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bag of malt grain flour given to us as a promotion at a craft fair in August and a sachet of Hovis dried yeast 2 years out of date.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?

Funnily enough we were talking about getting one only last week. I know a few friends that have them and say they would never go back to buying their bread.

Good on you Cumbrian!

I can smell that bread from here we have used one for years I can't remember that last time we actually bought any bread

Im going down this route also, i cant find any decent bread that will last more than a day or so in BG, unless someone has found some that does in the Varna area?

Thanks Ian

I've got a secret..I can jump on my bike and ride for five minutes to the best French bakery in central Bulgaria..he bakes twice a day and always has fresh, crusty bread on hand. He does normal white mix as well as many types of herby, seedy types as well.

Pure heaven!!

Your so lucky to be able to get good bread

I've got into the habit of making my own and have baking days so I'm not using the oven just for one thing. That way I get exactly what I want, white, brown crusty, soft, rich, sweet, flavoured and fruited. And we don't get bloated as we do with bought bread. It's cheap and filling, and the chooks love it too! No waste.

Thank goodness for a Kenwood Chef!

Sara

Shoot!! I had a breadmaker sitting in the boxes upstairs for the past seven years. I gave it away last week when a friend came over to help us cut down the 25 odd trees blocking the light from our place. She said she wanted to make her own bread and is saving up for a breadmaker so I told her I had one I used once she is very welcome to have it. One good turns deserves another - she said it is fantatic and loves the bread. Isn't it always the same, you give somethiing away and then you find you want it. Mind you , it would probably sit for another few years. Glad she likes it

oddball wrote:

Shoot!! I had a breadmaker sitting in the boxes upstairs for the past seven years. I gave it away last week when a friend came over to help us cut down the 25 odd trees blocking the light from our place. She said she wanted to make her own bread and is saving up for a breadmaker so I told her I had one I used once she is very welcome to have it. One good turns deserves another - she said it is fantatic and loves the bread. Isn't it always the same, you give somethiing away and then you find you want it. Mind you , it would probably sit for another few years. Glad she likes it

Good on you Berni - one favour deserves another. I am sure like you that if we had breadmaker it would be used once and sit there for another seven years. Our kitchen seems to be full enough already without clogging it up with something else we wouldn't use.

We have a breadmaker somewhere in the box room. I used it a lot when I first had it and was working, but the bread didn't have the right texture and flavour, so i used it just for mixing the dough and used the oven to finish off. Now I mix by Kenwood Chef bought in the sales before we came over and it has transformed my bread as I am not restricted to how much dough I can use, don't have to add things when the machine says and it only takes a short time to mix enough bread of whatever flavour you want. Yummy. Yesterday walnut bread.

Had a go in the wood burner oven today as we had a power cut just as I finished mixing four batches of bread Phew, it's a bit hot with the sun belting down too!

I can safely say we have no soggy bottoms (but a few were a bit 'caramelised') but by the time I had finished three white loaves, rolls, fruit bread, onion bread and two pizzas I was getting the hang of it. It's now cooling down thank goodness, with roast chicken for Dave and the hounds. Looking forward to more experiments as winter arrives....not too soon I hope!

Can anyone tell me how long a loaf of bread will keep for when made in one of these bread makers?

At the moment I use the Hovis 50/50 and a loaf of bread will last for 4 days without going off which is just fine for myself.

Hi, Phil

A loaf made in a bread maker will last a couple of days, but it is nicer the first day, your Hovis lasts that long because it is full of preservatives, as is most sliced bread

Cheers

Ted the Red

Yes thanks ted, although it's better than some of the bread (shop bought sliced @.65p) which after 3 days 'yes only 3 days' started to show signs of mould, although some time back in the summer even the Hovis bread at £1.00 did not always last 4 days before showing signs of mould and when you are relying on it to go as part of a meal or with a night-time snack it's not very funny.


Maybe if I get around to finding where to get the ingredients for one of the bread-makers then maybe just making a small loaf twice a week would suit me better.
I know it might seem a bit of messing around just for myself but I don't mind that.

In fact, would anyone like to list what ingredients and quantities would be required.
I know I can find the information on the net, but just thought it might also slot into this thread quite nicely.

Basic bread recipe....500g strong flour, 2 flat teaspoons salt, 300mls water, 7g instant dried yeast. If you add a good splash of oil it might keep a bit longer. If you want wholemeal use half wholemeal and half white flour and 325mls water.

The yeast you can get in sachets or drums with the flour in supermarkets in GB, or hunt for sachets in BG.

Alternatively you can buy it all in, in a bread mix. This is the right size for your breadmaker but possibly more expensive.

Sara