Seeking Bread Machine Recommendations

[DeborahB]

I have 3 bread machines (2 bought cheap) and if I were buying a new one, the big Zojirushi that King Arhur Flour recommends is what I would get. They do all their bread recipe testing in machines - not the baking, but the kneading. They said it does a better job than kneading by hand.

The reason I have 3 - sometimes I want to make more bread for a big party... etc. One is a junky Oster, another is Breadman (I think) that works well, the original expensive one is Panasonic from 15 years ago. I like them all for different reasons. But I do usually bake in the oven and just use the bread machine for making the dough and rising.

Here are two very interesting books you might like if you are looking at making rustic breads. I tried some recipes in the rustic bread book but didn't have time... I plan to make more bread in retirement... in between going on a low carb diet to lose the weight from eating the bread...

Amazon.com: Rustic European Breads from Your Bread Machine (9780385477772): Linda West Eckhardt, Diana Collingwood…

Amazon.com: Crust and Crumb: Master Formulas for Serious Bread Bakers (9781580088022): Peter Reinhart: Books

This is a fabulous recipe - my S.O. drools in anticipation when I make it.

Tuscan Coffeecake: King Arthur Flour

 

[DeborahB]

FYI - Every so often KA Flour has a sale where they give free shipping if you spend $75 (not on appliances) - if you get on their email list, you'll know when it happens and can buy specialty flours then without the expensive shipping costs.

They really have great recipes, too.

 

[travelover]

Craigslist - by the shovelful, like other single purpose appliance.

 

[Pete]

Too bad I didn't know...just got rid of one last week. Didn't use it for years.

+1 on the cost, the thrift store, and Craigs list.

Got one of these 23 years ago. It kneads bread, helps with all my wife’s baking, shreds cheese, grinds meat, chops vegetables, and it's pretty easy to clean.... Just check out all the attachments. And I can tell you from experience, it lasts.

Amazon.com: KitchenAid Professional 600 Series 6-Quart Stand Mixers: Home & Garden

 

[walkinwood]

When I don't want to knead by hand, I use a food processor or a stand mixer.

If you want to use a food processor, do some research on technique. I use 20 seconds, let rest for 5 minutes, and then another 25 seconds. That's all it takes! You can't make large quantities of dough, but clean up is a breeze.

 

[audreyh1]

Well, I decided not to get a bread machine for the new house after all. They are great machines, but the fact is that we just don't eat that much bread anymore since we reduced the starches in our diet many years ago. We rarely buy bread. We have an occasional frozen pizza at home (thin crust, of course), and I only very occasionally buy a frozen load of ciabatta or whatever that can be popped in the oven. HEB makes some awesome frozen bread if you want that nice home-baked artisan touch.

Anyway - I realized that my Kitchenaid stand mixer is all I really need, because for the last several years that I did a lot of bread making, I only ever used the bread machine for making the dough anyway, preferring to do the final shaping by hand, and baking the bread in an oven. The Kitchenaid is not quite as convenient as a bread machine as you have to pay attention to the time to take the dough through the stages, but it's still pretty minimal fuss.

Right now my mixer is buried deep in the bowels of our storage unit in another city. So I won't be able to get my hands on it until we rent the truck to bring that stuff down here. Patience, patience! I'm anxious to start making our own pizzas again now that we have space and a real oven in the house. Also need pizza paddle and pizza stone!

By the way, I got pretty good at adapting recipes to the bread machine. I even adapted my mother's Christollen recipe and always used the bread machine to make that. I use my Dad's bread machine as I am always at his place from Xmas.

Audrey

 

[audreyh1]

When I don't want to knead by hand, I use a food processor or a stand mixer.

If you want to use a food processor, do some research on technique. I use 20 seconds, let rest for 5 minutes, and then another 25 seconds. That's all it takes! You can't make large quantities of dough, but clean up is a breeze.

I may be trying the food processor soon, as I was able to retrieve that from storage recently as it was close to the front. I'm so happy to have my Cuisinart custom-11 back, even though it will need a lot of cleaning. I left it with my MIL for a few years and they kept it on top of the fridge next to the stove, and, well, clouds of greasy air must have settled on it over the years - yuck. I felt like I was doing an animal rescue when I retrieved it from her house after she passed - bless her heart.

I have used the food processor for pasta dough - perfect. Although I don't make homemade pasta anymore.

The food processor is awesome for pie crusts. I used it all the time to make the sweet cookie style pie crust required for my mother's plum tart (pate sucree).

Hmmm - I guess I'll be making my whole wheat pizza dough in the Cuisinart until I can retrieve the buried Kitchenaid.

Audrey