Thread: What's wrong with me bread?

Funky chicken, forget making bread by hand, just get yourself a breadmaker, you want regret it. You should be able to get one from e-bay for around $30!
No worry about success, works every time, plus all the other delicious breads, pitza's, buns, scrolls, need I say more!

Success! I used some mix this time

good job. Next time fry some of you dough and have soem strawberry jam and cream on stand by. Then you have puffed dalloons and an all time hit. can make that for anyone and get brownie points immediately.

I can feel my arteries hardening already.

Originally Posted by TP1

The year is 2009. My solution to baking bread is the same as sawing and machining timber - the right tool for the job. In the case of bread, I use a bread maker all the time without failures. I admit its not my expertise that causes the success , but who cares? Certainly not anyone who is hungry. And for those purists who think this is cheating, I say go back to using hand powered drills and saws, and then I'll listen.

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Rather than using power tools, I'd say using a bread machine is more like using a furniture machine into which one puts wood, glue and (maybe fasteners), and takes out the furniture a few hours later.

Woodworking, whether using mainly hand tools, power tools or maybe even some machinery, allows one to develop skills and make goods with their own personal touch.

A bread machine requires no skills, develops no skills and the results are determined by the premix used, and some basic settings. It might be nice bread for all that, but when I looked at the machines a year or so ago, all I saw was limitations.

Making by hand from a bread mix develops the basic skills, skills on which one can build later.

And kneading the dough for ten minutes isn't all that different from a few minutes sanding or hand-planing.

Originally Posted by funkychicken

Success! I used some mix this time

Good.

Like pizza? Make some with flour, yeast-water, a little salt and some oil. Despite what someone else said, I've found ordinary plain flour works fine.

For variety, add some herbs (rosemary?), thoroughly chopped chilli, or some chopped nuts. Or even some curry powder.

You can, of course, use bread mix for the dough. Or two parts plain flour plus one part wholemeal.

One thing I have not mastered is thin pizza bases.

One of my books has a recipe for chocolate cake. I made some once

Originally Posted by Johncs

Rather than using power tools, I'd say using a bread machine is more like using a furniture machine into which one puts wood, glue and (maybe fasteners), and takes out the furniture a few hours later.

Woodworking, whether using mainly hand tools, power tools or maybe even some machinery, allows one to develop skills and make goods with their own personal touch.

A bread machine requires no skills, develops no skills and the results are determined by the premix used, and some basic settings. It might be nice bread for all that, but when I looked at the machines a year or so ago, all I saw was limitations.

Making by hand from a bread mix develops the basic skills, skills on which one can build later.

And kneading the dough for ten minutes isn't all that different from a few minutes sanding or hand-planing.

You are of course entitled to your opinion.

Could I say though that a bread machine does not just rely on a pre-mixed bread mix.

I make a fair percentage of my breads by mixing ingredients from scratch, have quite a collection of bread making books and other assorted recipes which I use and modify to suit my requirements.

And of course pre-mix bread mix can be prepared by hand without the use of bread machines as well, so your argument is a bit fallacious.

I agree that kneading the dough by hand can be quite therapeutic, so can riding my bike, but I use the car more often.

Originally Posted by Johncs

Rather than using power tools, I'd say using a bread machine is more like using a furniture machine into which one puts wood, glue and (maybe fasteners), and takes out the furniture a few hours later.

Woodworking, whether using mainly hand tools, power tools or maybe even some machinery, allows one to develop skills and make goods with their own personal touch.

A bread machine requires no skills, develops no skills and the results are determined by the premix used, and some basic settings. It might be nice bread for all that, but when I looked at the machines a year or so ago, all I saw was limitations.

Making by hand from a bread mix develops the basic skills, skills on which one can build later.

And kneading the dough for ten minutes isn't all that different from a few minutes sanding or hand-planing.

Rubbing 2 sticks together by hand also develops fire lighting skills but I prefer to use modern technology.

And just in case anyone really thinks bread makers are only good for pre-mixed ingredients, think again. We don't use any premixed stuff and experiment continually. The result? Far more fresh loaves than anyone I know who does it the old fashioned way.

Does anyone here use Bread Improver? I bought a big bag of "strong" flour and the included recipe calls for it