Posted: 10/22/2008 3:26:06 AM EDT
My family goes threw a decent amount of bread (5 if you include the dog  )After the initial investment and the raw materials flour yeast sugar salt seasonings etc would it wouldn't it be cheaper in say after a year? Id like to be able get the kids into baking a little more the youngest enjoys it the most(15) besides its so MMMMMM wholesome good! There are so many different types of flour to use and seasonings etc GOG im hungry now So whats a decent bread machine? |
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Forget the bread machine, buy a decent Kitchen Aid mixer and a baking stone for your oven. Invest in a few decent baking books and leave it at that. There are alot of books out there for different types of bread so the book you use depends on what type of bread you like to make. If you are are into it you might try a forum alled The Fresh Loaf they also have a section on equipment and book recommendations. Personally I think a good beginner baking book is Cook's Illustrated Baking Illustrated book. Even if you have done alot of baking this is a great book and it has a good variety of Aritsianal type breads and more traditional pan type loaves. There are also alot of other recipes in there for cakes and whatever. If you get away from the bread machine you will find there is an endless amount of different things you can do. |
+1 on baking stones or pans, -1 on the kitchen aid. With a family of 5 I would think you will want to bake more than a couple of loves at a time and that is the limit of the kitchen aid. Look for a Bosch or an Electrolux. Both will cost more but you will be glad you bought them. If you have a kitchen aid it will work but the Bosch or Electrolux will make life much more pleasant if you end up doing any amount of baking. |
I have head good things about the Bosch and the Elec. I have always used the KA Atisian and wish I had a Pro 600 because the Artisian is not big enough and when I make certain breads the dough climbs right up the hook a roblem that ould be eliminated with the spiral hook on the Pro 600. I do think we agree though that the bread machine is definately not the way to go as far as mixers it is pretty much a matter of personal prefrence. So stay away from the bread machine and do some research on what you want to use to mix. |
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I see nothing wrong with the kitchen aid. I have a pro 600 and it is just fine. Everyone is now swinging off of the viking on all the food network programs. But for me, the 600 has done everything I have asked it too from dough to divinity to ice cream to ground meat. Its hard to beat the power and options of the 600 more so when you use a 20% coupon from bed bath and beyond. I have only had it 3 years and some, but I see now bashing them. But I will agree on just making your own bread in pans or what not. Good stuff to know and I always get great results. I have a coworker who is looking at a bread machine because it is easier then manually doing all the steps. But they can cost a good bit for only doing a ew things (some make meatloafs or what not) but like a meatloaf is hard to do either. |
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We make bread the "old fashioned way" on unsealed clay tiles that are the right size to fill a grate in our oven. Use our Kitchenaid mixer to mix and kneed the dough. Great bread. However, I just recently dusted off our old bread machine that makes a nice loaf-shaped 2 lb loaf in about 3 1/2 hours. Still perfecting the recipe (bread tends to be a bit like cake so far, working on the flour proportions) but very acceptable. For me, unless I want French baguette or something like that, in 5 minutes I can have a loaf in the machine, go back to work and know I will have fresh bread for lunch, dinner or whenever.
PS to the OP, ours is a 10 year old West Bend model that they don't seem to make any more. Very similar to this Zojirushi one in that it has 2 kneading paddles and makes a rectangular loaf instead of the square loafs that a lot of machines make. If you like the end-crusts then the square loafs might be more to your liking. http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-BBCCX20-Bakery-Supreme-Machine/dp/B0000T6J3I |
| My most recent loaves have been pretty good "real" home-baked bread like I remember as a kid from our church fair days. I agree doing it completely by hand is probably the best but yesterday I made 2 loaves and am going to try and completely do away with store-bought bread and doing this totally by hand is a bit more than I want to tackle. |
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unsealed clay tiles that are the right size to fill a grate in our oven
For the Win. Skip the expensive baking stone. Get the unglazed (Glazed tiles are sealed and the glaze may contain lead). I found that leaving a bit of space on the sides/front/back helps keep the temp more stable...in my oven the thermostat is at the top, the baking coils are on the bottom––with an oven rack full of stones, the area below the stones gets about 100 degrees hotter than the oven is set. To answer your question...the King Arthur Flour co. (very good quality flour) test kitchens used to use (as of a year ago when I last looked) a Zojirushi (not sure on the spelling) unit. They like the product, the way it kneads, etc. I seem to recall a reference to making jam in it one time also... A good mixer (I have a Kenwood 500 watt unit) is GREAT, but something that you can set and forget is nice. Also––there is nothing wrong with using the bread maker to mix and raise your bread, and then putting it in the oven. And, if you want a loaf of bread and are using the oven at a different temp than you would normally bake the bread, it is nice to have something to spare. AFARR |