bread maker

I have only used mine for bread often putting in a batch overnight on friday, using the timer, and the SMELL when you wake up to fresh bread is quite amazing. I totally blame it for my weight gain!!
I love the basic white bread and the half and half white and wholemeal. It is worth sourcing really good flour - organic if possible. But be prepared to find it irresistible!

I got one for Christmas but, as I was flying, I had to wait for DD to deliver it when she visited in February. I then left for Sydney, so am really looking forward to trying it out when I get home next week. Hope it makes small loaves as there's only me and I'm supposed to be on the 2:5 diet . Let me know how you get on bichon

Bichon , my DD + my DIL"s parents both have one .
They rave over them .
I haven"t got one as I try to cut down on my bread intake .
I hope you enjoy yours as much as they both do .

I use mine to make dough and then turn it into pizza. Or just shape dough and pop in oven.
Also fruit breads but don't add the fruit until after the dough it made or it just breaks up the dried fruit and turns the dough a flecky beige!

It is good if you are trying to amuse the children. Make the dough and leave them to make different shaped rolls.

Makes good naans and pitta bread as well

The packet mixes are good too but a bit expensive. I but a GF that is better than anything I've made myself or bought.

i didnt realise i could use it to just knead, i must read the manual again i cant remember seeing that ,i wonder does anyone know if there are recipe books for these machines,i am a bit of a duffer when it comes to thinking up new ideas

I use it all the time for all the above and it is brilliant. Readymixes work out at about £1.20 for a huge loaf - I occasionally use these. I get them from a very wellknown company that is based in the Lake District (!) - if you buy several, the postage is free.

I have a bread maker too! As bread for toast (apart from horrible prepacked stuff) is impossible to get here I use it mostly for bread for toasting,usually half white half brown flour. I also use it for dough for pizza or recently for hot cross buns. My DD has one too and uses hers nearly every day. They keep chickens so she often makes a rich sweet bread similar to brioche! Good luck with it. It can't be difficult if I can use one!!

bichonmad There are loads of recipe books for breadmaking machines available from bookshops, supermarkets and large Marks and Spencers stores. I even wrote one myself but shall refrain from advertising on Gransnet. [modest downcast eyes emoticon] You can make all sorts of doughs in the machine and bake quite a lot in them too. The quality is pretty good but you do forego the pleasure of bashing the dough around by hand and getting rid of all your frustrations.

I've got one but go for a while without using it and then I have another spurt of using it most days. The bread is certainly very tasty and I've learned to cut it thinly . I've not tried just making the dough and making rolls; that sounds a great idea - especially as the GC are around this Easter.

If you decide to use it, you have to be organised and keep stuff needed in stock. Make a new just before you need a new loaf.

Be careful you get the right yeast for a bread maker.....vip or loaf will be flat.

Half brown and white makes a good loaf but need slightly more water. Small loaf is much easier to wield [400 gms].

dough setting is what you are looking for.
Non quick yeast works but only if you get it going first (water, sugar, warmth - wonderful to watch it go from apparently dead to very active in a few minutes)

If you are going to use a bread mix, make sure it is okay for the size of your bread maker. They do vary.

There are a few books on Amazon, bichon. Here is a link to one, others are cheaper.
www.amazon.co.uk/The-Breadmaker-Bible-Karen-Saunders/dp/0091889251/ref=pd_sim_b_1

Bichon just as a matter of curiosity, do you have small curly haired intelligent dogs?

I love the Francine bread mixes. I get them from waitrose.

Don't understand why bread mix when it is only flour and yeast? Unless there is added seeds or something?

Francine is French bread mix they do a pain de campagne and a pain rustique.
They are made in France with French flower etc.
They're very nice indeed.

Bread mixes also have salt and sometimes milk powder in them. Some have an assortment of seeds.

yes galen i do have 2 small curly haired intelligent dogs who rule the roost

They're lovely dogs aren't they

I'm on my third machine... all from Panasonic.

I just use Carr's strong white and wholemeal flours, Dove Farm yeast, sugar, salt, oil (or butter - oil is easier) and water. Usually a 50% wholemeal, 400g loaf, on a 'rapid setting' - bakes in three hours. Time was when you needed to add Vitamin C and dried milk - not any more.

To begin with I was seduced by the smell wafting up the stairs in the morning when I used the timer overnight, but now I like to let the loaf stand for about twelve hours before cutting.

I have used the dough program for rolls, but I no longer have a functioning oven which puts the kybosh on that.