just got a breadmaker (yes i know, last person in the world) - hints and recipes please

[barbamama]

cant believe how good the first loaf was!

do you think you could make play dough in it?

one of the reasons got it was because lo's eat a lot of bread and bit concerned about the salt, preservatives etc. how far can you reduce the salt in the recipes without messing it up?

what nobody has a bread maker?

i'm thinking of getting one....

I haven't got a breadmaker.

I was for ages too but I didn't want to spend 100 odd quid on yet another kitchen gadget that wouldn't get used. However, Tescos are doing their own brand one for £24.99! SIL bought it and said it was good - she is quite into baking and the like, so I risked it and, like I say, that was probably as good as any white loaf I have ever bought - and lovely and warm as well. I am convinced (though obviously I am aware the novelty might wear off!)

I know, my younger self would have though I was a nob.

I have a bread maker - I mix my flour, I mix wholemeal and white 50-50 and today for the first time got some flour from a local mill.

I use mostly a really simple recipe in my machine - flour water 1 salt 1 yeast and 2 sugar. This seems to work really well and not to much salt (I have done a little less than 1 teaspoon roughly 3/4 and it was still ok)

I went to buy bread in tesco for the first time in 6 months and my jaw hit the floor at the price hike!

Had my bread machine for 11 years and it comes out every few months but this stretch has been the longest and will now continue with the price of bread now.

that's a good idea to mix wholemeal and white - like those "best of both" ones. Your're right about the price. I have been buying organic bread for my lo as I am obsessed with giving him organic food only and you would not believe the price! Nother reason got a bread machine. Caught dp with ds1 feeding it to the bloody ducks the other day as well!

we use ours all the time, with very little salt or sugar and often olive oil in place of the milk and butter

the recipe I used from the tesco instructions had no milk or butter - just veg oil. Is it just the flour, water, yeast and sugar youn need essentially to get bread and then you can play around with the rest?

I think so, seems to be anyway!

Water/flour/sugar/yeast/salt - I put this on a french bread setting and use allsorts of mixtures of flour - all seem to come out lovely and smell twice as nice at 6am

Then as you say play around with the rest.

Try farm shops for local milled organic flour - my local farm shop had 3kg for £5

Doves organic flour in tesco and sainsbury was reduced recently - when it is stock up!

thanks - cant believe how excited I am over a bread maker - it is a sad facet of getting older (and having kids). Seriously, a few years ago I'd have laughed in your face if you'd said I would be buying a bread maker (and asking people on internet forums what to do with them).

Back to my op - one of my other domestic goddess type plans was to make some home made playdough. Bearing in mind I am crap in the kitchen and haven't quite got round to it yet (still regrouping after near tartar sauce disaster narrowly averting thanks to MN), do you think you could just chuck it in a bread maker? I like the idea of a dual purpose machine!

averted

We have a Panasonic, it's foolproof. I use a teaspoon of salt and sugar in a large loaf but could probably reduce that a bit without it having an effect on the bread.

Waitrose do Organic Strong White, Brown or Wholemeal Flours for £1.30 a bag - I get 3 or 4 large loaves out of it. Given that the other ingredients cost pennies, it is much cheaper to make your own bread (though you have to recoup the price of the breadmaker).

We had a cheaper breadmaker before and it was crap so invested in the Panasonic but a friend has a £30 Lidl version and her bread is lovely.

Pizza dough - 1/2 teaspoon yeast, 1 tsp salt, 11oz flour, 170ml water, 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Put on dough programme, pummel into pizza shape, leave to prove for 15-20 minutes, add toppings and cook for about 10 minutes. Very good it is too!

playdough - try it on the fastest mixing dough setting you have and just see what happens. And then tell the result please!

Another plan for homemade pizza sorted thanks!!

What is the difference between the el cheapo models and the more expensive ones do you think? A friend also has a panasonic one and was advising me not to get a cheap one (which I ignored, obviously). I have to say, this Tescos one seems very good - if I can use it anyone can. Maybe they don't last long or break easily. Still, for 24 quid ....

will do the playdough this weekend and let you know!!!

(oh god I can see a disaster on the horizon ....)

how do I know which is the fastest one? My settings are things like, white, french, wholemeal etc.

or I guess you meant the "dough" setting otherwise it will try and cook it!!

Does the machine have a digital panel that shows the time each setting takes? Or it should be in the handbook?

I've no idea about why some cheap ones work well - we tried all sorts of things to get a better loaf from our Morphy Richards and none of them worked, very heavy yeasty bread. Urgh. I don't think the heating element worked properly either because the bread always rose lopsided.

Lots of MNers recommended the Panansonic and they were right!

x-post! Yes, just 'dough'. My pizza dough setting takes 45 minutes.

can anyone give me the recipe for wholemeal rolls in the breadmaker, that one page is all stuckup

i chuck in stuff like seeds ground almonds olives whole nuts etc some times it comes out quite cakey but lots of added goodness mine i s a panasonic

i also use honey instead of sugar

and ordinary yeast which is cheaper