bread machines

Many, if not most people are ambivalent about many, if not most things that they do. It's actually a healthy thing. It's the people who are "sure" about everything they do that you have to worry about.

Bob [I feel ambivalent about the low flame, but I'm just trying to do my part to reduce our dependency on foreign oil, after all]

Based upon your comments, I conclude you paid more than $40 for a bread machine and you had no idea what you were doing when selecting it. The things you said you like can be handled by just about any bread machine, including the $5 yard sale variety. Unless you are destitute (in which case you're nuts for spending money in this way) $40 is not much of an investment to whine about. If you spent more than $40, you probably bought a machine that has features you don't need, nor will ever use.

Next time you think about buying something, do some research first; figure out what you want and what you need (they are different things) and how much you are willing to spend to get it.

In reply to Randy; yes, I did pay more the $40 for a machine; yes, I did do my research; and yes, I did buy what I /wanted/! If I had bought only what I needed, I would have saved that money entirely. I /do not/ need a bread machine. I wanted one.

Do not mistake my ambiguity as dissatisfaction. I am satisfied that I purchased what I wanted. All I am saying is that I could live without it. Dude! Take a chill pill.

-G

Hmmm. I made my bread machine purchase for $20 at a yard sale a few years ago and have not bought a loaf of bread since. Many pizzas and loaves of wheat, garlic and chocolate bread later, I haven't regretted my purchase for a minute. Perhaps you're just not a bread machine type.

Although some folks I know have compared my having a bread machine to a drug addict having a meth lab in their basement...

KD & G

I have to keep this post short because my doctor told me I had a bad case of the Egyptian Flu. I told him I never heard of the Egyptian Flu. He said it was kind of like the Asian flu except you catch it from you mummy...... Nevermind. According to King Arthur's Bakers Companion(pg.194), bread machines do a better job kneading bread than kneading by hand or using an electric mixer. Consequently, if I had a bread machine, which I don't, I would use it for kneading only and do everything else myself and get the best of both worlds.

I will agree that the bread machine does a better job of kneading than I do. I also like the idea of tossing in the ingredients and letting the machine do its thing. -G

G, what machine did you buy??? Does it work, and do what you hoped it would?

Kent

A few bullet points:

If you do not use a bread machine are you comfortable kneading by hand for 20 minutes? I live in a place where winter gets too cold. Raising in room temperature during winter is not an option. You are in control what ingredients go to your bread (no preservatives)! Which bread tastes better - one hot out of the oven or the one that was manufactured a day or two ago (By the way I use the machine to help me knead and raise - I bake it in a oven for better crust). Creativity - you can create new kind of bread. If you goof up - what do you lose - 50 cents or if you buy top of the line products - a dollar.

Mr. G D Geen wrote:

I think the ambivalence is normal.

We will always have a bread machine for at least one task: dumping ingredients in before going to bed, and waking up to the smell of a fresh English muffin loaf on the weekends.

-- Larry (loves nooks and crannies on *both* sides!)

We have had our bread machine for at least 7 years. We used it a lot the first

3 years or so but health problem's have stopped me from using it much of late. Now though i have found it helpful in place of a good mixer that I Don't have for things like mixing up things. My health issues stop me from doing things that the bread maker allows me to do again like the 3 batches of Irish soda bread i made this week. Since i am permanently disabled it is a blessing to have! Nice to find a use for something i already own.

It was also nice to use the dough cycle and baked the dough in a conventional pan after a final rise in the regular bread pan.

-Sautéed poo is still poo.