Do You Have a Breadmaker?

[Elgin526]

I have one but I lost the instruction booklet with all the reciepes. Are bread machine receipes standard, or do they vary by machine brand? I'd like to do an interet search for reciepes and try to make some stuff from scratch rather than rely on the box mixes for machines.

[Aleta]

Someone on here gave an address for lost instruction books. Maybe the person will answer it. You might want to title your thread, ? Lost instruction book.

[rob62521]

Or maybe check the website of the maker. I downloaded directions for a digital camera for a friend who didn't have them.

[lgslgs]

We haven't bought bread, rolls or dough in over 10 years now. The first half of that, I had a bread machine and used it for everything. I really liked the timer function to start the day with fresh bread or to have pizza dough ready for when I got home from work.

The last half of that I've been making my breads by hand or using my stand mixer for kneading. The combination of being a lot more confident with breads, working at home, and keeping a sourdough starter handy gradually moved me away from using the bread maker.

My husband does still use it for one of the hamburger roll recipes we make, and sometimes we'll crank out some pizza dough (takes 90 minutes.) Most of the time now, though, we make slow fermenting breads and develop the dough over a couple of days instead of making 2 - 4 hour yeasty breads.

The bread machine was a good purchase for us, though. It was a nice way to switch over to homemade breads without having to deal with anything too complex at the start. We've kind of gone full circle with bread making now and rarely even use recipes - just do it all by look and feel, making it up depending on what we feel like eating. The bread machine years were helpful in building our confidence and spoiling us rotten with fresh baked bread.

As for brand, my old bread maker was a Sunbeam but I have to say that I really like the quality of Zojirushi products.

Lynda

[LittleAngel1198]

Oh I love my bread maker....I use it mostly for pizza dough and bread dough. I can't make bread dough by hand, ave Fibromyalgia and my hands don't work very well for me.

My breadmaker is so easy, me teens can use it too!

[cschin4]

I bought the breadmaker. Made gluten free bread in it for my son and it tasted great. I think it was a good purchase and will definately get alot of use.

[Aleta]

What was the name of the breadmaker? It helps alot if anyone can name one that wasn't very good and wouldn't reccomend it .

[ktmarvels]

One of my girlfriends has a bread machine and they use it often, but she complains that the bread is much heavier than the normal bread you would buy in the store. I like the idea of a bread maker, but if it only made dense bread I would never use it. Is dense bread a characteristic of bread maker bread or just the recipies she's been?

[cschin4]

I have a "Just For Dinner" Westbend that only makes a "quick loaf. It makes a loaf of bread in about 45 min. It is a nice little 1 lb loaf and is dense but quite tasty. However, I haven't tried the gluten free mix in that. I just purchased a Cuisinart breadmaker. It has several settings. I am mainly using it for the gluten free bread which only has one rise. Some of the other breads may be lighter and fluffier with longer rise times but I can't speak to that.

[kashi]

I love my bread machine. I use it to make dough all the time, but I never actually bake bread in it. I doubt that I would ever make bread if I had to do it by hand.

Can't remember the brand I have right now (I'll have to go home and look), but I love it so much that I bought a lightly used one on eBay for my mom, too.

[zakity]

I love my breadmachine. I use it mainly to make pizza dough. The family loves my homemade pizza and it is so much cheaper than the stuff I can buy in the store.

[Aleta]

Could everyone please let us know which brands that you have. I'd like to buy one in the future, hopefully in a garage sale and would like to get some ideas of quality but reasonable machines.

[Coleroo]

Whoohoo! I just got my first bread machine today at Goodwill for a buck. It works great too... brought it home, cleaned it off and it looks brand new. The Hillbilly housewife has a great bread machine manual on her site so i've familiarized myself with all the ins and outs of it. I'll be buying yeast tomorrow and doing my first loaf ever!!!! I've never made real bread before.. just biscuits or corn bread or something simple. Never bread.. I can't wait!!!

[Saving in So Cal]

I bought an inexpensive one a Target a couple of years back -- I think it was called "Breadman" or something rather obvious like that. We like and it does make great pizza dough. Unfortunately, homemade bread goes stale really fast and my husband won't eat bread that has been frozen or refrigerated. So, we use it, but not as often as I would like. (I would never buy bread again.)

In addition to the recipe book that comes with the macine, we have a book called, "The Bread Bible." Very informative. Lot's of great recipes. I tried a couple of dozen of them and none have failed.

[LuxLiving]

I have a Welbuilt ABM3400 and love it. Great for pizza AND pie dough. (pie dough is not a set & forget kind of thing, but a watch-over and then pull the plug once it's done.)

Saving in So Cal, you need to get some 'bread softener / dough enhancers' - try looking around on some of the baking websites. I add Hodgson Mills 'Vital Wheat Gluten w/vitamin C' (available in the flour aisle) to mine to extend freshness and improve the texture and the rise - but with three adult size males here homemade bread does not last long enough to go stale.

[Coleroo]

Well, i made my first loaf Saturday!

It was a simple recipe... something like 1.4 cup water, 4 cups flour, pack of yeast and teaspoon of salt. Set it on the french bread cycle and set the timer so i'd be done saturday morning when we awoke and bam, there it was! It was sooooooo tastey too.. the crust was a wee tough, but i couldnt complain since it was such a simple recipe and my first ever time doing it. :-D im so happy with it!!!

[rob62521]

I found a new bread machine recipe to try:

Buttermilk Onion Bread

1 cup plus 2 tablesppons warm buttermilk (70 to 80 degrees)
1 tablespoon butter
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3 tablesppons sugar
1 tablespoon dried mined onion
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dill weed
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast.

In bread machine pan, pleace all ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer. Select basic bread machine setting. Choose crust color and loaf size if available. Bake according to bread machine directions (check dough after 5 minuts of mixing; add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water or flour if needed). Yield: 1 loaf 1 1/2 pounds, 16 slices)

(Note: this can be made with all bread flour if you don't have whole wheat on hand)

{I didn't have buttermilk so I made my own: one cup milk and one teaspoon of white distilled vinegar}

Nutrition facts: 1 slice equals 99 calories, 1 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 2 mg cholesterol, 245 mg sodium, 20 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 4 g protein. Diabetic exchange: 1 starch.


It turned out great!

[mom-from-missouri]

We have one, but since I bake everything from scratch, it wasn't getting used. I usually bake 5 loaves at a time in the oven.
So, the bread machine is now in the camper. We do like to use it when we are camping. We can start bread in it in the morning, and its ready when we get back from our days adventures.

[howk055]

I have had a Cuisinart for 10 years and I just put the parts in the dishwasher and have never had a problem.

[rob62521]

Last fall I decided to put an ad in the district newsletter asking for free or cheap bread machines to use with our kids to make bread and work on sequencing and measurement. I wound up with two. One is a Kitchen Pro and it works fine and the other is a Welbilt and also works great. By the way, the kids loved measuring and especially enjoyed the bread.