Browse Forums Kitchen Corner 1 Oct 21, 2010 11:07 am dear all, recently w were given a breadmaker by my mother. our house hold uses nearly a loaf a day and we considered it a cost saver over sliced white you buy from the Supermarket. are these really cost effective? the sums for the cost of the the machine flour you have to obtain and the yeast makes it about as expensive as buying bread. your thoughts? kind regards peter & Grace Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 2Oct 21, 2010 11:34 am If I could actually master/find a recipe that makes light loaf of bread I'd be using mine everyday ... unfortunately I haven't had any success as yet ~ trying to build our dream home by the sea ~ Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 4Oct 21, 2010 12:52 pm Yep bought one when they first came out. Great fun but then novelty wore off. We go through nearly a loaf a day with the kids and it is cheaper to buy from the local baker instead. Some things are worth waiting for. Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 5Oct 21, 2010 12:59 pm We've had one for about 6 years, and use it more in Winter than Summer. We mainly use it when we make a batch of vege soup to go along with the fresh 'just baked' bread, or to mix the base for home made pizza's. It's handy on the odd occassion, but I couldn't imagine using it everyday. Easier to grab the pre sliced bread from the freezer....and it fits better in the kids lunch boxes! Henley - Wilshire Mk 3 ... I love my house!! Site start: 4th Feb 09 Handover: 10th Sep 09 Blog: http://stormygirlscastle.blogspot.com/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?t=7166 Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 6Oct 22, 2010 6:17 pm Another appliance that ends up collecting dust at the back of the cupboard... right next to the electric juicer Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 7Oct 22, 2010 11:46 pm It was one of the best things I have bought! I use it all the time, make about 1-3 loaves a week (that's to eat between me and my boyfriend). What sort of flour do you use? We usually end up getting a crusty white and some dry yeast. We probably buy yeast once or twice a year. I think it's $10? Flour costs about $20 and would make approx. 20 loaves. So a dollar a loaf plus 50 cents for yeast. = $1.50. How much is a loaf of bread these days? And how much sugar is in there? Seriously you are doing your family a favour. Plus how yummy does it smell when it bakes? Fresh, hot bread with chilli mussels or minestrone, yum!!! Oh and I still buy bread if I have to. I do forget sometimes but it's not like I've forgotten how to buy bread! Oh, oh the bread machine can also make other doughs and jam! Look you've gotten me all excited! Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 8Oct 23, 2010 8:33 am My husband bought one a few years back. He loved it, I hated it. Reasons: 1. Noisy. He'd always have the damn thing going at night, when I was trying to watch TV. 2. Messy. I hate "stuff" on my bench and it was always freaking there! 3. Storage issues. It was huge and didn't fit in our appliance cupboard. See point 2. 4. Bad for your health. You eat a LOT more bread, just because it's there and it's fresh. We must have gained 5kg each. 5. The damn bread never slices neatly. And as Stormy pointed out, it doesn't fit in lunch boxes. It died eventually. He has mentioned getting another one, especially since we have a power point in the pantry, but I think the evil look I gave him may have changed his mind. The subject hasn't come up again anyway. Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 9Oct 23, 2010 9:08 am [quote="RaryGirl"]If I could actually master/find a recipe that makes light loaf of bread I'd be using mine everyday ... unfortunately I haven't had any success as yet /quote] we go through a loaf and a half a day so buy the cheap crap from the shop, I use mine as a supplement with dinner when I can be bothered! I do like it though but the loaf is gone in 3 mins. I have found the 'french ' setting on my bread maker is the BEST it makes light bread, no milk powder in the recipe but a bit of sugar and oil. if you have a french setting on yours...try it. you will need to use the french recipe that goes with it though. it takes 3hrs 50 mins to cook too...as a longer rising time. but sooooo NICE hope this helps Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 10Oct 23, 2010 9:09 am [quote="RaryGirl"]If I could actually master/find a recipe that makes light loaf of bread I'd be using mine everyday ... unfortunately I haven't had any success as yet /quote] ps if you want my french recipe, just yell Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 11Oct 23, 2010 9:23 am I have one for 6 years and love it! Don't use it for ordinary soft white, we buy that from a local bakery. But the machine is excelent for making exotic breads, mustard bread, honey almond etc. A crust from fresh warm bread with a little butter, yaaam. And it makes great dough for pizza. The noise and its size bothers me too, so mine permanently lives on the patio Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 12Oct 23, 2010 9:29 am put it in the laundry (or patio!!) if you want it to start in the night, wont wake ya. Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 13Oct 23, 2010 9:38 am mcniks Another appliance that ends up collecting dust at the back of the cupboard... right next to the electric juicer haha, I don't have a bread maker but I thought of my juicer when I read about the novelty factor wearing off. what a waste of a wedding present THAT was! "Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions." — Elizabeth Gilbert Living in our new house. Currently scaping the land. Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 14Oct 23, 2010 9:46 am I guess I'm still in the 'honeymoon' stage with my breadmaker. I've had it since June and love it! I use it 2-3 times a week. The damn beeping annoys me but the benefits far outway this annoyance.....and of course there is the laundry option as mentioned above. I've only had a couple of dud loaves (passable but not scrumptious). When I'm lazy I use a pre-mix from the supermarket (Laucke brand is my fave) but if measuring out from scratch I always put in a little bit of bread improver and use 00 flour, which seems to make all the difference...a softer lighter loaf. I don't find there is much of a cost saving, but that's never been my intention with baking bread at home. Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 15Oct 23, 2010 10:13 am kiwi RaryGirl If I could actually master/find a recipe that makes light loaf of bread I'd be using mine everyday ... unfortunately I haven't had any success as yet /quote] ps if you want my french recipe, just yell Yes please! We go through so much bread here too ... I've just changed to the Aldi loaves for $1.09 a loaf - can't beat that. I'm a bread snob, so I haven't been eating much bread since swapping to the Aldi stuff, which is probably good for the diet anyway. As for the slicing ... I bought a slicing guide thingie (that's the technical name for it ), makes life alot easier. ~ trying to build our dream home by the sea ~ Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 16Oct 23, 2010 10:56 am I have a Breville Ikon and you can set the timer to start the loaf about 3 hours before you want it. So if you don't like the noise you can adjust the timer to do it while you are in bed or at work. Ours is permanently on the bench. Why are you all putting yours away in the cupboard?! Do you pack your oven away after a roast? We don't have a very big kitchen either; the other two appliances that are left out are the kettle and toaster. To cut it easier, don't overdo the yeast and like with cooking meat, let it rest for a bit. Too much yeast and it goes too fluffy and you won't get a neat slice. And if it's too hot, you end up making bread balls with your knife. Oh and do you use a proper bread knife? I used to make pizza dough in the bread mixer but make it by hand now. It's quicker! But if my partner wants to make the dough, he would rather use the machine. Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 17Oct 23, 2010 11:01 am Gone Ducky Why are you all putting yours away in the cupboard?! I pack everything away ... toaster, kettle ... everything. I don't like anything on my benches. In the new house I'm having an appliance bench on the walk in pantry (not a huge pantry but it will fit) and that way toaster and kettle can stay out and breadmaker to do it's baking in there. ~ trying to build our dream home by the sea ~ Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 18Oct 23, 2010 12:40 pm this is the french recipe that came with my sunbeam turbo bakehouse. It takes 3.50 hrs to cook and you have to click 'french setting' on your bread maker, and I like the 'light' crust setting. I never start it straight away...always better to time it to start in 10 plus minutes.(30 mins is good etc) ..for some reason it seems to make a better bigger loaf. good luck! 500 gram loaf put in water first..always. 3/4 cups and 2 tblsp warm water 2 tsp sugar 1/4 tsp salt 1 tbslp and 1 tsp oil 2 cups flour THEN 2 tsp yeast. Dont let it get wet. 700 gram loaf (hits the top of my lid!) 310 mls warm water (1 1/4 cup) 1 tbslp and 1 tsp sugar 1 tsp salt 1 tbslp and 1 tsp oil 3 cups flour 2 1/2 tsp yeast I only ever use high grade plain coles/ pams/ franklins brand flour etc, nothing fancy. and no improver or bread mixes (or bread flours) Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 19Oct 23, 2010 1:58 pm I also thought that some of you may be buying bread mixes from coles or woolies. Those mixes make it more expensive. Try to find a place that sells bulk bread flour. Makes it more cost efficient. A shelf in the pantry sounds like a good place to keep the appliances. Alas we have no pantry. As long as there is good air flow when baking, it should be fine. Re: bread makers, who uses them and how often. 20Oct 23, 2010 2:25 pm Kmart has had bread makers on clearance for $29, some stores may still have some. Cheers Lou http://take2-customdesigndownslope.blogspot.com 07-10-09 omg they have cut the block 14-05-10 we finally have the keys 9 24791 In Victoria you cannot put a caveat on arising from a domestic building contract. 65 112376 I haven’t. But have a Lowe Design home. Not only did I find Matt Lowe patronising and a bully, but the home is NOT TO CODE. I have water coming through the bricks… 1 14366 |