I’ve now been an owner of a bread machine for 5 months, and now I think it is time for me to write about my own experiences about the pros and cons in my opinion when you bake bread with a bread maker.

First and foremost, it has meant that I have started to bake my own bread, instead of buying them at the local baker. It is incredibly easy to get started, especially when you choose to bake a type of bread that has been baked several times before, so it takes only 1-2 minutes to put the bread maker in the process of baking.

First a little bit about the disadvantages I have experienced:

• It is noisy. The kneading process is a reasonable noisy affair that lasts 30-40 minute’s total. It is perhaps not possible to avoid all the noise from the bread maker, but if you live in a small apartment or house, you cannot put it somewhere noise will not bother you. This means that you will most likely be awakened by the noise if it starts to knead the dough 3 hours before you have to get up in the morning to the wonderful freshly baked bread.

• Holes in the bottom of the bread. In the beginning I just had get used to that there was a hole in my bread but now I’ve gotten used to it, so I will not even call it a disadvantage, since it is so minimal. If people have had to discard the bread because of this, they must have done something wrong.

• Unbaked top. The top is obviously not baked as much as the sides and bottom, but it is baked enough. You cannot make bread with golden brown crust on top, but it is baked.

• Shape. Bread baked in a bread machine is square and not like the bread we know from the bakery or supermarket. It has taken a little getting used to for me and my family.

• Bread size. If you are a large family you must be aware that standard equipment on the market probably does not bake a big enough bread. Some machines, however, are big enough in size and can cover most family needs, but the price is unfortunately also often higher.

Advantages:

• Cleaning? Very easy – it’s only the baking dish that need to be cleaned but since the bread always let go easily, it is often unnecessary to do other than removing the piece of bread, which sits on the shaft to the dough hook. Most bread machines are fitted with Teflon coating and the parts can easily be removed, and usually be put in the dishwasher.

• Kneading. The bread maker can also be used to knead dough for other types of bread that you do not want to bake in the bread maker. I have successfully put it to knead the dough into buns, cookies and cake.

• The smell of fresh bread. It’s wonderful that with the timer you can be sure that there is always freshly baked bread in the morning or evening with your cup of coffee. The smell of freshly baked bread from the baking machine makes it certainly easier to get out of bed in the morning.

• Baking Master. If you, as I do, love to experiment with creating various new breads and invent new recipes, so you feel like a real baking champion, then a bread maker is an absolute hit. So far I have tried with Graham flour, cracked wheat kernels, walnuts, rye bread mixture.

Apart from the noise, I’m really happy with my bread maker. It makes excellent bread. It is easy to clean, and as I said, incredibly easy to set up. One will soon find their favorite recipes, but it’s also quite fun to experiment with kneading / raise / bake times and ingredients.

If your owner’s manual requires warm liquid to activate the yeast, yes, you should heat the milk.

Thanks! Your help is greatly appreciated!

Award Winning Design Pizza

Home My Kenwood Kitchen Pizza

BM450 Pizza Dough – Program 13

Ingredients makes 2 x 30cm (12") makes 1 x 30cm (12")

Water 250ml 140ml
Olive Oil 1 tbsp 1 tbsp
Unbleached White Bread Flour 450g 225g
Salt 1 1/2 tsp 1 tsp
Sugar 1 tsp 1/2 tsp
Easy Blend Dried Yeast 1 tsp 1/2 tsp
For the Topping
Sun-Dried Tomato Paste 8 tbsp 4 tbsp
Dried Oregano 2 tsp 1 tsp
Mozzarella Cheese, sliced 280g 140g
Fresh Plum Tomatoes, roughly chopped 8 4
Yellow Pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips 1 1/2
Green Pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips 1 1/2
Mushrooms, sliced 100g 50g
Dolcellate Cheese, cut into small pieces 100g 50g
Parma Ham, torn into pieces 100g 50g
Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese 50g 25g
Fresh Basil Leaves 12 6
Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Olive Oil 2 tbsp 1 tbsp

Method

1. Remove the bread pan from the bread maker and fit the kneader.

2. Pour the water and olive oil into the bread pan. Add the flour, salt and sugar.

3. Make a well in the centre of the flour, but not down as far as the liquid and add the yeast.

4. Insert and lock the bread pan into the bread maker. Select program 13 PIZZA DOUGH from the menu. Press start. Lightly oil a pizza pan or baking sheet.

5. At the end of the cycle, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently knock back the dough. Roll out into a 30 cm (12") round and place in the prepared pan or on the baking sheet.

6. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Spread the sun-dried tomato paste over the pizza base. Sprinkle with oregano and top with two-thirds of the mozzarella cheese.

7. Scatter with tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, dolcellate cheese, Parma ham, remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and basil leaves. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.

8. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden and serve immediately.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Grape-Nuts-Bread/Detail.aspx

Thanks, Mary!

Anyone have any ideas about baking time/temperatures?

Easy! Make a list of the ingredients and amounts for the machine version, and use them in the order and with the technique you find in any regular bread recipe for basic white bread from a standard cookbook! The amount of flour will probably be different between the machine recipe and what you actually need to use — just keep adding flour a small scoop at a time until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Now cut from the unbaked dough a slice about the size of your palm, and with a little water on your fingers (to prevent the dough from sticking to your hand), stretch out the dough in all directions until it is about the size of your whole hand including the fingers. That brings the cutting of dough to about twice the size it was when you cut it….

Now with care, drop the stretched out dough in to the hot oil.
It would rise almost instantly.
Fry it in the oil until it is golden brown all over, taking care to turn it over occasionally.
It would be puffy and crisp when done.

With a large ladle or sieve, scoop out the bread fritter and place on an absorbent kitchen towel to rid it of most of the oil still on it.
Repeat this process until all the dough is done.

These bread fritters are extremely filling, and can be cut open and filled with almost anything from grated cheese to mince to poloni or jam.
Try it, you will probably have some left over for two or three days, which your man can take to work if he likes….
Bread fritters can be frozen and warmed up again if you have made too much, but the dough cannot, so rather make the whole lot and freeze what is left over for another day.
Here at home I have a set menu I follow when the kids are home, and Wednesdays are always bread fritter days. My family looks forward to this mid week treat.

http://vegweb.com/index.php?board=201.0

I love that site for Vegan Recipes, and that link well take you to the Bread maker part, They call it "Bread Machine" tho i dunno why iv always called it bread maker