Bread making - do you still use yours?

[LadyWithLapdog]

I’m thinking of buying a bread making machine. Will I actually use it? If you have one, how often do you use it? I don’t want to get bored and it to just gather dust in the garage.

Does anyone have a decent recipe ?
Can you make proper holey ciabatta bread in a bread machine ?

We got a Panasonic a year ago and cannot get a decent loaf out of it. We've followed the instructions to the letter and used fresh ingredients but the loaves come out really heavy and sort of gluey. Tried different brands of flour, reducing the water etc but they're just inedible.

I’m listening to an audiobook about food (English food - by Diane Purkiss) and there’s a mention about just how much stuff goes into making commercial bread. I know I knew this all along, but that’s why I thought I’d look into making my own, using just a few “pure” ingredients.

BTW did you know regarding the Fire of London 1666 that a French man was wrongly accused and punished by death for starting it? He was nowhere near the bakery.

I also remember getting very dense bread from our Panasonic bread maker years ago .
Hence asking for recipe suggestion

I used to have one and got sick of the paddle getting stuck in the bread or if it slid out easy it left a big hole in the bottom of the bread so I got rid, I also found it made me eat more bread

I dont eat bread now anyway.

I have an Andrew James one that I found in a charity shop for £15.
Its fantastic! I use it about 1-2x a week to make bread (usually seedy whole meal) and/or pizza dough. The only thing I don’t like is that even on dark crust setting the bread comes out light golden. So it’s designed for people who prefer soft crust. But other than that, it does a really good job making delicious bread.

Yes the paddle getting stuck or leaving a big hole really annoyed me too, and the bread was always rather gummy.

My standard recipe is
125g White Bread flour
125g Wholemeal Bread flour
125g Malted Bread flour
25g rye flour
1 1/2 teaspoons quick yeast
280 ml water
1 teaspoon salt
Knob of butter (25-50g) or 1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Bake on the standard 4 hour program.
The rye flour and malted flour give it a lot of flavour. Rye flour gives the most flavour, but too much will reduce the rise making it very dense. Butter/oil helps it keep longer. The thing that most affects how well it rises is the amount of water.

Also try 125g white, 125g wholemeal, 75g malted, 75g rye.

Jennie Shapter has a bread machine recipe for Ciabatta, but you just use the dough cycle and bale in the oven.

Thank you @CruelAndUnusualParenting
Will try those !

We use ours a lot, hardly buy any bread. But we mostly use it for dough - the quick 'pizza' setting to make flatbreads, and one of the others to make a boule (I don't know which program because DH does those)

That 2nd recipe is wrong. It should have read 125g white, 125g malted, 75g wholemeal, 75g rye. Who knows, it might work anyway. I'll have to try it now 🤔

I've got a Panasonic and use it pretty regularly. I'm going to set it up for chelsea bun dough tomorrow as we've got friends visiting for dinner, but normally I make a 50/50 malted loaf for us once or twice a week. The rest of the time I can throw a soda bread (my favourite) into the oven as I'm cooking dinner so do that or cheese scones a couple of times a week too. We're a bread family....

My only issue is slicing the loaf properly - OH cuts off massive wedges, often on a ridiculous slant, and can use half the loaf for 2 slices of toast (yes, he's a greedy pig). I tend to slice it all at once and pop it in a bag, so he doesn't get the opportunity to have an "oops look how thick that slice is" moment. Otherwise he'd eat a small loaf in a day and leave me with nothing to have with my soup.

Can you tell me how you freeze the dough? Is it as soon as it comes out of the machine?

It would be fine, but I tend to stick it in the fridge for an hour or two first. I just find it makes the dough a bit easier to work with?

Then I just lump it in a freezer bag. It defrosts in a couple of hours.

I bought myself a really decent Panasonic one last time around, I do use it and have just started to use the jam function.

Now combining my interests by making dough in bread machine, cooking it as rolls in the air fryer and then having with soup maker soup. Genuinely feel this deserves some kind of MN prize

I don't have an air-fryer (I have an ancient halogen oven) but the Soup Maker is a well used device here . Any left over vegetable either gets souped or frozen .
Onions roasted and frozen in portions and any leftover roast or boiled potatoes .
It took ages of will I use it then I saw one half price so went for it .

We’ve used our Panasonic regularly for the past 10 years. I’m intrigued by the mention of crème fraiche bread, off to google a recipe for that!

I make bread three times a week in my machine.

It's wonderful. I got it on eBay for a fraction of its price when new. It's a Panasonic.

We've just bought our third or fourth (we wear them out) Trying the Aldi version this time.

I used to have a bread maker but think you get much better bread by using a hook in a stand mixer. I make bread regularly this way.

panasonic user again. only complaint is that bread is so fresh it can be hard to cut. hence dont use it as often as i would if it was just me. nan bread, pitza are regular things i use it for and did amazing roles during lock down. some interesting other recipes on here i might try

person who was having trouble getting it to rise - are you using decent yeast ....ie within its sell by date, packet not left open? fast acting dried yeast is what i've always used and you just add it to pot.

For bread that's too fresh to cut I find two things help. First I set the timer so that it finishes cooking half an hour or so before I come down for breakfast. The second is a really good bread knife. I replaced my cheap supermarket bread knife with a Victorinox bread knife several years back and it makes a big difference.

Mine is a Morphy Richards, bought for MIL 60th 20+ years ago. She never got on with it & one day came for a visit & gave it back to us! We have loved it ever since & are self -sufficient in bread.
Often used to set it with timer for teen son to have after school. Rapidly realised that 'I only had 3 slices, Mum' was most of the loaf!
Now I use the dough programme, shape into 8 rolls, leave to rise & cook in the oven. 3 batches a week (often all cooked same day like a factory line) & frozen as soon as cold. Son then gets a couple of rolls out of freezer and the loaf goes further! Can't buy commercial rolls now - they seem too pappy.
Oh yes. I didn't want it cluttering the kitchen surface so, with new kitchen, I chose it's cupboard and it lives away all the time.

Just put it on an hour ago. Had one for about 20 years, this Panasonic for 15 of them.
The thing is it gets you used to proper bread, then you go to the supermarket and all the sliced loaves look a bit soft and insubstantial. Like the difference between fresh coffee and instant. Particularly if you are concerned about additives. You can support local flour millers as well.

Having said that recent loaves have not risen too well, (British wheat crop can vary in gluten depending on summer weather) I think I need to get some Canadian flour.

Hi all
just been reading all the breaker maker threads I go on and off wanting one all the time and I’m back on wanting one.

I would like to get away from buying bread from the shops all together. I don’t use a huge amount but husband has sandwiches for lunches and child has it for toast. Is it good for sandwich bread and how in the world do you slice it all nice and evenly to make a nice sandwich and not thick and chunky?

all advice welcome.