Random question.

[rivka]

Do you have a bread machine? If so, what do you think of it?

It's that time of year again: my parents want to know what we would like for Christmas. I was thinking that a bread machine might be a good thing to have. We frequently buy artisanal-type bread from the grocery store, but (a) it's expensive, and (b) it goes stale so quickly. bosssio brought us a loaf of homemade bread after Colin was born, I think made in a bread machine, and it was delicious and stayed fresh for several days.

So is good bread-machine bread easy to make? Are there lots of different kinds? I've seen bread-machine mixes, but presumably you can also make bread in a machine from scratch, right? Any brand recommendations?

Comments

[pbrim.livejournal.com]

I had one that I loved, but it was also a design where the paddle ended up baked into the bread and you had to kinda dig it out after -- a real pain. Eventually the paddle was lost. I don't think they do that anymore. I don't have any recipe, but my mom used several of her bread recipes in the machine. She also makes her own mixes -- measure all of your dry ingredients (except yeast) into a zip-top bag and store in the freezer.

Do consider one with a timer. It was so nice set up my slow cooker and bread machine and come home to beef stew and home-made bread all cooked for dinner. Got to get a new machine.