So, we meet again, my kitchen arch-nemesis.

[Liberal Veteran]

We shall see in 3 hours who wins this battle.

Me or the evil Bread Machine.

[gratuitous]

1. The evil bread machine posts

Muahahah. So, Liberal Veteran, back for more, are you? {Begins rubbing its little bread machine hands together in anticipation}

[HappyMe]

2. Uh oh!

Is that ominous music I hear.

[Liberal Veteran]

3. All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good yeast to do nothing

[kentauros]

13. Proof your yeast first!

Make it prove to the world that it is indeed alive }(

[Major Nikon]

4. I never understood bread machines

If you have a decent stand mixer or a food processor, you already have a 'bread machine'. Even if you don't have either of those you can make no-knead bread (which is awesome) quite easily.

Time to throw off the yoke of the evil bread machine.

[Liberal Veteran]

7. We no longer discuss my attempt at dough in the food processor.

Let's just say it involved electrical smelling smoke and took days to get the smell out of the kitchen.

[Major Nikon]

9. Sounds like no-knead is what you need

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html

[sammytko]

27. Your dough was too dry - too much flour

[kentauros]

14. I use both.

I use my bread machine to do the kneading and proofing, then a little hand-kneading, hand-forming and pop into the oven. Or, I just let the machine do all of that for a square loaf. It saves time that way, like starting it overnight and awakening to the smell of fresh-baked bread while I simply got my rest :9

Oh yeah, I also have traditional baking experience and still see the benefits of a bread-machine :hi:

[SOteric]

5. Happy Liberal Veteran's Day!

May your yeasty nemesis rise to the occasion. :hi:

[iris27]

6. I had a bread machine for all of a week before passing it along.

It's one of those things that sounds fantastic in theory, but is frustrating and worse than useless in practice. My handmade loaves take a bit of time, but are so much better than anything the machine turned out.

[HappyMe]

8. I loved my bread machine!

Mine had a timer so that I could put the ingredients in, and viola! fresh warm bread in the morning!

[iris27]

11. See, that's what I was hoping for - maybe I just got a bad model or something.

Mine turned out nothing but hockey pucks, even when set to the longest possible rise times. Yet the same batch of yeast made perfectly fine, fluffy bread when the machine wasn't involved.

[HappyMe]

12. Probably.

Mine worked every time. I think mine was an Oster.

[GoCubsGo]

15. It is more likely a gluten issue.

If I make any sort of whole-grain bread in my bread machine, I wind up with hockey pucks if I don't add a couple tablespoons of gluten powder to it. I tend to have the same problem if I use all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, too, which is not surprising. Bread flour has a higher gluten content.

Kneading also extracts the gluten, and you are probably kneading your flour way more by hand than is done with the machine. That would explain why it turns out fine when you make it by hand.

[GoCubsGo]

17. I like mine, too.

It's a good way of making fresh bread without heating up the kitchen, especially during these Southern summers. I also like the dough cycle for making pizza dough and foccacia. Very handy when you want homemade, but don't have time to knead or a stand mixer.

[Bunny]

18. I liked mine a lot, too.

I tried making bread the old-fashioned way, and I just couldn't get the hang of it. The bread machine made really good bread, I thought. I stopped using it because the bread would get really stale after just a day or so - we couldn't eat it that fast and it ended up being wasted.

[kentauros]

19. Here's a technique that will prevent it staling so fast:

use honey for the sugar. Honey is "hygroscopic", that is, it draws moisture into it. While overly moist bread will also mold quickly, honey also seems to protect against that problem, too.

When I was married, a 2# loaf from the bread-machine usually didn't last more than a couple of days anyway, but when it did stick around for half the week, I rarely had it go stale. Molasses shares the hygroscopic nature, though honey is a little better at it :)

Tip for getting all of the honey/molasses out of the tablespoon measure: use the measuring spoon for the oil content first and don't wipe it out before filling it with honey. Then it will just slip right out of the spoon with very little left behind. Or, use a silicon measuring spoon :D

[hunter]

20. Home made bread doesn't last because it doesn't have preservatives in it.

On the other hand you can use your stale bread to make beer.

http://sites.google.com/site/yankeeharp/breadbeer

Plastic soda bottles were the best invention ever for people who brew their own fizzy alcoholic beverages but don't want to fuss with precise measurements, temperatures, and everything else required to safely bottle in glass. Plastic bottles just split open and make a big mess if you screw up; they don't turn into randomly exploding glass shrapnel hand grenades.

:beer:

[kentauros]

22. Stale bread is also the main ingredient for

Bread Pudding! :9

[Major Nikon]

10. My mom bought me one years ago

She knew I made bread several times per week and thought she was doing me a favor by getting me one.

I left it in the cabinet for a couple of years in case she asked me about it, then gave it to Goodwill along with a few other various kitchen gadgets she had bought me, but I never used.

[Phentex]

21. I don't have one but have considered it...

some people swear by them and others have them hiding somewhere in a cupboard. I check craigslist every once in a while but not too seriously.

[kentauros]

23. If you're serious about making your own bread at home

then whichever tool you use is a matter of personal preference. I see plenty of baking "snobbery" on this thread as well as many others elsewhere. Some people just can't get beyond the idea that not everyone has the skill nor the time (or tools) to make bread by hand. Some just don't want to go to much more trouble to make bread than the 15-20 minutes it takes with a bread-machine. Still others don't see the problem with the four hours it takes to make bread from scratch with a stand mixer.

Find a quality review site online (or use Consumer Reports Online if you're a subscriber) and choose a bread-machine that way. CR usually has the best reviews and testing, but Cook's Illustrated is a good choice for reviews, too. I hope you find one you like :hi:

[HappyMe]

24. Good idea.

I think on Target's website they have reviews written by people who have used the kitchen appliances.

[csziggy]

32. Or just see what Goodwill or a thrift store has

I have a perfectly good Oster bread machine I bought years ago at a thrift shop for $10. It still had all the stickers on it and had probably been used once. I made a lot of bread in it during the time I was getting back into making home baked bread and while I couldn't knead because of a bad shoulder.

Then I found an old Hobart KitchenAid mixer on Craig's List for $40, paid $50 for a dough hook and now make most of our bread with that. I still can't do the hand kneading I used to so a good machine is worth having around.

I never would have paid full retail price for either machine. Besides, buying other people's discards is another way to recycle!

[oneshooter]

16. I am doing a cooking demo tomorrow. I will make yeast rolls

and travel bread by hand, then bake it in a Dutch Oven. Really quite easy to do. You just have to feel the need to knead.

[Luciferous]

25. I love my bread machine. I've got some dough in it right now

for bread bowls. Although I never actually use it to bake the bread, I use mine frequently for starting dough.

[Sabriel]

26. Have you tried Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day?

I got a copy for the holidays last year, and now The Evil Machine sadly collects dust in the basement.

It's excellent bread, but more importantly, it's EASY!!!! I literally don't spend more than five minutes on it.

http://www.amazon.com/Artisan-Bread-Five-Minutes-Revolutionizes/dp/0312362919/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321049035&sr=8-1

[bluedigger]

28. Apparently WE won't see in 3 hours...

So... :)

[Liberal Veteran]

29. It was....adequate.

I've done better.

[bluedigger]

30. I aspire to adequacy in the culinary arts.

:rofl:

[GoneOffShore]

31. No bread machine, no stand mixer

And I still bake bread.

Do it all by hand.

It's not difficult.

[monmouth]

33. One of the few happy memories of childhood was watching my

grandmother make bread from scratch. It was awesome. She had been making bread since she was a girl and did it as if she were a robot...

[GoneOffShore]

34. There's a great You Tube video of Lionel Poilane making cookies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYOOyNZ5axs

Plus there's a discussion on bread making - hand made bread.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

35. Buying a copy of The Bread Bakers Apprentice changed my life.

Got two loaves of Potato Dill bread about to go in the oven now.

[GoneOffShore]

36. Sounds great - My go to recipe is the Joy of Cooking white bread recipe

Another great book is English Bread & Yeast Cookery by Elisabeth David.