First topic message reminder :

Since the recent floods and collapse of local bridges, I havn't been shopping until last night.
What used to be a 10 minute, 5 mile round trip has turned into a 3 hour, 36 mile expedition.
Can't exactly pop out for a loaf of bread or a bottle of milk.
So our recently-ordered Christmas pressie to us, a breadmaker, was delivered (early) today.
Of course, having opened it to check it's OK, we decided to try it, using a 500g bag of malt grain flour given to us as a promotion at a craft fair in August and a sachet of Hovis dried yeast 2 years out of date.
Just as an experiment to see if it worked.
Just dump all the ingredients into the container, put it in the machine, press a few buttons, walk away, and 4 hours and a lovely aroma later an alarm tells you it's all been converted into a nice hot loaf.
Don't even need to wash it, it comes out clean.
What a revelation, beautiful, really lovely bread, so easy.

Does anybody use one of these machines?

Thanks for that.

Obviously these machines come with various recipe's etc, but I'm also assuming that everything you listed just gets thrown in all at once and left for the machine to to it's thing.

Just another question, but if you wanted wholemeal bread why would you use 50/50 of the plain flour and wholemeal flour?

Phil-H wrote:

Thanks for that.

Obviously these machines come with various recipe's etc, but I'm also assuming that everything you listed just gets thrown in all at once and left for the machine to to it's thing.

Just another question, but if you wanted wholemeal bread why would you use 50/50 of the plain flour and wholemeal flour?

Wholemeal flour on it's own will give you a house brick, tends to be heavy. You can play around with percentages till you get what you want. If you use just wholemeal you will need a few grammes more yeast.

It is a long time since I used my machine as I prefer to use the oven. I usually make two quantities of basic dough and one of flavoured (adding cheese and onion or garlic herbs and olives, or cheese and walnut) or enriched (a couple of eggs, milk instead of water, butter) good with fruit. Your instructions will tell you when to add any extras.That way it is worth putting the oven on and I shove it in the freezer. But I use a mixer, not elbow grease.

Sara

Just a quick one..dried yeast is very easy to get here. We always have about 500 grams, in small sachets in the pantry, as my Mum-in-law loves making bread. We've found it in most village shops as well as the supermarkets.

bgbazz wrote:

Just a quick one..dried yeast is very easy to get here. We always have about 500 grams, in small sachets in the pantry, as my Mum-in-law loves making bread. We've found it in most village shops as well as the supermarkets.

We were in Kaufland the other day and a Bulgarian woman asked us where we got our sachets from, which illustrates that things are not always in the most obvious places. Finding it in a village shop means asking. 19st per sachet.

Supermarkets here have a funny habit of not grouping 'like with like'..and not only the supermarkets. I was in Practika the other day looking for wood filler/restorer..searched right through the wood section, sanding paper, varnish etc, but finally located it at the other end of the store..in the paint section!

bgbazz wrote:

Supermarkets here have a funny habit of not grouping 'like with like'..and not only the supermarkets. I was in Practika the other day looking for wood filler/restorer..searched right through the wood section, sanding paper, varnish etc, but finally located it at the other end of the store..in the paint section!

Sorry but that sounds about right, fill the cracks then paint over the filler.

But back to these intriguing bread makers, I've just been looking at one but if ingredients have to be placed in as and when indicated 'by the indicator light' what happens when you set the '13 hour delay timer for overnight baking', so what happens then, because I'm certain no-one gets up just to insert the bits-n-bobs when required.
(I've never used one but have seen them from time to time.)

(adding cheese and onion or garlic herbs and olives, or cheese and walnut)
Now we're really talking, because that's what I had in mind all along.

Phil, if you want to use the timer you can only use the basic recipe where everything goes in at once. If you put cheese and stuff in at the beginning it inhibits the growth of the yeast, which slows the rising which results in a house brick as times are set. When I used mine I used to set it to make dough and prove it, then add my flavourings, then cook in the oven.

Some of the more expensive machines have little containers in the lid which drop your fruit in when it's needed, but due to the heat in the machine I'm not sure that would be any good with cheese. Mine was a basic machine.

Equinus wrote:

Phil, if you want to use the timer you can only use the basic recipe where everything goes in at once. If you put cheese and stuff in at the beginning it inhibits the growth of the yeast, which slows the rising which results in a house brick as times are set. When I used mine I used to set it to make dough and prove it, then add my flavourings, then cook in the oven.

Some of the more expensive machines have little containers in the lid which drop your fruit in when it's needed, but due to the heat in the machine I'm not sure that would be any good with cheese. Mine was a basic machine.

Thanks that's what I also needed to know, so a basic one will probably suite me.

My problem is a houseful of gadgets, I see something I like, buy it, then find out it's not really suitable for what I want, or maybe it's because I keep buying cheap stuff!
(want and need obviously being two different things)

Aldi had them in stock back in August for £34.99 and I was tempted then, but it now looks like it will be Argos at £39.99 Cookworks brand but I have found their stuff fairly good in the past, and yes, 'Cheapest, again'

Just for convenience I checked out some ingredient prices at Tesco. (if anyone is also interested)
Although there's that many to chose from it's going to be a trial and suffer the results job until I find the best mix.

500g Strong Flour Tesco Strong Stone Ground 100% Wholemeal Bread Flour 1.5Kg £1.39

7g Instant Dried Yeast Tesco Fast Action Dried Yeast 56G £0.65p
Hovis Fast Action Bread Yeast 42G £0.96p

(At least I won't have a problem with the Salt &
Water.)

We are fortunate to have a small bakery in our village. They only do bread of one type but boy is it good !! You have to purchase coupons at 1 Lev per 1 kg loaf from the mayor's office. The number of coupons purchased are recorded by the secretary along with the amount paid . Then each time you purchase a loaf the baker informs the secretary who then deducts it from your total !!! All this for a loaf of bread . . simple

Well What can I say, but yummy.

But first let's get rid of the negatives, I chose the Cookworks machine from Argos at £39.99, well I wasn't going to pay silly money for something I didn't get on with to begin with, so far though the only complaint is the plastic measuring cup which, well lets say useless' ok got rid of that now to the juicy bit.
Ok, nearly forgot, I didn't really need the scales I also bought, because after I got the permanent marker out on the supplied plastic cup I didn't need the scales. But I think in future I will use the scales instead of fiddling around with the cup and double ended spoon, not too mention as you know the yeast comes in 7g sachets so one complete sachet will tie in nicely with the 1.5lb loaf.

As you can see from the pictures from my first attempt and I will tell you now the result tastes great.
Obviously with it being my first attempt there was a bit of messing around trying to get the ingredients measured out just right and the 'Instructional Manual' and the Recipe Book did not really help because one contradicts the other when talking about quantities, so I basically stuck to the Recipe book

Apart from a initial trip back to the shop to return a bag of flour because as soon as I opened it the whole inside was swarming with flour weevils, but needless to say they had all burrowed below the surface by the time I got back to the shop, but being my friendly local shopkeeper he took my word for it (not that he had much of a option) because I had already proceeded to select and open another bag in the shop just to check it was ok as the bags probably came from the same batch, but I did read in one of the books about keeping Whole Meal flour in a air-tight bag in the fridge to help preserve it, which I have done with both the Wholemeal and ordinary bread flour.
But I have a feeling in the future a couple of 150g bags are not going to last very long.

For this my first attempt I decided to go for a 50/50 mix of Plain and Wholemeal flour 50/50 as suggested in the main recipe book (unlike the instructional book that said do not use more than a 40/60 mix), I also decided to give it a good splash of Virgin Olive Oil a small handful of Caraway Seeds (well they have been in the cupboard for a bout 12 years, so thought it was time to use them) and a small dollop of margarine.

And, here are the results of my first 1lb loaf attempt, but when it was in machine it initially looked so small and sort of crumpled into one corner I didn't think it was going to be a successful first attempt and if it was it was going to be very tiny, but as you can see, the result is very good, not a bad size considering, but will not bother with the 1lb mix in the future and will stay with the 1.5lb, texture is excellent and even the crust is absolutely perfect, well that's about all I can think of apart from it tastes absolutely great.

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Sara, thanks for the help.

That looks great Phil. You will soon be addicted to making bread. Not all will be successful, so don't cry if you have a disaster.

When I first got my machine a good few years ago I used it a heck of a lot, was really pleased with it and certainly got my (Dave's) money's worth, whether I did the whole process in the machine or just used it for dough. When we sold the house we didn't have space in the rental. then I bought The Kenwood chef mixer so it has been a natural progression. Still have the machine somewhere in the 'box' room! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

So, wishing you many happy loaves with your new friend, it will be worth it!

Sara

I've eaten most of that one already, well we have to make sure it's not gone off, don't we!

I was out shopping at Aldi today and blow me down, haven't they gone and got them in stock 'again' not to mention £5 cheaper than Argos, and some kitchen scales.

Mind you this bread making lark doesn't come cheap, so if anyone is trying this to save money 'forget it' but yes, it does taste much better.
So today I stocked up with some Raisins, Almonds and Walnuts for later in the week when I have another go (apart from which I want my own flavourings and not 'Weevil' flavouring, although maybe that time I will try using a 2 &
1 cup mix instead of a 50/50 mix, only for convenience as it's just easier to measure out full cups instead of half cups, plus it's a trial and try thing to see if it's not quite so 'heavy' as this last one and hopefully a bit larger.

Go Phil!

It will get cheaper and last longer once the novelty wears off! But enjoy it, as hobbies go it is a cheap one.

Ok, just a final update on my escaped, on Sunday I ended up having to take the bread maker back to Argos, basically because on Saturday I pugged it into my power consumption tester and left it running on test without the pot inside to be able to get a accurate idea of how much power it uses on a cycle.
(which was .25Kwh (1/4Kwh), basically about .03p, so a total including electric of .72p per loaf, but that's also without counting the initial cost of the machine)

Unfortunately though the heat rising inside started to spoil the viewing window, ok no problem, I checked and ordered the last one in stock so as not to get there to find they had run out, then got home only to find the cook book was missing, so another trip back to retrieve the book from the one I had taken back.

Actually I should have known better from previous purchases from Argos, when ever buying anything especially from Argos if the box looks like it has already been opened always check inside to make sure it's either complete or/and no sign of any physical damage. (this shortage or damage happens far too often)

But anyway, the new machine works, although I have had my first "
half failure"
, because I must of put to much of something in because when it started rising it almost started coming out the top of the machine, but obviously (fortunately) I opened the lid at the wrong time because when it finally finished cooking the top third had sunk, but so far out of three loaves it is by far the better tasting one, then again it was probably a good job I did open it or it might have carried on and spewed everything all over the inside.

So far my one tip to anyone considering buying a bread maker would be, "
if possible"
even if you only intend making a maximum size loaf of 1.5lb, try and buy at least a 2lb machine because it not only helps to keep all the contents inside the basket but also a better shape to the top end of the loaf.

cakes next........... no chance.

Phil-H wrote:

Well What can I say, but yummy.

But first let's get rid of the negatives, I chose the Cookworks machine from Argos at £39.99, well I wasn't going to pay silly money for something I didn't get on with to begin with, so far though the only complaint is the plastic measuring cup which, well lets say useless' ok got rid of that now to the juicy bit.
Ok, nearly forgot, I didn't really need the scales I also bought, because after I got the permanent marker out on the supplied plastic cup I didn't need the scales. But I think in future I will use the scales instead of fiddling around with the cup and double ended spoon, not too mention as you know the yeast comes in 7g sachets so one complete sachet will tie in nicely with the 1.5lb loaf.

As you can see from the pictures from my first attempt and I will tell you now the result tastes great.
Obviously with it being my first attempt there was a bit of messing around trying to get the ingredients measured out just right and the 'Instructional Manual' and the Recipe Book did not really help because one contradicts the other when talking about quantities, so I basically stuck to the Recipe book

Apart from a initial trip back to the shop to return a bag of flour because as soon as I opened it the whole inside was swarming with flour weevils, but needless to say they had all burrowed below the surface by the time I got back to the shop, but being my friendly local shopkeeper he took my word for it (not that he had much of a option) because I had already proceeded to select and open another bag in the shop just to check it was ok as the bags probably came from the same batch, but I did read in one of the books about keeping Whole Meal flour in a air-tight bag in the fridge to help preserve it, which I have done with both the Wholemeal and ordinary bread flour.
But I have a feeling in the future a couple of 150g bags are not going to last very long.

For this my first attempt I decided to go for a 50/50 mix of Plain and Wholemeal flour 50/50 as suggested in the main recipe book (unlike the instructional book that said do not use more than a 40/60 mix), I also decided to give it a good splash of Virgin Olive Oil a small handful of Caraway Seeds (well they have been in the cupboard for a bout 12 years, so thought it was time to use them) and a small dollop of margarine.

And, here are the results of my first 1lb loaf attempt, but when it was in machine it initially looked so small and sort of crumpled into one corner I didn't think it was going to be a successful first attempt and if it was it was going to be very tiny, but as you can see, the result is very good, not a bad size considering, but will not bother with the 1lb mix in the future and will stay with the 1.5lb, texture is excellent and even the crust is absolutely perfect, well that's about all I can think of apart from it tastes absolutely great.

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Sara, thanks for the help.

mmmmmmmmmmmmm we have the same bread maker it broke so we bought another one and then found someone good in Yambol to repair it so now we have two, we never buy bread, someone gave us a book for bread making and now we just jump from one bread to the other