Bread Machine


 

Rick Garcia

TVWBB Member
For my Pizza Fix I am thinking a buying a Bread Machine(BM) to mix the Pasta. I already have a Hamilton Beach Standing Mixer and a Whisk, but for some reason I want to add a BM to by BBQ arsenal for making my life more simpler. I am wanting your recommendations and/or commments on a BM.

Rick

WSM, OTG 22 1/2" with Smokenator
 
Hi Rick,

I have had a couple Black and Decker 2lb vertical bread machines over about 8 years IIRC and I love them to death. Unfortunately I don't think they are making them any more, but I'll mention what I liked about them and perhaps that will be of some help.

If I've had more than one what is so great about them you might ask? Well, it gets used in my house almost every day, twice some days. We stopped buying store bought sliced bread. We still buy fancy loaves, buns and so on, though you can use the thing for dough and make great buns too. The machines have saved me hundreds of dollars over the years, there were 6 people in the house, lots of toast and work/school sandwiches to be made. Nothing like getting up in the morning to the smell of fresh bread in the house either.

I like the vertical loaves too .. they are practical (though some seem to find them less visually appealing). Another cool feature is the timer. You set it for when you want the bread done and IT figures out when to start. It blew me away, what a brilliant idea ... instead of making you figure out what time to start (like every other appliance timer out there) so that 3:50 later your bread is done, they made the machine do the math!

The only problem I have ever had is the pan warping around the gasket at the bottom and subsequently leaking, but that was user error. Too much messing around with whole grain flours, multigrain recipes causing too thick of dough and too much torque. The replacement pan was like $30 less than a new unit so just bought new unit, the other still works fine and is in storage for parts. I recently found an unused (or nearly so) at a second hand store for $20! and snapped it right up.

Having said that I am distrustful of these new horizontal two paddle units. Twice the moving parts means twice the potential for mechanical failure.
 
That's a very interesting and informative write-up, Shawn. I had been thinking about getting a new, horizontal model. We don't use ours nearly as often as you do yours and I think I'll keep it a while longer. Thanks
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Bill
 
np Bill

One other thing about two paddle horizontal: it will mean roughly 1/3 of your loaf if sliced horizontally will have a hole at the bottom, on a vertical unit only the bottom slice or two has a paddle void.

'Distrustfull' might be too strong a word, it just seems the paddle mechanisms and the paddle shaft holes in the pan are the weakest links of these machines, so why increase possiblity of failure ... why did they have to mess with a good thing?

When I said I thought vertical loaves were practical I meant that the slices are square instead cross-section-of-a-barn-shape. Square sandwiches fit nicely in square sandwich containers etc.

I am fully satisifed I got my money's worth from these machines.

Here is a recent pic of a loaf from the machine, it was an egg bread with cinnamon:

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That's a beaut, Shawn! And, I knew what you meant by "practical".
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I had been thinking about "how the loaf looks" and not the practicality or potential issues with the machine. And I never thought about the 2nd void in the loaf.

Thanks again.
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Bill
 
Rick,

I've founf the Zojirushi just about unbeatable for all kinds of dough. You won't need to worry about the paddles leaving voids if you are using the machine only to knead the dough. I hardly ever bake anything in it, but I knead everything in it, and I wouldn't live without it. Hope that helps.

Originally posted by Rick Garcia:
For my Pizza Fix I am thinking a buying a Bread Machine(BM) to mix the Pasta. I already have a Hamilton Beach Standing Mixer and a Whisk, but for some reason I want to add a BM to by BBQ arsenal for making my life more simpler. I am wanting your recommendations and/or commments on a BM.

Rick

WSM, OTG 22 1/2" with Smokenator
 
Many Bread machines now days have an alarm so you can remove the paddle before baking to eliminate the void.
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Originally posted by Bryan S:
Many Bread machines now days have an alarm so you can remove the paddle before baking to eliminate the void.
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Day in and day out would you really want to: get up when the 'remove paddles' bell sounds, wash your hands, stick one hand underneath, lift up, fiddle with removing the paddles with your other hand, set the dough back down, wash your hands again, then resume your life?

Secondly, I use the timer function to have the bread ready when I wake up. I'm not interested in getting up an hour earlier (prior to bake cycle starting) to do all of the above just to remove the paddle voids.

My machine has no timer for dough. It's instead: add ingrediants, start now. A timer for dough completion time would be nice (delay timer for my loaves is 13hrs, why not dough?).
 
Originally posted by Bryan S:
Many Bread machines now days have an alarm so you can remove the paddle before baking to eliminate the void.
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Yes I did that for a while and was very happy with the results. Then the thought occured to me that since I was already handling the dough that I ought to just shape it then let it do another rise and bake it off in the oven which gives it a much more pleasing shape. So now my bread machine is pretty much an automated mixer/kneader, which works out great.
 
Originally posted by Ken_K:
Yes I did that for a while and was very happy with the results. Then the thought occured to me that since I was already handling the dough that I ought to just shape it then let it do another rise and bake it off in the oven which gives it a much more pleasing shape. So now my bread machine is pretty much an automated mixer/kneader, which works out great.

Like Ken, I sometimes use the bread machine to do a mix/knead/initial rise. Then, I remove the dough, shape and let rise again. Sometimes, the dough goes into a bread pan and is baked in the oven. Sometimes, I shape the dough and bake on a baking sheet. Sometimes I make bread with instant yeast. Sometimes I make sourdough bread. Shown, below, is a small loaf of sourdough partially made in the bread machine.

First, I mix a small amount of sourdough starter with some flour and water and let this rise. I simply do this in a bowl and let it set for a few hours covered on the counter or on top of the refrigerator for the first ferment. Then, I add this first ferment to the bread machine pan (AKA ABM).

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First ferment added to the ABM.

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A blend of 10% liquid lecithin and 90% peanut oil is added to the first ferment.

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Flour added along with a bit of salt.

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Ready for the dough-only cycle in the ABM.

Kneaded_Bread.jpg

Dough after kneading by ABM.

Doubled_In_Size.jpg

Dough doubled in size after initial rise in ABM. With sourdough, most times, I unplug the ABM and let the dough continue to rise after the dough-only cycle in the ABM. I usually have pretty good starters, but they are not as fast as today's instant yeasts. When doubled, the dough is removed and shaped for its second rise.

Shaped_And_In_Final_Rise.jpg

Shaped dough partially through its final rise.

Done.jpg

Baked in the Oven. Good tasting, but not my best effort in loaf shaping...

Some of the advantages to using the ABM to mix/knead/rise the dough is it allows me to do other things while the ABM works away. Also, for me, there is less cleanup needed with the ABM versus kneading by hand or kneading with the KitchenAid.

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Originally posted by D. L. Whitehead:
Looks great Bill! Is there any left to share?

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Just the head and the butt ...
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My wife just got home and she's going to town on it .....
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Thanks for the inspiration!
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Bill
 
Originally posted by Bill Hays:
Just the head and the butt ...
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My wife just got home and she's going to town on it .....
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Thanks for the inspiration!
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Bill

It's hard to resist that smell of fresh baked bread...there's just something magical the way butter melts on a hot slice of fresh bread...
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Originally posted by Shawn W:
I have had a couple Black and Decker 2lb vertical bread machines over about 8 years IIRC and I love them to death. Unfortunately I don't think they are making them any more
Shawn, This is about the only vertical BM out there. There's a mini BM that makes a 1lb loaf that I think is ver. Allmost all the BM are horizontal 1 or 2 paddle models these days. My Breadman Ultimate BM is a horizontal, 1 paddle. You have to scrape the corners during the knead cycle or you'll have flour left in the coners though.
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The main reason I bought it was for the sourdough cycle it has. You can program the ferment for 2-48 hrs. Here's the link to the B&D vertical machine.
EDIT: Just pulled a 2lb. loaf out of the Breadman.
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That loaf looks great! I like the nice smooth finish on the top (it's not all bumpy or lumpy). Mine never misses the corners, but it's a smaller surface area around the paddle. Your loaf does look nicer than what comes out of my machine though.

Sourdough cycle? sweet!
 
Okay you guys are killing me here. My bread machine has been packed up since we moved this summer. Now I'm going to have to get it out this weekend!
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Man thems look good. So which one would you all recommend since more than likely not be able to find a vertical one. Thinking one might be on the x-mas list.
 
I would take a good look at Bryan's Breadman Ultimate if I were I the market again. That is a fine looking loaf, I like the idea of a single paddle and the sourdough cycle. Bryan usually researches his purchases so it's probably a great unit.

So Bryan, would you buy that one again or a different one?
 
Originally posted by M_Kuharious:
Man thems look good. So which one would you all recommend since more than likely not be able to find a vertical one. Thinking one might be on the x-mas list.

The one I have is a Sunbeam vertical loaf 2lb model that I picked up at Wal-Mart for like $50 a few years ago. As far as I know they still have them there. I have used the heck out of it and it's still going strong -- quite happy with it.

Actually D.L. Whitehead's machine looks almost exactly like mine, just looks like a different brand name on it.
 

 

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