Bread Makers

[kickstart 1]

Does anyone here have a bread maker? How easy are they to use? What ingredients would i need to make bread using one? Any suggestions for types of bread?

[shelley bda]

I love my breadmaker.... I find mine extremely easy to use, to make basic white I use

Strong bread flour
Yeast ( sachets are good )
Salt
Sugar
Cooking oil
Milk
water

Takes about 3 hours to make a loaf, make sure you measure the ingrediants out properly and the water is tepid, can kill the yeast otherwise, and the measurements need to be exact for the bread to bake properly. My breadmaker came with a recipe book and measuring spoons and cups.
There's also a recipe for doughnuts dough in the book, make the dough then leave it to rise in a warm oven for 1/2 an hour before rolling into balls and deep frying... yummy stuff, going to try hot cross buns next I think...

[Fabula]

Bread makers are easy to use, and usually come with a pile of recipies to try.

All need flour, and fast action yeast. You usually can't use fresh yeast in breadmakers.


Bread made can be tasty, but doesn't look as good as a 'proper' loaf. And tends to have a hole in the base.


Good luck with whatever model you go for.

[kickstart 1]

Thanks for the help ..mmmmm doughnuts sound good!

[Moby-Dick]

the Guys on MSE are big breadmaker fans.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=147549

should be a good start.

[listy]

you can buy bread size flour packs from tesco and the like

[shelley bda]

Thanks for the help ..mmmmm doughnuts sound good!

Here's the recipe I use for them ( cup = 8oz )

1 1/4 cup of milk ( tepid )
Beated egg
1/4 cup of butter
1/4 cup of sugar
1tsp salt
3 3/4 cups of yeast
1 1/2 tsp of yeast

Once you have a dough roll them into balls, can be gooey so be careful, stick them in a warm place ( I leave my oven on low ) and leave to rise for 1/2 an hour, before frying until golden in the deep fat fryer, leave to cool slightly, coat with sugar and there ya go... yummy, you have to eat them within a day because they don't keep very well

[kickstart 1]

Thanks for that Shelley, they sound really good, wont do much for the waistline though!
'Moby,' thanks for that excellent link , never thought of looking on there.

[Funkstar]

a friend of mine couldn't understand how a little machine like her bread maker could do rolls, bagettes, pizzas etc.

we had to explain to her that it just did the dough, you had to do the rest

[Moby-Dick]

Thanks for that Shelley, they sound really good, wont do much for the waistline though!
'Moby,' thanks for that excellent link , never thought of looking on there.

the MSE Old Style forums are full of useful information , so much so , they got compiled into a book - "Thrifty Ways for modern Days"

[Clingy]

Used the same breadmaker for what must be 10 years now. It's a Panasonic and the best Kitchen Gadget I have ever bought. We use it 4 to 5 times a week usually making sandwich loaves overnight. Occasionally make French bread or Ciabatta but rarely anything else. As with all my cooking I just follow the recipes, although I remember we did have "issue" with Hovis flour.

[autopilot]

Yeah, we make all kinds of loafs with ours, it even makes jam and other stuff. Dead easy, but we did have to modify some of the recipes that came with it. We tend you use olive oil rather than butter and less sugar than often advised gives us a better crust.

If you put it on a timer, few things beat the smell of baking bread when you get up in the morning