Bread Making Machine
 

We had a bread maker many years ago and just used it a few times. Don’t remember what ever happened to it, maybe a garage sale? We are thinking about getting another.
I am wondering how many forum readers are using one of these devices? How often do you use it? Is there a recommended brand? Is it worth messing with?
Thanks for any input!

We use our to need dough but bake in oven. Also for mixing pie, perogi, pizza dough

Definitely a good appliance to have if you love bread and you don't mind gaining a lot of weight.

We got tired of the shape of the loaf, always the same, gave it to a charity drive and just use our high speed mixer to do most of the work

The best machines are made by Zojirushi. I use mine for dough mixing and the first proofing. I mostly bake rolls and freeze the leftovers. I had it for long time, but if it broke, I would switch to my stand mixer or food processor.

I bought my first bread machine in the 1980s and am on my third machine which is a Zojirushi.

I use it about 3 or 4 times a month. Takes about 5 minutes to put in the ingredients and in 4 hours I have a fresh loaf of bread.

We've burnt out two over the years just from usage. We own two homes and currently have one at each home. Use it often but only use it to form the dough for pizza or breads.

We never do the actual baking in the machine. If you want bread to look like a loaf of bread you should get a loaf pan, put the dough in it and put it in the oven. Very easy to make a nice rye bread dough with a bread machine and then form the dough in the shape that you want and bake on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. There's recipes for every type of bread in the world available for free on the internet. I've even made flatbreads like pita and lavash using dough from the bread maker.

My favorite usage for the break maker is to make pizza dough though. Basically throw 5 ingredients in the machine and a few hours later you can have very nice dough for around 25 cents worth of ingredients.

What is the pizza recipe?

My exact recipe is a little more involved but this is a good guideline for NY style pizza:

2⁄3 cup warm water

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp of bread or pizza yeast

1 3⁄4 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour ('00' flour from Italy is even better if you can find it)

1 tsp salt

I typically do similar to above but also add some garlic powder to it, I also start a "poolish" the day before which is a yeast starter with 1/4 cup of flour, 1/2 tsp of granulated yeast, and just enough warm water to make it "sticky". Cover with cling wrap for 18-24 hours and leave out on your kitchen counter. If you make a poolish, you can omit adding yeast to the above recipe and it will be more fluffy and less dense.

I usually cook my pizzas at 450-460F on a perforated pizza baking sheet for 10-15 mins giving it a turn partway through.

Ever try using whole wheat flour?

BTW think you omitted the part of how long to let dough rise after putting in all the ingredients

Whole wheat flour would likely need some minor adjustments, but I'm sure there's a million recipes online for that specific type of pizza dough.

Ideally it's best to let the dough rise for at least 3-4 hours at room temp minimum but it can be stored in the fridge for several days afterwards if needed.

I second the Zojirushi if you are sure that you want a bread machine.

If you are looking for a mixer to knead, nothing beats an Ankarsrum. It is a Swedish product known for bread making. It works with high or low hydration as well as whole wheat doughs.

I’ve had my Panasonic bread maker for around 35 years. My son had dairy, egg, milk, and soy allergies as a child, so all of our bread for years was made in this machine. It probably gets used a few times a month now.