Bread maker vs baking in oven

[Greenring]

I am preparing for Brexit and considering bread. I have seen quite a few threads which mention a bread maker - is there a reason people buy these rather than making bread the normal way? I have bread ingredients but have never made it and am not a particularly great baker so would consider a bread maker if it's likely to be inedible! But I don't really want to spend on something I won't otherwise use... Any advice?

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MNHQ

[PurpleWithRed]

With a bread maker you just chuck in all the ingredients and then leave it to do its thing. The bread is great. So good I have to hide my breadmaker after a while as we just make it and eat it.

Handmade bread if you’ve never done it is quite time consuming and (in my experience) not that easy.

[evilharpy]

I’m not a preppee but spotted this in the active posts.

I used to make bread by hand but now have a Panasonic breadmaker and love it for these reasons:

You can set a timer and have the bread ready in the morning/when you get home from work

You don’t have to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t under or over prove

You don’t have to stay home ready to knock it back or get it out of the oven

The results are really consistent and I’ve never had a bad loaf

No mess

No effort other than just throwing ingredients in a tin

You do get a hole in the bottom from the paddle but ours is so small that it’s negligible and not annoying at all. Also you can use it to make the dough but then shape it into bread rolls or whatever and bake it in the oven.

[SoupDragon]

I am not a prepper but I use a breadmaker because I am lazy! I could make it by hand (andmy did always did) but I really can't be arsed with the waiting and kneading.

[Whisky2014]

But with a breadmaker you have the paddle stuck insides the loaf leaving a hole. I'm planning on making it normally!

[Greenring]

Haha, if a bread maker is seen as the lazy option then what is buying loaves at the shop? I don't want to be without bread... We usually buy a few loaves at a time and freeze them but both of my freezers have more necessary items in now and if bread runs out there will be nothing to freeze. I'm just not sure whether I'd bother using a bread maker in future if bread is readily available in shops and it'll be another gadget gathering dust.

[ginandtonicformeplease]

I can't get on with bread makers and hate the hole in the bottom. Hand made every time.

[evilharpy]

The hole ours leaves is honestly nothing to get annoyed about. It's quite a large but very thin paddle and leaves sort of a slit in the middle two slices of bread plus a very tiny square right at the bottom. I was surprised as previously we'd had a machine with two paddles and each one left a huge hole, so you lost half a loaf.

[SoupDragon]

if a bread maker is seen as the lazy option then what is buying loaves at the shop?

You have to leave the house to buy at a shop which means you have to get dressed 😂

[Greenring]

I don't even do that, my husband is in charge of the weekly shop! I'd be less concerned about a hole in the bread than bread I couldn't eat because my technique was wrong. I made a lemon loaf last week which was supposed to be something between bread and cake. It was awful and looked like a boulder had been dropped on it. The machines I'm looking at on Amazon start at around £50. Does anybody use one of the Russell Hobbs ones and are they any good?

[cloudtree]

I bought one about 6 months ago and we have used it a couple of times a week every week since then. It incredibly easy, particularly if you use bread mixes. Literally add mix, add water and press button. Ta dah!

Awful lot easier to store flour and yeast or bread mix than it is to store bread.

[CreativeMumma]

I've been wondering about getting one, but i don't have a lot of worktop space. I wonder if you get mini breadmakers?

[Hermagsjesty]

I’m not a prepper but saw this on active threads and would very much recommend a bread maker. They’re super easy and the bread always comes out delicious.

[TheWoollybacksWife]

I've got the Morphy Richards Fastbake bread maker. I wouldn't say it's a compact machine - it's about half the size of a microwave. It sits on my worktop and I have to pull it forward to open the lid fully to get the pan in and out.

I use it on average about twice a week. I've made ordinary white loaves, garlic focaccia and dough for bread rolls and iced finger buns. The bread is really nice but the iced buns were amazing.

[NameChanger22]

I've never used a bread maker, but it only takes 15 minutes to make bread by hand, I would guess it takes nearly that long with the machine, as you would need to clean it afterwards.

[AndhowcouldIeverrefuse]

I make bread 2 - 3 by hand times a week. I use fresh yeast and a no knead recipe. Takes about 5 minutes of my time overall. I would use a breadmaking machine but have no room or funds to buy one.

[Karigan195]

I do both. I got a bread maker as a present but I don’t like the way it cooks bread so instead I mix it in the bread maker (which does a better job than me) then flour a standard baking tin to prove and bake through. I find it a nice happy medium.

[Karigan195]

Also whilst I make mean rolls and loaves nowadays by focaccia keeps failing so if anyone has any tips please tell me :)!

[SoupDragon]

it only takes 15 minutes to make bread by hand, I would guess it takes nearly that long with the machine, as you would need to clean it afterwards.

To be honest, the tin is left pretty much clean after you take the loaf out. There is nothing else to clean.

[WinterHeatWave]

Yep, I'd recommend the half way house Karigan uses.
Bread is best going into a really hot oven, and bread makers need to heat up with the dough in them. Take the elbow work out by putting the machine on a dough setting, then cook in a hot oven.

[SpongeBobJudgeyPants]

I do both, when I'm in the mood. There is a book called The Five Minute Bread book, iirc, which makes lovely easy hand made bread. Mumma I think Lakeland do a mini-breadmaker.

[DoodleLab]

I'm normally fairly anti-gadget, as they require mining more earth's resources to build yet another thing to clutter up the house. But if you eat bread, they are actually very efficient to run. They only have a small element and wattage, compared to running the main oven to bake the loaf, thus saving many KWH and carbon emissions over its life time.

I would say though to get a high rated one like a Panasonic. My DH got me a cheapy Cookworks one years ago, back when I ate bread. Although the bread itself was delicious, it was as dense as a house brick. I think one of the variations of the Panasonic models can do gluten free if that is a consideration.

If you have a small work top oven like a Remoska, you can also bake bread in that... I used to make amazing Irish soda bread in mine. It's only about 500W/hr, compared with maybe 2 - 3 KWH with a full size oven.

[Greenring]

I have a hand mixer with dough hooks and a proving setting on my oven. Would use of these mean my bread is more likely to turn out well if made by hand? This may be a stupid question but how do you slice homemade bread? I have had lots of trouble slicing a shop bought loaf with a bread knife in the past.

[bellinisurge]

We have an anniversary voucher left unused. Thank you for the great ideas.

[SpongeBobJudgeyPants]

Green Lakeland do a gismo that holds the bread while you slice it, and kind of guides the knife, so you don't end up with really uneven slices. One of the gadgets that I have really used.

[PickAChew]

The last time I kneaded dough by hand, I has a stiff neck for 2 days, afterwards. Breadmaker all the way, now. Minimal effort, minimal clean up and uses a lot less energy than the oven.