Can someone tell the advantages of making your own bread ..

[MeandEva]

I read many times on here of people making their own bread. It is something I hadnt considered doing before.

Is it easier?
Is it healthier?
Does it work out cheaper in the long run?

It's not easier - of course not.

But it is much tastier because it is fresher.

You can also adapt the recipes with your own weird and wonderful ingredients.

You can store all the ingredients for several months, so don't have to go shopping every few days for bread.

I find that it's more filling, therefore I eat less of it, so does everyone else in family.

1 slice of bread makes a sandwich, rather than 2 slices. So, cheaper.

You are less likely to run out, because you can always just wop some more mix in the machine when you realise supplies are running low.

I use a bread machine, only dusted it off a few weeks ago, it's old now, works OK. Bread had shot up so much in price.

I didnt mean easier, I meant easy

you can get better quality at a cheaper price, esp if you bulk buy organic flour.

I got mine because of the price of bread-it is much cheaper and very easy.

Yes, it is easy.

I don't use a breadmaker (family too big), but do have a Kenwood Major with dough-hook.

I usually make pizza dough or rolls, and I find it quite a pleasant task.

The 'challenging' part is giving yourself enough time for all the stages of kneading/rising/proving/baking - you could be tied to the house for a while. This isn't a problem with a breadmaker which automates the process.

Definately tastier! And cheaper than shop bought.

And it's so easy to do, never used a breadmaker though, just by hand but I use it for 15 mins peace while the lo occupies herself or plays with the tick-tock (weighing scales, to you and me)

What ingrediants do you need to make a basic loaf?

How long would a loaf last before going stale?

How long does it take to prepare and bake a loaf?

You need bread flour, yeast, salt, and water as basic ingredients.

You can substitute milk for some of the water, and add egg or oil to enrich the loaf.

You can put different toppings on the loaf (eg sesame seeds, poppy seeds).

I don't often make an actual loaf, but I'm thinking that it will take the best part of three hours from start to finish.

Homemade bread will go state fairly quickly, but all you have to do is slice off the edge - that's if you have any left. We never do.

Thanks for all the advice

Is there a particular breadmaker which is very good?

We made our own when there was no decent bakery nearby. We moved and now live close to a good bakery. Henceforth we no longer made our own bread, but buy it daily as we pass the bakery.

We have a panasonic. My mother thinks hers is the bees knees.

Is your mothers also a panasonic?

we have a panasonic and love it, for all the reasons mentioned, plus the fact that we can add what we want to it e.g. olive oil in place of butter/milk, nuts/seeds, no/little salt/sugar etc

We've just upgraded to a panasonic. Everywhere we looked said that was the best make. And it makes the biggest loaf.

We did find that the loaves from our old breadmaker were no longer big enough for all four of us. Partly because when the loaf is totally fresh, DH is capable of eating at least half of it before the rest of us get a look in!

Advantages for us are:

• we know what's in the bread (DH is allergic to nuts, so avoiding in-store bakeries is a big plus for us)
• it tastes fabulous - much, much better than anything from any supermarket
• the house smells fabulous, especially first thing in the morning if it's been on timer during the night
• our kids know what goes into bread and we all have fun experimenting with different recipes. Over Christmas we have made rolls shaped like hedgehogs, home made pizza with proper bread dough from the machine and a really yummy spiced fruit loaf.

I'm not convinced it's cheaper - although it might be cheaper than buying bread of similar quality from a decent baker.

I do generally keep an assortment of rolls, muffins etc in the freezer, for when we forget to put it on in time for lunch.

Is it easy to make rolls etc, do they taste ok if they are frozen and how do you defrost them? I ike the idea of being able to make fresh roll for dh to take to work in the morning.

Can I make it up and leave it on overnight? Thats a great idea

A friend used to have a bad reaction to bread...lots of bloating and wind. But since he's been making his own in the bread maker, has had no such symptoms. I think all the preservatives they bung in aren't great for you.

What I do for fresh rolls in the mornign is to make the dough, let it rise, and shape it into individual loafs the night before. I then put the tray into the fridge overnight. In the morning, I take it out of the fridge, turn on the oven, and pop them into bake.

Regarding rolls - it depends what you mean by "easy". The machine mixes the dough for you and lets it rise. So that bit is dead easy!

When it's ready, you take the dough out, split it into rolls, shape them however you want and put them on a baking tray. Leave them to rise again for 20mins or so, then bake. Nothing complicated, but you need to be around and sufficiently organised to remember that they are rising and put them in the oven when they are the right size.

The instructions for ours include loads of recipes and directions for doing rolls, pizza etc.

They freeze fine, so you can do a big batch at the weekend and use them through the week. Although they're so nice fresh that you might need a lot of self-control.

And yes, you can leave it on overnight. Bung ingredients in before bed. Set timer. Sleep. Wake up to smell of fresh bread wafting through the house.

Convinced yet?