We have an electric breadmaker which is used perhaps four times a year. It does a good job and I even made jam in it once. We used to buy the bread mix in a packet of four but this time R bought a single packet of a different brand.
I suppose I must have always made the bread as R didn't seem to know much about the machine. I said to him, put the water in first, then the mix and then the yeast on top. Too late, he replied. I've put the mix in the basket already. He then said, "The yeast must be mixed in with the bread mix." "Most unlikely", I said, "It should be in a separate packet". I turned around to see him with his hand in the breadmaker fishing out the sachet of yeast from the mix. I suppose the paper would have broken down and released the yeast. It may have worked, with only little bits of paper to pick out of the baked bread.
I have never used a breadmaker. When I made bread (in the dark ages) it was all by hand. And hard work.
ReplyDeleteLet us know how this one turns out.
EC, yes it hard work and you build up good wrist muscles. The bread was fine. It has never mucked up yet.
DeleteOh dear. My late mum used to use a breadmaker several times a week. I used it a few times but found we didn't eat enough bread.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, yes the bread does not keep well and we usually end up throwing the last bit out.
DeleteI would only make a product myself if it was healthier or tastier than the shop-made version. Bread would not be included :)
ReplyDeleteHels, perhaps tastier, but who knows what is in the mix.
DeleteIn the days when chickens came with the giblets in a little plastic bag INSIDE the bird, it was surprising how many people didn't remove them. Maybe that's why they stopped doing it.
ReplyDeleteCro, it does not surprise me at all. My mother did that more than once.
DeleteThat is funny Andrew, I can just imagine eating a slice of bread and wondering where that bit of plastic came from.
ReplyDeleteI own a bread maker too and buy the packaged mix, but I only use it if we have a few people coming over and then I make a loaf, otherwise the machine goes unused...it was a gift, otherwise it wouldn't be something I would buy, as we don't eat much bread.
Sami, yes, they are terrific for making a loaf for guests, who can never get enough. It probably wasn't the best money we spent and it does take up a lot of storage space.
DeleteCro's comment reminded me that a nearby supermarket does a healthy trade in fresh chicken livers, hearts and necks. The supplier doesn't need to stuff them up the chooks bum only to have them tossed. I used to buy necks for the cats or to use to make a cheap stock.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes I was guilty many many years ago of cooking a chook plus extras lol
Cathy, I always thought stock came out of a carton! Haha, at you least confessed to cooking with the bits.
DeleteThe little bits of paper would be extra fibre, no need to pick them out. My oldest once had a breadmaker, they used it to make pizza dough mostly.
ReplyDeleteRiver, thinking more about it, it was probably a foil sachet. Maybe a bit too much of the wrong fibre. I didn't know they could make pizza dough.
DeleteFun! Fun! Fun! I've never used a breadmaker.
ReplyDeleteLee, its an interesting process. It does the mixing and warming up and then sits there quietly while the bread rises, then starts cooking. It takes about three hours and can be preset to start at a given time.
DeleteI should use mine more. I have also made jam in it. I wish we still got the giblets in the plastic bag inside the chicken, those bits were great when making soup. Now you have to pay for them, probably real reason they stopping including them.
ReplyDeleteJackie, I wouldn't think there would be a huge demand for 'the bits', so they should be cheap. But then look at what you now pay for lamb shanks, which were once almost an offcut and given freely for your dog to eat.
DeleteWhen I was a child our local butcher would give away beef ribs for dogs and they were often quite meaty so we'd get them and make beef and barley soup.
DeleteRiver, and things like ham hocks used to be free too, I think, or at least very cheap. I don't think I've ever had beef and barley soup.
DeletePoor R. Even the best cooks can have the odd kitchen disaster (though it looks like the disaster was averted in this case).
ReplyDeleteAd Rad, yes disaster averted and the bread went very nicely with the pumpkin soup.
Deletehome made pumpkin soup?
DeleteVery much so, River.
DeleteCrikey Andrew ..... my Mum LOVES bread! It's her favourite food but she really has to watch her weight so a bread maker would be no good in our house. She only got me because people told her you start to look like your dog after a while and she wants to be slim like me. It's not working but she keeps hoping.
ReplyDeleteCharlie, so long as your mum's skin does turn the same colour as your coat, or she develop your unsavoury habits.
DeleteThere's nothing nicer than the smell of baking bread and it's hard not to get into it even before it cools. I dare not get a bread maker for that reason and that I would most likely do what R did 😀
ReplyDeleteGrace, it such a nice smell. That and coffee are two of my favourites. Our intention was to use it often, but if I eat too much, I get an allergic reaction.
Delete*snort*
ReplyDeleteSomething I would have done lol.
Jayne, you would have baked the bread by hand, I am sure.
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