Recommend me a bread maker

[RubyToogood]

I found the breadmaker significantly more hassle than no-knead sourdough. If you start a loaf off before you go to bed, it's ready for shaping when you get home the next day, then it can be baked before you go to bed.

 

[gentlegreen]

I found the breadmaker significantly more hassle than no-knead sourdough. If you start a loaf off before you go to bed, it's ready for shaping when you get home the next day, then it can be baked before you go to bed.

Hot bread out of the machine for breakfast though...
All it takes is to spend 10 mins weighing in the ingredients and push a button

And some of us don't own ovens...

 

[High Voltage]

<Once again, thanks lucky stars that we have a small, family run bakers "just up the road" that makes excellent bread>

 

[Rebelda]

+1 for second hand Panasonic. I think I spent £30 and have used it every other day since. It's a basic model with no fancy compartment for seeds or raisins. It just beeps at you to come and put them in manually instead. Like someone said up there, the bread making aspect is the same across all models. You just get extras like rye paddles when you spend more

 

[sojourner]

Thanks to you Riklet , I browsed local FB groups and am getting a barely-used Panasonic for £40! Cheers chuck

I can only collect it end of March though cos it's in the next borough and I don't wanna get nabbed going to get a breadmaker

 

[sojourner]

I found the breadmaker significantly more hassle than no-knead sourdough. If you start a loaf off before you go to bed, it's ready for shaping when you get home the next day, then it can be baked before you go to bed.

Yeh but I've been making normal white and brown loaves too, not just sourdough.

 

[Crispy]

Our Panasonic nearly always manages to line the paddle up with the direction of slice, so only a couple of slices are affected. Fresh this morning:

 

[sojourner]

Is that the underside of the loaf Crispy ?

 

[Crispy]

Is that the underside of the loaf Crispy ?

yep. half'n'half white/brown flour

 

[sojourner]

Do you just put the butter in in chunks? I usually melt it when I hand-knead, but wondered if that was a bad idea for overnight baking.

Got the 2nd hand breadmaker btw, made 1st loaf with it and am impressed

 

[Crispy]

Do you just put the butter in in chunks? I usually melt it when I hand-knead, but wondered if that was a bad idea for overnight baking.

Got the 2nd hand breadmaker btw, made 1st loaf with it and am impressed

I just use a splash of oil

 

[Riklet]

You can experiment. Ive used both oil and butter and they give a different texture. Butter in chunks or a chunk wont make much difference as long as it's room temperature.

Have you had fun with seeds yet? Seed control is the great joy of bread machine baking IMO

 

[sojourner]

Cheers both! I think I'd prefer butter, so if it's ok to put it in in chunks, I'll give that a go.

No that's my next experiment - the Bake Raisin option, for sunflower seeds After that, I'll try the overnight bake.

 

[sojourner]

Am amazed how high the wholemeal loaf rose tbh. My handmade efforts tend to look a bit more like a slightly raised batard

 

[gentlegreen]

Am amazed how high the wholemeal loaf rose tbh. My handmade efforts tend to look a bit more like a slightly raised batard

what yeast and cycle did you use ?
For some reason I have to use the 3 hour "rapid" on mine - even with half wholemeal, half malted ...

 

[sojourner]

what yeast and cycle did you use ?
For some reason I have to use the 3 hour "rapid" on mine - even with half wholemeal, half malted ...

Bog standard sachet of dried yeast, and the wholemeal setting on the breadmaker. Took 5 hours all in. Barely made a sound - I was expecting some noise, but apart from some tiny clicking when I assume it was kneading, nothing. I was proper suspicious I was gonna end up with just dough tbh! Well impressed.

 

[Riklet]

I only use 1 teaspoon of yeast, got a little tub - def less than a sachet and whats recommended but if your kitchens warm and you like the bread slightly firmer it works great. With fresh yeast id just chop a bit off.

I never used milk powder btw as never bothered to buy it. Just fresh milk mixed with hot water for the liquid. This is another area to experiment - how warm a liquid to use.

Get those seeds in there though! Id recommend pumpkin, sunflower and linseed/golden linseeds as being especially nom. Poppy seeds probs good too. Easy to just chuck em in. Enjoy!

 

[sojourner]

I did wonder about the milk powder but I suppose if it's an overnight bake and it's summer, fresh might get a bit rancid.

For hand-baking wholemeal, I always use a mix of hot milk and lukewarm water, so I did the same with the breadmaker. I only found the recipes after I'd made the loaf

Aye, always chuck sunflower hearts in anyway. The RSPB ones I already had a great big bag of them, and they taste fine

 

[Epona]

I'd be worried about seed intended for wild birds having being treated with anti-fungal agents not licenced for human consumption... (but I am a bit of a worrier) At least not processed and packed in compliance with food hygiene standards, I'd be wary.

 

[sojourner]

I'd be worried about seed intended for wild birds having being treated with anti-fungal agents not licenced for human consumption... (but I am a bit of a worrier)

I've eaten tons of them. Am totally fine

 

[Epona]

So are most smokers...

 

[sojourner]

So are most smokers...

god that's proper doomy

 

[Epona]

Seriously we have food laws for a reason, email the RSPB and ask if the stuff is suitable for human consumption. Food for animals has different regulations and products are allowed to be used on them that we aren't supposed to be eating. It could be that they produce/process/store/pack them to standards that are fit for human consumption but it won't take a couple of minutes to send them an email to ask.