Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> "Brian Christiansen" wrote:
> (snip)
>
> > straight dough method, I dont think it really saves that much time.
>
> It gives the perception of saving time, I think.

Depends what someone means by "that much time"... no, an ABM is not
going to save large blocks of time, but when making one loaf
conventionally compared to the the ABM at least 30 minutes will be
saved, probably more depending on how organized and how much of a slob
one is. Mostly ABMs save clean up because there's virtually no clean
up. ABMs also save signicant energy and allow baking during warm
weather without heating up ones abode. If one is going to bake
multiple loaves and want fancy schmancy configurations than
conventional baking is advantageous, but for one or even two basic
loaves the ABM beats conventional in both time, energy, and
convenience. Comparing an ABM to conventional bread baking is pretty
much the same as comparing an AWM (Automatic Washing Machine) to
washing laundry with a scrub board.

For one or two basic loaves it's a no-brainer, the ABM is the way to
go... when I want one loaf I don't even consider conventional baking,
I tske my ABM from my pantry, place it on the counter, plug it in,
toss in whatever ingredients, press a few touch pads, and in less than
ten minutes I'm baking bread. Sometimes I want a second loaf... soon
as the first is done I start another loaf, already have the
ingredients measured because I did that when I measured the
ingredients for the first loaf. But mostly it's just the one loaf,
and choosing the ABM is definitely a no-brainer. I've been using my
ABM like once a week for more than 15 years, never had a failure yet,
in fact it's always excellent bread.