"Jenn Ridley" > wrote in message
...
> Eric Jorgensen > wrote:
>> The bread machine is a perfect tool for someone who has no interest in
>>baking but who insists on having a little round loaf of fresh bread on
>>demand, along with the associated baking smells. It'd be great for that,
>>assuming it works reliably.
>
> Yanno, I get really annoyed by comments like this. I'm a pretty good
> baker, if I say so myself. I *can* make my own bread by hand.
>
> I have a choice, though. I can make bread by hand twice a week, or I
> can do the laundry, or make dinner, or make fresh cookies for the
> kids' lunchboxes. I have shoulder problems, and if I choose to make
> bread by hand, I cannot do -anything- else that involves shoulder/arm
> action for about a day.
>
> I own a bread machine. I use it 3 or 4 times a week. It makes good
> bread, by which I mean that it's consistent from loaf to loaf, and
> *MY KIDS LIKE IT* for their sandwiches. This last point is one of the
> big reasons I use the machine. It costs a hell of a lot less than the
> store bread that they will eat, and I don't have to buy 3-4 loaves and
> keep them in the freezer. (and still have to run out to the store on
> Sunday so there's bread for Monday's lunchboxes.)
>
> I'd rather my family have a home-cooked dinner every night and
> home-made cookies in their lunches than hand-made bread.
> Jenn Ridley :
I'm with you Jenn. I have a bread maker that is going on 15 years old. It
makes great bread. I use the dough cycle more often. I also on occasion
make bread completely by hand. OK I use the KitchenAide mixer and then go
by hand from then on. A bread machine isn't a magic machine it does take a
little time to get to know it. To find the recipes with the amounts that
work perfectly for your machine. One does have to spend a little time in
the beginning of a cycle to make sure the dough is right before one runs off
to leave it to do what it does best. That 10-15 minutes of time will save
me 4 hours once I can leave the machine to make bread. It can really be a
time saver. I do know that some machines are better than others. My mom
bought one in the fall and though it made bread bread it did a lot of
rocking and rolling and threaten to jump off the counter with each loaf.
For Christmas she got a horizontal Zoji and it works great. We made bread
and pizza dough with success.
Lynne