Bread Machine...........

solosuperia

My bread m/c of umpteen years is giving up the ghost.........
Can anyone recommend a particular model?
I did question why I am putting this question on a cycling website.
I don't want some epicurean chef with hypersensitive taste buds or some geek banging on about energy efficiency etc.
Just a normal person, well fairly normal except for their fad about cycling telling me xxx does it for them.
Must have "dough setting for making rolls or pizza, that sort of thing and a timer so that I can start it at bed time and it will deliver me a nice loaf for breakfast.
Thanking you guys in advance
Cheers

mr_goo

I've got a Panasonic SD-2501. Excellent machine. Has a hopper for adding in fruit/seed/nuts and Timer. Various settings for loaf sizes and darkness of crust. Recipe book has all the doughs, for hand baking too.

Bobbinogs

Have you tried making it yourself? Dead easy and very rewarding, just takes a little time but it is time that can be used on other things whilst nature gets on with making the dough rise, etc. Not a lot beats the smell of bread cooking when you know you have made it

Moontrane

Bobbinogs wrote:

Have you tried making it yourself? Dead easy and very rewarding, just takes a little time but it is time that can be used on other things whilst nature gets on with making the dough rise, etc. Not a lot beats the smell of bread cooking when you know you have made it

Yes, you might already have your "new" bread machine in a cabinet. I've been using this method for years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Ah9ES2yTU

BelgianBeerGeek

Good strong flour can be got in lots of places. Supermarkets are great for fresh bakers yeast. They used to give the stuff away, but now charge (Sainsbury's)
Mix and leave, preferably overnight. The demise of the airing cupboard is annoying, but anywhere warm will do. Then prepare to leave again. Patience is needed. The dough will not go off. Then bake.
Follow the advice above.

FatTed

I have one of these
Emile Henry bread loaf baker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLyUrg9017M

orraloon

Mr Goo wrote:

I've got a Panasonic SD-2501. Excellent machine. Has a hopper for adding in fruit/seed/nuts and Timer. Various settings for loaf sizes and darkness of crust. Recipe book has all the doughs, for hand baking too.

+1. Easy, simple, works.

team47b

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

The demise of the airing cupboard is annoying, but anywhere warm will do.

I stood mine outside :roll:

Made some this morning, just waiting for the oven to warm up now, Whole meal, added mixed seeds, brushed the top with milk to help glue the poppy seeds on.

mamba80

a great pleasure of mine (well not that great!) is eating my mums home made bread, she would nt know what a bread making machine was if it hit her on the head and neither would she use one!

Are nt these sort of machines missing the point? a bit like a ready meal?

team47b

Photo update, bread now out of oven, hurry up and cool down!

verylonglegs

mamba80 wrote:

a great pleasure of mine (well not that great!) is eating my mums home made bread, she would nt know what a bread making machine was if it hit her on the head and neither would she use one!

Are nt these sort of machines missing the point? a bit like a ready meal?

No, not like a ready meal at all because you get to control what goes in the loaf. They just take a bit of the labour out of the process and free a bit of time up.

team47b

It took 15 minutes to bring the ingredients together and kneed the bread, then. Went for a one hour bike ride, then 10 minutes to knock back the mixture, shape, add poppy seeds and then sat and had a cup of tea for 30 minutes, lit oven, bread baked whilst I ate lunch. Not exactly a laborious process

mamba80

team47b wrote:

It took 15 minutes to bring the ingredients together and kneed the bread, then. Went for a one hour bike ride, then 10 minutes to knock back the mixture, shape, add poppy seeds and then sat and had a cup of tea for 30 minutes, lit oven, bread baked whilst I ate lunch. Not exactly a laborious process

yes but thats the thing isnt it?
We ve made bread the traditional way this afternoon, with my daughter, after a 3 hour training ride and the whole process is fantastic, its a craft, kneading, watch the bread rise on the stove, the baking, very relaxing but of course its time consuming and i guess thats the reason the rise of the machines :shock:

I am off to hand wash some cloths now, if i get her hand out of the mangle.

waltdinghy

I guess most of you would agree that the car definately goes better when it is clean and so of course do our bikes.As a one time pipe smoker it occured to me that the old furry pipe cleaners or prodders may have a place in cleaning parts of the bike .managed to get a pack and they are great for cleaning the cassette and fiddly bits around the rear derailleur . In addition it can be done without taking everything apart . Thought it may be of interest

team47b

mamba80 wrote:

team47b wrote:

It took 15 minutes to bring the ingredients together and kneed the bread, then. Went for a one hour bike ride, then 10 minutes to knock back the mixture, shape, add poppy seeds and then sat and had a cup of tea for 30 minutes, lit oven, bread baked whilst I ate lunch. Not exactly a laborious process

yes but thats the thing isnt it?
We ve made bread the traditional way this afternoon, with my daughter, after a 3 hour training ride and the whole process is fantastic, its a craft, kneading, watch the bread rise on the stove, the baking, very relaxing but of course its time consuming and i guess thats the reason the rise of the machines :shock:

I am off to hand wash some cloths now, if i get her hand out of the mangle.

Time consuming? You need to learn to multi-task mate, if you're making bread and using a mangle...pizza

pinno

team47b wrote:

Photo update, bread now out of oven, hurry up and cool down!

Can we try some ? I'll bring some Lavazza to wash it down.

I got stuck on this. What technique!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTIcJ_tdEJM

Moontrane

team47b wrote:

Photo update, bread now out of oven, hurry up and cool down!

S'what I'm talkin' about!

team47b

Pinno wrote:

team47b wrote:

Photo update, bread now out of oven, hurry up and cool down!

Can we try some ? I'll bring some Lavazza to wash it down.

I got stuck on this. What technique!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTIcJ_tdEJM

I'll pop some round

metronome

That loaf looks ace. Would make a great giant sandwich.

joenobody

orraloon wrote:

Mr Goo wrote:

I've got a Panasonic SD-2501. Excellent machine. Has a hopper for adding in fruit/seed/nuts and Timer. Various settings for loaf sizes and darkness of crust. Recipe book has all the doughs, for hand baking too.

+1. Easy, simple, works.

+2 - so much better than other machines I've used. Easy to use, and consistently bakes decent loaves (probably user error before that was causing problems, but the 2501 seems to be much more tolerant).

The Mrs makes her own loaves some times, but there's no beating the convenience of loading up the breadmaker before bed, setting the timer, and then waking up to a freshly baked loaf.

grahamcp

I also enjoy the process of making bread the long way, although don't think I've quite mastered the art yet! My bloomers seem to sag. I guess there must be some technique in the shaping, to create surface tension somehow so it holds the shape well.
I may buy a machine at some point but if any one has any good recipe / technique guides for the old fashioned way please get posting. Also any tips on storage as my crusts seem to go soft quite quickly.

mercia_man

Grahamcp wrote:

I also enjoy the process of making bread the long way, although don't think I've quite mastered the art yet! My bloomers seem to sag. I guess there must be some technique in the shaping, to create surface tension somehow so it holds the shape well.
I may buy a machine at some point but if any one has any good recipe / technique guides for the old fashioned way please get posting. Also any tips on storage as my crusts seem to go soft quite quickly.

I've made all our bread the old fashioned way for the last couple of years. I've more time now I've retired! My wife did buy a bread machine some time ago but got her money back on it as it made nowhere near as good bread as making it by hand. I make two loaves in a batch and pop the second loaf in the oven to crisp it up again once we've eaten the first.

I find plaited loaves have a reasonably strong structure to prevent the dreaded sag and spreading out flat. But mostly I use proper bakers' metal tins for giving support. I tend to use Wessex Mill six seed white flour as my base flour (around 50 per cent) to which I variously add wholemeal rye and spelt stoneground organic flours (Doves Farm and my local Bacheldre flours are good), plus extra pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, linseed and millet. My latest favourite discovery is Dove Einkhorn wholemeal flour - the earliest type of wheat grown and eaten by Man. It's expensive but lovely to work. I find rye is horribly sticky to knead but gives great flavour. Spelt is nice to work with and gives a good rise. Another new variety to me is Doves Khorasan flour - nice to work with and gives a yellowish loaf.

I've had two unsuccessful experiments at making sourdough starters but am going to give it another go this week. Anyone have any tips?

team47b

JoeNobody wrote:

orraloon wrote:

Mr Goo wrote:

I've got a Panasonic SD-2501. Excellent machine. Has a hopper for adding in fruit/seed/nuts and Timer. Various settings for loaf sizes and darkness of crust. Recipe book has all the doughs, for hand baking too.

+1. Easy, simple, works.

+2 - so much better than other machines I've used. Easy to use, and consistently bakes decent loaves (probably user error before that was causing problems, but the 2501 seems to be much more tolerant).

The Mrs makes her own loaves some times, but there's no beating the convenience of loading up the breadmaker before bed, setting the timer, and then waking up to a freshly baked loaf.

I bet you have a Teasmade too

davis

Mercia Man wrote:

I've had two unsuccessful experiments at making sourdough starters but am going to give it another go this week. Anyone have any tips?

Substitute some (20% ish) of the white flour for rye flour. Throw some sliced grapes in to start as per this. Having said that, I'll post you some if you like (assuming you fancy donating to some cash to ... say... Oxfam)

bernithebiker

Yep, Panasonic, they have it dialled in.

We make a loaf every day, delish!

mercia_man

davis wrote:

Mercia Man wrote:

I've had two unsuccessful experiments at making sourdough starters but am going to give it another go this week. Anyone have any tips?

Substitute some (20% ish) of the white flour for rye flour. Throw some sliced grapes in to start as per this. Having said that, I'll post you some if you like (assuming you fancy donating to some cash to ... say... Oxfam)

Thanks for the advice. Will follow your tips on rye flour and grapes. Thanks also for the offer to post me some. I may be in touch if I fail again. Alternatively, there's an artisan baker in town who, I'm told, will hand out starter.

pinno

That's enough, I kneed to start dinner...

team47b

Grahamcp wrote:

I also enjoy the process of making bread the long way, although don't think I've quite mastered the art yet! My bloomers seem to sag. I guess there must be some technique in the shaping, to create surface tension somehow so it holds the shape well.
I may buy a machine at some point but if any one has any good recipe / technique guides for the old fashioned way please get posting. Also any tips on storage as my crusts seem to go soft quite quickly.

If they sag instead of rising maybe your mixture is a little wet or they don't rise because it's too cold for the yeast, bread should be able to hold its shape without a tin as it proves and should also rise at first in the oven.

I have been making bread so long all my measurements are imperial! But the proportion is approx 1lb of flour to 10fluid ounces of water (or milk) plus some extra flour during kneeding should give you a mixture that retains its shape. After kneeding leave for one hour, knock back, shape to suit, then leave for thirty minutes to rise, place in pre heated oven.

pinno

team47b wrote:

Grahamcp wrote:

I also enjoy the process of making bread the long way, although don't think I've quite mastered the art yet! My bloomers seem to sag. I guess there must be some technique in the shaping, to create surface tension somehow so it holds the shape well.
I may buy a machine at some point but if any one has any good recipe / technique guides for the old fashioned way please get posting. Also any tips on storage as my crusts seem to go soft quite quickly.

If they sag instead of rising maybe your mixture is a little wet or they don't rise because it's too cold for the yeast, bread should be able to hold its shape without a tin as it proves and should also rise at first in the oven.

I have been making bread so long, BMW had not even thought of making bubble cars when I started. Anyways, it were all fields then, Mum used to go t' brewery for yeast and yours truly delivered bread in wicker basket up cobbled streets, with lovely tunes in background... here's me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgjLJSuGPt8

FTFTHOI

team47b

Pinno wrote:

team47b wrote:

Grahamcp wrote:

I also enjoy the process of making bread the long way, although don't think I've quite mastered the art yet! My bloomers seem to sag. I guess there must be some technique in the shaping, to create surface tension somehow so it holds the shape well.
I may buy a machine at some point but if any one has any good recipe / technique guides for the old fashioned way please get posting. Also any tips on storage as my crusts seem to go soft quite quickly.

If they sag instead of rising maybe your mixture is a little wet or they don't rise because it's too cold for the yeast, bread should be able to hold its shape without a tin as it proves and should also rise at first in the oven.

I have been making bread so long, BMW had not even thought of making bubble cars when I started. Anyways, it were all fields then, Mum used to go t' brewery for yeast and yours truly delivered bread in wicker basket up cobbled streets, with lovely tunes in background... here's me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgjLJSuGPt8

FTFTHOI

I don't have a Mummerset accent I'm ampshire og

pinno

team47b wrote:

Pinno wrote:

team47b wrote:

Grahamcp wrote:

I also enjoy the process of making bread the long way, although don't think I've quite mastered the art yet! My bloomers seem to sag. I guess there must be some technique in the shaping, to create surface tension somehow so it holds the shape well.
I may buy a machine at some point but if any one has any good recipe / technique guides for the old fashioned way please get posting. Also any tips on storage as my crusts seem to go soft quite quickly.

If they sag instead of rising maybe your mixture is a little wet or they don't rise because it's too cold for the yeast, bread should be able to hold its shape without a tin as it proves and should also rise at first in the oven.

I have been making bread so long, BMW had not even thought of making bubble cars when I started. Anyways, it were all fields then, Mum used to go t' brewery for yeast and yours truly delivered bread in wicker basket up cobbled streets, with lovely tunes in background... here's me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgjLJSuGPt8

FTFTHOI

I don't have a Mummerset accent I'm ampshire og

Oh yes, of course. A forest dwelling troll, I remember.