Breadmakers

[*Bob*]

Anything left behind the bar at the Buckle is unlikely to be there for too long.

Anyway.. I bet it isn't a Panasonic. Do Alba make bread machines?

[embellina]

This is the funniest thread I've read in a long time

[*Bob*]

embellina Wrote:

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> This is the funniest thread I've read in a long

> time

Not good news for The Forum.

[Asset]

Just to bring things back from the brink. I got a bread maker a few months ago and have not bought a loaf since. There you go Alan.

I am not especially frugal, not undiscerning, not a numpty, however I am stubborn.

[Keef]

I don't even know what a numpty is!

Hmm, it would seem that Numpty is a jock work for an idiot, so I can safely say that I am not a numpty.

[annaj]

I'm a bit stubborn, not at all frugal, no special dietary requirements, probably a bit of a numpty.

We've got a bread maker, although actually at the moment my mother-in-law has borrowed it, and I really like it. I realise this makes me sound particularly easily amused and asking to be mocked, but I never stopped being impressed by the way you can just fling in all the ingredients and out comes a loaf of bread!

Don't know what make or model our is, never looked. My only tip would be never fill it when drunk, I had a particularly nasty experience with a herb loaf (supposed to impress my new in-laws one Christmas) with too much yeast - scraping over-risen herb dough off the breadmaker with a terrible hangover. Yuk!

Brendan, my grandparents always had a Soda Stream for their 6pm whisky and soda.

[char1ie]

What are you all on about?

My 2008 motto is to engage in the activity before I buy the equipment. So don't buy a running machine until you are running regularly and fancy taking it indoors. Don't buy a bike until you are enjoying riding the bike you have borrowed from a neighbour. Don't buy the workout DVD until you are regularly enjoying doing starjumps and fancy a programme.

With this in mind, start making bread (using Delia Smith's recipe) then when you are making a lot of bread, buy a bread maker to speed up the process. Don't buy the breadmaker first.

Charlie

[SeanMacGabhann]

This thread is timely as I was thinking about getting one (despite a tiny kitchen and an aversion of kitchen gadgets) but after Alan's advice I googled general recipes, found the Delia one and then within minutes Char1ie had summarised my whole plan...

I suspect in this case the breadmaker takes more than enough of the faff out of things to make it worthwhile... but I will do it manually first

Why not just buy a loaf? because all of them taste horrible these days and nothing like what I grew up with - and all for obvious reasons. There are a million articles online so I've picked one arbitrarily

Yummy goodness

[wee quinnie]

Sean, at the risk of being shot down in flames here - you can buy really great bread down on LL. - altho I admit it is pricey. I have a breadmaker, which is perfectly fine - but I actually prefer the stuff from LL.

My top picks are

1. Sourdough from EDD (I am too embarrassed to say how much it costs, but it does last a few days).

2. The seedy ones from Cheese Block at ?1.75

Mind you it is prob cheaper to use the breadmaker.

[blinder999]

> don't buy a running

> machine until you are running regularly and fancy

> taking it indoors. Don't buy a bike until you are

> enjoying riding the bike you have borrowed from a

> neighbour. Don't buy the workout DVD until you are

> regularly enjoying doing starjumps and fancy a

> programme.

But Charlie, surely the key activity here is eating the bread?

Which presumably, anyone who's thinking about buying a breadmaker is likely to be doing already on a daily basis.

[SeanMacGabhann]

wee quinnie

I know what you mean ;-)

I do like a fair bit of the bread in EDD - the flutes are especially nice IMO. I'm less keen on sourdough (generally - not EDD's fault) and find the seedy ones in The Cheese Block a bit heavy

Confession time: sometimes, all I want is a good, honest to jaysus proper white loaf. Toasted. With butter.

The white loaves in Badger bakery are ok but I'm still not convinced. And any other pretend-white-loaves are gammy

Plus it's nice to know you can just do these things - there might be a national baker strike at a moments notice!

[mightyroar]

I dont have a bread maker, and I've tried making bread the long way a few times, as I really like bread.

but it's really hard! no matter whose 'easiest loaf in the world' recipe you try. and it takes a long time and is dead messy.

which makes me long for one of these models you recommend. I would say they are fast becoming ED status symbols

[wee quinnie]

Sean - I know waht you mean about the white bread, as it happens. I think then the bread maker might be right then. Oh there are the white loaves (?1.75), bottom rack in the Cheese Block. I implore you....stay away from the "white bread" white bread!

(Where is Pat the Baker when you need him? - I liked the waxy paper)

[SeanMacGabhann]

no to mention th eold adverts eh?

Pat The Baker

[*Bob*]

Just checking-out the Delia recipe..

Flour.. salt.. yeast.. sugar. GENIUS.. thanks for that, Deels.

I am tempted to give her hand-made method a go (buttering the tins, warming the flour in the oven for ten minutes (for the love of God!), carefully mixing and kneading, covering bowl with a damp tea towel and proving, baking and then washing all the stuff up) but I figure that if my breadmaker can accomplish exactly the same thing with 15 seconds of work from me - let's say 20 seconds to allow time to pick my nose or scratch my arse) then I might as well go with that and put the saved time to good use. Like watching Columbo.

[Keef]

SeanMacGabhann Wrote:

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> Confession time: sometimes, all I want is a good, honest to jaysus proper white loaf. Toasted. With butter.

Er, you say that like it's something to be a bit ashamed of... :-S

Add strawberry jam for a sweet snack!

[PeckhamRose]

I've been away a day and come back to this.

My neighbour made bread and sold us neighbours fresh baked bread for a quid or something and it was so yummy but now she is not doing it anymore but won't get rid of the breadmaker. I've had to go back to Ayres in Nunhead and their bread's gone up to ?1.54. Nice though. Neighbour got her breadmaker for FREE off Freecycle. I think I want a breadmaker but I ain't paying for a new one! Plus, with the regularly used coffee machine (cappuccino AND espresso AND filter), blender (yogurt and fresh fruit, or veg soup, for example) and juicer (love that), I don't have much room in the kitchen! Yet now I shall check on Freecycle and ebay to see if there are any breadmakers going. There is nothing quite like freshly baked chemical and additive free bread. With home made soup. It's working from home don't you know.

[Brendan]

White bread toast with butter and strawberry jam and washed down with a cup of white instant coffee with 2 sugars.

That is exactly what I used to have a snack to get me through 'til dinner after getting home from waterpolo or football in the afternoons when I was a schoolboy. I still can't think about it without my mouth watering. It makes a latte and croissant with preserves pale by comparison.

[SeanMacGabhann]

confession time was probably an over-bold statement. substitute "fact is" - and it sounds better I think

Still can't get old-fashioned nice white bread anywhere tho - will try the suggestions on here

[mlteenie]

You can get very cheap ones (around ?20 I think) when they are on sale at LIDL. Ours has been great (thanks Chav!). We go through a lot of bread.

Just finished the last of the honey loaf and I can hear the kneading paddles whipping up a wholemeal job as I type..

The pasta machine is at the back of the cupboard and I gave the juicer away.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Sounds about right - I haven't had either of these but from using them in the past they never saved any effort or time, nor gave me any improvement in quality

[char1ie]

blinder999 Wrote:

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> But Charlie, surely the key activity here is

> eating the bread?

> Which presumably, anyone who's thinking about

> buying a breadmaker is likely to be doing already

> on a daily basis.

No, it is making the bread.

Charlie

[*Bob*]

Actually, you're both wrong. The key activity as regards making bread with a breadmakers is.. not having to make the bread.

When you first mow a lawn, you don't start of your hands and knees with a pair of nail scissors. You buy a lawnmower.

[char1ie]

But making bread is an activity that transcends the ownership of bread. It is much easier and not expensive to buy a loaf of bread. But making bread yourself is fun and rewarding.

Charlie

[*Bob*]

Making bread is boring. Unless you have a machine which does it for you at the drop of a hat.