and the resultant bread / teacake is a little heavy.
To avoid this I've resorted to putting the fruit in at the end of the cycle. Normally at this point you would be shaping the dough, leaving it for a final prove and then baking. But if you take the dough out, give it another quickish knead by hand to incorporate the fruit, then shape and prove the results are far better.
Imho for fruited teacakes the fruit does need to have suffered a bit and the resulting heavier texture replicates more what grew up with as a child in the West Riding. But for a fruited loaf the heavier texture is a definite minus point.
We find that the bread maker makes small loafs so it doesn't have time to go stale tbh. However it does need to breath rather than sweat in a plastic bag or container. What we do do to keep it that little fresher is keep it in a breathable bread bag, in our case a linen tea towel sewn together with a draw string at the top.
Bought one a few years ago thinking it would speed up the process.
It did, but the bread wasnt as good as we had been making by hand for years. Ended up giving the breadmaker away!
Then experimented with sourdough -found that extremely successfull, and have not bought any commercially produced bread since. :-)
It did, but the bread wasnt as good as we had been making by hand for years. Ended up giving the breadmaker away!
Then experimented with sourdough -found that extremely successfull, and have not bought any commercially produced bread since. :-)
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