dfk41 This meant the bread that you made was not very good! However, roll on 20 years and with Youtube’s help, I now realise that many people own and make bread in them and far from using packet mixes you follow recipes!

I was using one of those 20 years ago… 😉 - and no packet mixtures.

They are essentially a mixer/oven all in one. Over the years, we had 4 of them. They do break, and the one thing which is likely to go wrong eventually is the paddle mixer inside the pan. Eventually, it will stiffen.

The basic bread, white bread recipe works fine. The one main issue is that due to its confined space, here’s a lot of moisture in the bread, and it’s usually on the dense side. One tip is to take the pan off the machine and the bread off the pan as soon as it’s finish and let it cool down on a kitchen surface. It’s hot! Over the years, we used the machine to mix and kneed, but preferred then to finish off kneading by hand and use the oven to bake it. We also used it to make pizza doughs. These days, we have a kenwood mixer and use that instead.

They are great for convenience: you can easily measure and bung everything in the pan before going to bed and wake up in the morning to the wonderful smell of fresh bread - and a fresh loaf to eat.

    You can knock up a loaf from scratch surprisingly quickly - requires a bit of effort but not much. Secret is using fast acting yeast that doesn’t need dissolving and feeding first. Bung it in with the rest of the ingredients (10 grms to 500grms flour and 10 grms salt and 650 - 700ml of water). You can use a mixer with the supplied dough hook to take the effort out. Leave it to rise to double in size (about an hour), knock the air out of it and fold into a log, let it rise in the bread tin and then bake off. Will produce a lovely loaf. Use very strong white flour with a protein content around, ideally, 14-15%.

    Using this method, you can produce a loaf start to finish in around 3 hrs.

    I will have sat in the circle, held my hand up and said….Hello, my name is Pompeyexile, and I am an automatic bread maker user. Luckily though, those meetings worked, and I have long since kicked the bread maker habit and have my 20 plus years token to prove it.

    Arguments for using such a machine… I am old, have bad arthritis and cannot knead dough. I cannot bake. I just cannot be bothered. It is the only way of waking up to the smell of freshly baked bread.

    All of those may well be true, but no matter what anyone says, bread made the ‘old-fashioned’ way, knocks anything made in a bread maker into a cocked hat.

    Cannot physically knead the dough? Well most stand mixers do that, which is why they have a dough hook. Haven’t got one? Well, there are hundreds of ‘No knead’ recipes out there which work great.

    You say you cannot bake? If you can read and follow a recipe to the letter, YES YOU CAN! Recipes are tried and tested. I have never tried a recipe and had it fail… as long as I followed it to the letter! That is not to say I have liked everything I have baked, because like you, I have personal tastes, be it about flavour or texture etc.

    The only ones I cannot argue against are, you can’t be bothered and waking up to freshly baked bread. Oh, yes I can….

    MOVE NEXT DOOR TO A CHUFFIN GREGGS!

    Thankyouandgoodnight

    Knocked this on up a couple of days ago. Half white, half brown. Chuffin lovely!

      Pompeyexile My constraint is my wife! I have made bread by hand before but not for years. In order to make bread of some sort I had to out think her hence getting her friend to lend me hers! In truth though, I could not be bothered with the little faff making bread takes. Yes I bake and have a good mixer and dough hook……..perhaps that will come again later…….meanwhile I am happy with the bread maker!

      https://www.suddencardiacarrestuk.org/2024/02/thank-goodness-for-madeira-cake/

        We used to have a bread maker. I recall the results weren’t bad at all, especially given the lack of effort required.

        Bought a Kitchenaid mixer about 4 years ago and it makes the process a complete breeze. Must’ve used it hundreds of times. Ingredients in, dough hook on, mix for six or seven minutes. Rise, shape, prove, bake!

        Also use it for cakes and pizza dough

        La Marzocco Linea Mini - Mazzer Philos

        Ikawa Roaster

        As I bake bread every week, I splashed out on a good (and yes, fairly expensive) mixer too. It is Swedish and built like a tank. I give you… the Ankarsrum.

          I saw a YouTube video with one of these Italian Sunmix mixers the other day. Fortunately for my bank balance (and marriage) there’s no way I’d fit it in the kitchen.

          La Marzocco Linea Mini - Mazzer Philos

          Ikawa Roaster

          dfk41 Greggs Pasties division!

          That’s not a job - it’s a vocation.

            My advice would be to sack off the bread maker and have a dabble with sour dough. I use it mainly for my pizzas and I promise you that you won’t be able to buy or make anything better in a bread machine. It’s another huge rabbit hole to go down if you want to take it that far but the taste and health benefits are night and day.

            You’ll hear the argument that it takes too long, blah blah blah but fermentation takes time. The sourdough discard can also be used in many other tasty recipes, sourdough pancakes for breakfast is one of my favourites.

              EddieMoonshine I went down the Sourdough route 10 years ago. My good friend Patrick sent me some culture to start my own off and I made a few loaves but my wife was not a big fan of the taste so like many things in marriage, it got sidetracked!

              Never question your wife’s judgement, after all, look whom she married…………..

              https://www.suddencardiacarrestuk.org/2024/02/thank-goodness-for-madeira-cake/

                  dfk41 Like the saying goes…. Happy wife, happy life 😂

                  I get the strong taste but that can be tailored to your own taste. For example, I got a well established Alaskan sourdough culture years ago now because of it’s milder sweeter flavour. It’s obviously going to change depending where you live as natural yeasts are different everywhere and the flour you feed it with will contain some too but pizza days are always a hit and noone has ever said it’s too strong . When you’re not planning on using it you can just leave it in the fridge and you only have to feed it every couple of weeks.

                    dfk41

                    I looked at a lot of mixers and whilst the Kitchen Maid seemed to have a good reputation for being a sturdy brand, I am sure I read somewhere that the gearing in the modern machines was not up to the job and has been known to fail. The Ankersrum has been built since the 1940s and are renowned for their build quality, there are many still going strong after decades. I have not seen one report of them breaking. They also come with a standard 7-year warranty. But what sets them apart is, unlike the normal style stand mixer, they do not have the gallows overhanging shape where the motor and gears sit and accessories attached hanging down into the bowl. This also means not having that in the way, tipping ingredients in is a lot easier, as you can see by the pictures. Also, when making bread and the dough has been mixed and kneaded, the arm swings away you take out the scraper, pop the lid on and leave it there to do its initial rise or take the bowl off with the lid and pop into a warm place.

                    It also comes as standard with a lid, separate plastic bowl with attachments for whisking, whipping and making cake mixtures, batters etc. And like all the main brands out there you can buy additional stuff like blenders, mincers, graters, slicers, pasta makers etc that fit on it too.

                    The design and different way of working is not for everyone and like anything different took a little getting used to, but once I did, I won’t be going back… not that I will need to, as it will probably out live me.

                        Our vintage Kenwood does a great job, no strain on the motor and they go on for decades. I replaced the old aluminium dough hook with a stainless steel one.

                        One of the things I enjoy about making bread is it isn’t complicated but you just can’t rush it, I find it quite relaxing . Green olive and garlic rustic loaf is the favourite in our house ( I love any recipe titled rustic as you can get away with it looking like a dogs dinner)😁

                        I’ve been making sourdough for many years and use a newish Kenwood Chef with dough hook. Wonderful results!

                        Cafelat Robot, Niche Zero, Kinu M47 Simplicity

                        You do realise using a mixer to knead dough is sacrilege and constitutes grounds for ejection from the worshipful society of artisan sourdough breadmakers😂

                          Systemic Absolutely, but then I never joined! And also, I use commercial steel loaf pans…

                          Usually ½ organic whole grain spelt and ½ strong white.

                          Cafelat Robot, Niche Zero, Kinu M47 Simplicity

                            How much dough do you mix in the Chef? I use a similar mixer when making croissants and find torque moves the mixer’s head - no big deal but I don’t like it. My Kitchenaid seems to max out at 500grms of flour plus rest of ingredients.