Frank got me a new breadmachine this weekend. My “old one” died long ago. I haven’t had a breadmachine for that whole time, therefore, since the old one died. I’ve always made bread by hand, the old-fashioned way, but like having a breadmachine on hand for use when I would rather not make more of a mess, or would like to have a loaf made up, or dough, for something different.
My grain grinder died last autumn/winter, and so since then I’ve had to resort to only making unbleached flour bread. Not my favorite for overall everyday bread. I do like rolls with unbleached flour, and pizza crust, french bread, etc., it’s just the way of it for me. I do miss my spelt and kamut and prairie gold freshly ground flours though 🙁 I loved a fresh loaf of whole grain bread, slathered with yummy european-style butter.
Since the grain grinder died I have made bread less often, since I don’t like making white bread so much. Plus the kitchen is in transitional mode, so it is a help to have a breadmachine again. I can’t always buy good bread … Harry’s carries better versions of bread, but we can’t get there when we run out of bread suddenly, and it’s pricey bread too. So now I’ll just be sure to have this breadmachine going to get at least a loaf for sandwiches that doesn’t have any soy flour, or other icky ingredients (as the stuff at Publix is), and have it done easily.
It’ll free me up to moreso desire to make specialty things again, and re-create my old cultures for bread. Since I don’t have to knead, it’s a better option for me now. Since I tend to make too much bread if I do it by hand, I’ll be making just a loaf as I need it now with this machine.
It’s a SS Breadman Pro. It seems very nice, it sure sounds nicer than my old Oster machine, and has many more options. Looks nicer too.
I’m partway through the first bread making with it. The dough is warm and smells so good. It’s been awhile since I’ve made a warm dough. I usually have used a culture and slow-rise naturally, so it’s back to old machine mode … but it’s alright, I’ll phase in my natural processes with the machine sooner than later.
The photos are a bit blurry, I didn’t use a flash and so … they are that, as well as a bit more golden than reality shows.
I don’t mind using a breadmachine. It’s something that is a help, and it’s not a bad thing for a self-pronounced home bread-maker artisan woman. It’s a second body for me. It’s an extension of me and will only do what I tell it to do, in a way that I would do it. It’s no “microwave” … doing things that I couldn’t and wouldn’t do to food … that’s another story but I wanted to bring it up as a comparison to something that is used in the kitchen as an aide and is in more kitchens than a bread machine is. It’s overused, and I don’t trust using it since it cooks differently from traditional heating methods. It changes the structure of food. We’ve gotten along fine without a microwave for a few or more years now. A breadmachine though is a tool, like toaster-oven-mixer combination. That’s all. It’s a dedicated machine to mixing dough, kneading dough, and rising and baking dough. You can stop the machine at any point and do something else with the mixture. It’s purely a helpful machine for the home baker.