To want to bake my own bread whilst also bringing up a small person?

[Ecgwynn]

Is it worth having a bread maker while I have a small baby (currently 4 months) or am I realistically not going to use it? Also any recommendations of models to get?

A breadmaker is perfect for someone with a baby. Takes 10 minute sto get iot out of the cupboard and stick a loaf on to bake. Everything else is automatic.

I can't understand the point of a breadmaker. The loaves come out with no soul.

We use ours twice a day, pretty much every day, and have done since before DC's were born.

Those whose bread comes out bullet-like are probably letting the yeast get wet rather than putting yeast in first and then all the other dry ingredients, to separate it from the wet stuff.

The timer function is ace. We've also used ours to make pizza.

Good tip Pluto. Never thought about keeping the yeast dry. I chuck it in, in the order it comes out of the cupboard. No wonder it's a bit variable.

We make pizza dough in ours too.

NC, I agree that the loaves are not quite as good as completely hand made, but you know exactly how fresh they are and exactly what ingredients is going into them. I notice our bread lasts an awful lot longer than shop stuff that has a load of preservatives in it!

I've had a breadmaker for about 4 years now. The only time we've bought bread since then is when we're on holiday. It takes no time to chuck in the ingredients and it always tastes better than bought bread plus you know exactly what went in it.

I had a breadmaker and eventually binned it - but didn't stop making my own bread. If you have a hand held whisk thingy with dough hooks (most come with them) then it's a piece of piss to make good bread. Apart from the leaving to proove (proof?) business it really takes no time at all.

i have two dds ages 5/7, i work full time in a demanding job that requires me to bring lots of work home and on weekends.. dh works away from home, however i love my breadmaker and have not bought bread since buying it, it is SO easy to throw in the ingredients , and switch it on!!you can use delay timer to wake up to fresh bread or leave it early morning for later on- i make a large loaf on a sat morning and it lasts us a couple of days, and a mini loaf mid week. Suffices for beakfast , sandwiches. the bread is scrummy, might not be perfect first time but after experimenting a couple of times it now is!

Panasonic here too.

300ml water, slosh of oil, 20 oz flour, packet yeast, 3/4 scoop of Maldon sea salt.

Easiest to put the metal basket on scales, add water and oil, zero the scales, add flour then the yeast and salt. No need to get any measuring equipment dirty.

Job done

I use mine for the dough function, then I make my own pizza and flatbread. I use it about once a week, I love it. The actual loaves are shit though.

I love our breadmaker with a quite perverted disconcerting passion. DP took literally years to talk round to it: best advice I was given (from a fellow MNer!) was to start with very ordinary bread, not fancy stuff, and then work up to fancy stuff if you wanted to.

Ours is incredibly easy to use (another MNer tip - there are loads on Gumtree from people who've started on fancy stuff and got bored) and we chuck in the ingredients taking about five minutes in total (cup measurements are fab - yet another MNer recipe ) and bread comes out three hours later. You can do it pissed, hungover, with a sledgehammer migraine...we haven't made a fancy loaf yet, but we don't buy bread any more either.

DH uses the breadmaker, I use the kitchen aid - mine produces better loaves but his is handy for the nighttime panic of oh god we have no bread in the morning. However, kids prefer bread ready sliced from the supermarket or my homemade bread, they tend to not eat much of the breadmaker loaf not sure why - it doesn't toast that well and tricky to make sandwiches with.

Baby has nothing to do with it, other than you may have lost your mind temporarily.

Ok, my bread from my bread maker always turns out more cake than bread. Anybody got a foolproof recipe?

See ^ up there Holy.

I love my Panasonic bread machine. As far as I can tell, there are only two makes that produce really good bread, the panny is one of them.

If takes about 5 minutes to get the ingredients ready for a plain loaf. Slightly longer for a fancier one. A truly worthwhile investment of time.

holymoly I use Jamie Olivers basic bread recipe. It's brilliant....you can vary it by adding things...and you can half the ingredients to make a smaller batch....I use it for loaves and I also make rolls with it. Sometimes plain and sometimes I add finely grated cheese and mixed herbs.

I make it by hand every other day. My arm muscles have benefited! recipe here

I knead it for 7 minutes and do the first prove in a warm oven on the tray I bake it on. Same with the second...forget all the faff with cling film....warm the oven up, place the dough on a well floured tray....leave to prove for half an hour, take it out....then shape as you want....and then prove again for half an hour then I cook on 180 for about 20 mins. (fan assisted)

I used a breadmaker when DC were small but found it a faff and did not replace it when it died. I then made bread by hand (every day or two, depending on what we were using) throughout bringing up and home-educating two DC.

I don't weigh out ingredients. I throw the following ingredients into a bowl, mix with hand-hot water and then leave to rise:

three cups of strong flour (any type but I tend not to use more than 50% wholemeal)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Dove's Farm yeast (from the larger packet - sachets are a waste)
1 tbsp olive oil

I always knock it back and give it a second rising after shaping it. A good tip is that you can make up the dough and leave it to rise the first time in the fridge overnight. I always do that at Easter with hot cross buns (Delia's recipe) and at Christmas with croissant dough.

My crew love cheese and Marmite bread (but it does not last long - because they all eat it).

I very rarely buy bread now- bread maker all the way. We have been doing it for a year now so not a fad!
Takes 5mins to set and then fresh bread.

What happens about cleaning the breadmaker? I was given one by a friend who was moving house, and it looked so grubby that I took it straight to the charity shop, (who probably binned it, but they are one that does accept electricals).

i do the ny times no knead bread (google lahey no knead or bittman no knead - it's on thousands of bread blogs) every second day. baked in a le creuset. both my children love the bread.

Stop it with the breadmakers! Do none of you have half an hour to spare?? What about the bread having some time spent on it? some love?

SDeuchars that's very similar to Jamie Olivers recipie but his has no oil. I think I might add some oil to mine. It comes out very airy and nice but maybe it's sometimes a tad dry. Not always...depends if I get it out on time.

NCForNow - I agree. After gaining confidence with the breadmaker I started making bread by hand too. Very satisfying is making bread.

However, if I just want a quick loaf for sandwiches or a brioche overnight for breakfast then on it goes. Miles better than supermarket bread.

Panasonic here and love it. Use it pretty much every day although, tbh, the more I use it, the more I need to use it as we eat far more home made bread than we do shop bought. Also use it for pizza dough. Love it, and I have a 7mo.