(no subject)

[tree_and_leaf]

I have bought a breadmaker! (One of Lakeland's, for those interested).

I wonder if any of you have recipes you'd recommend, or useful do's and don't's? And are any of the ready made mixes any use?

Comments

[angelofthenorth]

Yes, Tesco ready mix is very useful for brainless bread.

I make bread with Olive oil and Maple Syrup instead of butter/sugar/honey.

Caraway seeds make nice bread...

[tree_and_leaf]

That is very helpful. I'd already thought of using olive oil, but the maple syrup idea sounds excellent!

[angelofthenorth]

Oh yes, and make sure you get good yeast, and don't let it get old.

[kaberett]

I don't bother with ready-made mixes; I do however have a cupboard full of flour and seeds... I use the recipes that came in the book with my breadmaker which is PROBABLY UNHELPFUL, sorry!

[tree_and_leaf]

Heh! No, unhelpful would have been going on at length about how you never use a bread maker, think they're crap, and can't see why anyone wouldn't do it all by hand :)

I suspect I may well end up with a cupboard full of flour and seeds, but do not currently have one.

[ewt]

If you're adding sultanas or similar, if you put them in at the start they get squished to a pulp and mixed in. This is not unpleasant, exactly, but unexpected.

If you have a dough only setting, the sky is kindof the limit in terms of what you can make. A lot of the dough can be frozen, too.

If it has a delay timer, waking up to the smell of fresh bread is lovely. If it doesn't have a timer they are Missing A Trick.

I like adding an egg to breadmaker bread recipes, and haven't yet had problems when I do this. But I haven't had a breadmaker for a few years now.

[zeborah]

Mine doesn't have a timer (it's super cheap, I got it with some points scheme) but that's easily solved by plugging it into one of the ~$10 timers from the likes of Bunnings. (Er, substitute your own local knowledge.) The other advantage of leaving the ingredients sitting there for a few hours waiting for the timer to kick in is that my loaves come out less brick-like.

The real problem I have re waking up to the smell etc is that my breadmaker also beeps shrilly halfway through when it's time to put in the sultanas or similar. No matter how many doors I shut this wakes me from a sound sleep and I haven't yet dared take a screwdriver to the thing for a beepectomy.

[tree_and_leaf]

It does have a timer, but that's a good hack!

[tree_and_leaf]

It does have a dough only setting! I'm thinking rolls and pizzas become much easier...

[primsong]

We use our occasionally for pizza dough (very handy) and an amazing amaretto bread we make neighbors for Christmas - and now and then I go through a phase where I crack open my little bread machine cookbooks and play around with it a while. My husband likes the semolina bread recipe, he calls it "Noodle Bread" because it tastes like you're eating a giant noodle.

The cookbooks I found the most useful are literally called "The Bread Machine Cookbook" (I have I, II and IV), by Donna Rathmell German, published by Nitty Gritty Press.

[tree_and_leaf]

I will have to take a look at them!