Wednesday, January 25, 2012

The staff of life or the stuff of nightmare?

Last August, not long before our return from France, the Transit household was plunged into mourning by the demise of one of my most faithful helpers, my bread-maker. After ten years of faultless service, my trusty little Breville Baker’s Oven had developed an unmendable leak in its pan, and we couldn’t replace it, as the model had been discontinued. I spent hours scouring the internet, just in case a stray one might still be on offer somewhere, but to no avail. Unless I wanted to start making all our bread by hand, I had no option but to buy a new machine.

Now the purists among you might wonder why I didn’t opt for the first possibility and make bread from scratch. I can forgive the question, because you couldn’t possibly know of the struggles I went through 30 years ago, as I attempted to make consistently edible bread by hand. I tried different recipes, different flours, even different methods, but more often than not my loaves still came out of the oven resembling slightly flexible house-bricks, but bricks we couldn’t afford to throw out.

So it was that our first bread-maker came to live with us and life changed for ever. It was a Hinari and its tiny recipe book was filled with recipes that worked every time. I wouldn’t like to try to calculate how many loaves it made for us before it finally expired, but we had it for some 14 years, so it must have been a lot. Sadly we couldn’t replace it with the same model, which is how we came to buy my beloved Baker’s Oven.

Now, after much research, and not being willing to break the bank for a machine that does everything but slice the bread for you, I have a shiny new bread-maker, but things just aren’t the same. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a nice machine and can make beautiful bread if it tries, but I honestly don’t think it tries hard enough. Sad to say, it’s a machine with attitude, a temperamental bread-maker, liable to throw a hissy fit if the ingredients aren’t measured completely accurately, and sometimes even when they are.

At the moment DH and I are valiantly chewing our way through something I thought I would never see again in my own kitchen – a slightly flexible house-brick! It tastes great, which is some consolation, but the amount of mastication  required to be able to swallow a slice probably more than offsets the calories it contains. The previous loaf I made went to the other extreme and was so crumbly that it almost disintegrated when I tried to slice it.

However, the new machine has one saving grace: it makes superb dough. I made rolls last week, using dough it had kneaded for me, and they were wonderful, as they always are. This fact, combined with the recent crumbs versus house-brick contest, has led me to decide on a sneaky but very workable solution.

I will let the machine do the hard work of kneading. I couldn’t knead properly 30 years ago and certainly don’t think age will have increased my ability. I will than knock the dough back, shape it and bake it in my own tins, thus giving unsuspecting visitors the impression that my perfect bread is all down to my own hard work and superlative skill as a baker. Shhh – don’t tell anyone……



Images via Wylio 

52 comments:

  1. No good growing older if we don't grow craftier, is there!

    I'm struggling with bread making here...we like brown bread, just to make life difficult...and even mixed half and half with white my old recipes just don't seem to work.

    I've been contemplating a bread maker but have no clue which model to buy....I don't know the American models on sale here!

    I have found a no knead recipe for white baguettes...which does work...but brown bread eludes me.

    So frustrating!

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  2. I really sympathise Perpetua. I despair over my brand new washing machine which is no match for my hard working and obedient old one.

    On the other hand, your bread and rolls do look delectable and are, after all, home-made.

    Anna

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  3. Exactly, Fly and if someone were to ask, I would have to tell. :-)

    I do sympathise re your recipes not working. Why that happens I wish I knew. The wonderful recipes from my first bread-maker worked perfectly in the second, but now it's hit and miss, and yet I still use the same flour and yeast. Sigh...

    As far as trying to choose a bread-maker is concerned, you'll probably get more useful information from the reviews on Amazon.com than anywhere else, especially if you read the poor reviews first. And don't spend a fortune on your first, unless you want all the bells and whistles that modern machines tend to come with. In my experience most people don't use them.

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  4. Thanks, Anna, and sympathy returned. It can be so disappointing and frustrating to realise that the shiny new machine isn't a patch on the shabby old one for what you want it for.

    I must confess that the gorgeous bread and rolls in the photos weren't actually made by me. I don't have any photos of my own baking, but I can promise you that when it works it really does look like this. :-)

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  5. Congratulations of finding a way to outwit the machine! I hate it when they won't do as they're told...

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  6. Thanks for the tip! Off to Amazon now...

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  7. We let our machines (we have one at each house, so will need to choose which we prefer when we move full-time to Wales) do the hard work of kneading and proving, then I knock it back a bit and shape to fit our 2lb bread tin, set that to rise in the airing cupboard until it's just visble over the rim, then half an hour in a moderately hot oven and we're done. The machines also make a good naan bread dough to have with Indian food which we roll and hand-mould into the traditional teardrop shape before baking for 4-5 mins each in a very hot oven on a cast-iron frying pan with its handle unscrewed and taken off. The Husband aims to bake all our bread when we are retired.

    It's my intention to make such jam and preserves we may want as well, especially pickles and chutneys. I wonder how difficult it is to make butter and cheese, to complete a ploughman's lunch (assuming salad stuff is homegrown)...?

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  8. Thanks, Broad. It's just a shame that I need to outwit it in the first place. Sigh...

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  9. You're welcome, Fly. Happy hunting....

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  10. Hi, Baby Sis. You're obviously way ahead of me in making the machine do the hard bit. It never occurred to me to do it for anything other than rolls and pizza dough, as my previous machines were so reliable at producing good loaves. Naan bread I've never tried, as we don't eat much Indian food.

    I love making preserves of all kind, but not in the bread-maker, though it can certainly be used for jam-making. Butter and cheese are out of my league, I'm afraid.

    PS If both your machines work well, can you not find a corner to store the spare against the inevitable day when the one in the kitchen stops working properly?

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  11. It would seem you have reached a very acceptable compromise. I gave up on the bread maker about 3 years ago and went back to hand bread making, which I do about four times per week.

    I find bread easy, but I cannot make pastry, except for the hot water crust type, which is of limited utility.

    My wife is the direct opposite. I have hot hands; she has cold. Not a big enough sample to draw any conclusions from, but suggestive, I think.

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  12. Hello Perpetua:
    It is so sad when a trusty machine dies. One gets used to their ways and their familiar face in the kitchen is so very comforting.

    We have never owned a bread maker but we do love home-baked bread. Of course, we have never tried ourselves since, as we cannot boil an egg with any degree of success, a wonderful loaf is a pipe-dream!!

    Still, you seem to have hit on a very canny solution to your current predicament and the rolls do look exceedingly good to us.

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  13. It certainly seems to be one that works for my sister, Jon. I look forward to trying it out. Mind you, DD may not approve, as she makes all her family's bread by hand and keeps trying to persuade me to have another go at it. I found kneading very hard work even when I was much younger and guess it would probably make my dicky arm ache if I tried it now.

    But I do make quite reasonable pastry... :-)

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  14. Hello Jane and Lance. Yes, well-used and reliable machines are like old friends and their going leaves a real gap.

    I've always enjoyed cooking and baking and though not a great cook, I mostly make a reasonably good job of the things I put my hand to, other than kneading bread. But the rolls I finish off when the machine has done the hard work are rather special....

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  15. I am currently mourning the loss of my ancient tumble drier. It was an old friend. It would zap anything you put in it bone dry in minutes.
    It died of old age a few months ago and my new, sparkling and eco-freindly new condensing model just isn't the same.
    Wet washing lies queueing up in the kitchen whilst the new drier decides to actually dry one load. Washdays, usually Mondays, now linger on all week, much to everyone's disgust. And I have lost count of the number of times I have tipped the container of extracted water all over the kitchen floor whilst on my way to the sink to empty it.
    We are not amused.

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  16. I find that the wetter the dough, the better it rises.

    I make the bread in the winter, (I need the fire to rise the dough) and find that 50/50 brown and white works well.

    If you do get a housebrick...slice it thin.

    Bonne chance

    SP

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  17. I promise I won't tell a single soul. Those rolls look delicious and the thought of the yeasty scent of bread travels all these miles on a cold winter's afternoon, Perpetua.

    Enjoy!

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  18. Poor Jean, your lament was written with great feeling and I really can sympathise! My reliable old tumble dryer died about a year and a half ago and its replacement really just isn't up to the job. It's not a condensing model like yours, so at least I don't get the water spills, but still takes so much longer to dry a load than the old one did and also tangles things more. And they call this progress....

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  19. Thanks for the tip about the wetter dough, SP. I didn't know that and must try it out. Our preferred bread is a 50/50 mixture like yours, but even my tried and tested recipe isn't working well in this machine. Sigh...

    As for the house-brick, thinly sliced is the only way it becomes remotely chewable.

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  20. Thanks, Penny. I knew I could rely on my friends' discretion. :-) I love making bread rolls as they always work well and are so very nice to eat. Enjoy the thought, if not the actual scent, all those miles away in Chicago.

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  21. I'm afraid the trials and tribulations of bread making are quite lost on me since I have not attempted to bake a loaf of bread since high school. However, I'm always thinking that I should start making my own bread since my father was quite the baker, but it seems the homemaker side of me was lost somewhere back in those high school days. However, I very much admire you for hanging in there and continuing to bake bread despite the loss of your dearly beloved machine. :)

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  22. Hey! That's a photo of MY breadmaker! My trusty Panasonic, which is now, I think, coming up for its 16th birthday! I admit, I use it less these days as bread is a casualty in the diet of life..or rather, the diet of MY life..but I'm with you on the dough, Perpetua. I much prefer using it for the dough part and taking over after that, although it makes great loaves. I just have a problem with the gaping hole left at the bottom of the loaf by the machine's paddle! My laziness has extended, however, to buying packets of bread mix too. If I get any lazier I might just as well buy the stuff in the first place!

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  23. Thanks, Rubye. We all have our own skills and interests and one of mine is food. :-) DH and I love bread and as so much shop-bought bread in the UK is almost inedible, making my own has always seemed preferable. It's also cheaper and doesn't have additives, so I reckon it's healthier. But it's the taste that matters most!

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  24. Ah, so that's the make, CB! I just needed an image of a bread-maker and my Breville wasn't to be found. :-) I'm afraid I couldn't persevere with any diet that involved renouncing bread, so I had to find a way of continuing to make my own. I'm with you on the paddle hole, though the new machine has the virtue of leaving a smaller hole in the loaves it deigns to make properly.

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  25. Such a timely post for me. Thank you. I thought I was alone. I've tried and tried to make bread and pie crust. I just can't and gave up long go. But Peter can make bread and quit a few years ago. The altitude was his excuse. 8500 ft. Now we're almost at sea level. I thought I might get a bread-maker. That idea prompted him (to keep me from spending $$) to decide to try making bread from scratch again. I pointed out that our new stove has a "proof" function. Today's the big day!

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  26. "Shhh – don’t tell anyone……" Perpetua - I promise not to do so - honest :-)

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  27. Hi Janet. Yes, misery loves company doesn't it? So nice to know we're not alone with out woes. I sympathise with the inability to make things, but do envy you a husband who can make good your deficiencies. :-) DH has many skills but breadmaking isn't one of them. Do let me know how the bread turns out.

    PS My mind boggled gently at the thought of living at an altitude twice as high as anywhere in Britain!

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  28. I knew I could rely on you, Ricky. We clergy have to stick together. :-)

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  29. I wonder if it really is reasuring to hear that so many others feel that new machines are usually not as good as the one that so recently failed!!
    As to breadmakers, mine makes a great loaf and the rolls are fine too. But it does also make a fantastic sticky toffee pudding. The recipe was in a book I received as a present some time ago with all sorts of recipes just for breadmakers. Just a pity I shouldn't be have the said pudding very often!! A pity I can't find a good recipe for the toffee sauce!

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  30. Hello fellow pilgrim. You make a good point. I think the only reassurance is that of knowing we're not alone in our experience, but it's a sad reflection on what happens when manufacturers feel pressured to innovate at all costs. Glad your machine works well and the ability to make sticky toffee pudding in it is a real plus!

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  31. Dear Perpetual,
    You are a wise Solomon in disguise. Dilemma? Eating bricks or kneading recalcitrant dough. Decision? Use the machine and then form the loaves and bake them. Yes!

    I've loved to bake ever since leaving the convent and I have a recipe for 100% whole wheat bread that is a never fail. Perhaps like Jon, I have warm hands. Whatever the reason, the kneading goes well for me and the bread rises. Such a enticing smell!

    I so enjoyed this post and laughed out loud at your ending!

    Peace.

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  32. Thanks, Dee. I'm glad to have made you laugh. :-) I think it may have been desperation rather than wisdom which brought me to this decision. We do like our home-made bread but prefer it to be truly edible.

    I envy you and anyone else who finds making bread completely by hand not only possible but easy. I tried, really I did, but it never worked for me. Maybe my hands really are too cold....

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  33. Cold hands, warm heart. Bet you make good pastry. Sounds like you've found the ideal way of making what looks to me like a perfect loaf. I'll tell no one!
    Axxx

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  34. LOL, Annie! That's what I was always told by my congregations when I shook their hands after services. :-) Yes, my pastry isn't bad, though my waistline won't let me make it too often.... But I couldn't give up bread for anything, which is why it matters to me (and DH) to get it right.

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  35. i HAVE ALWAYS USED THE BREAD MAKER THAT WAY LOVE YOUR BLOG
    peggy

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  36. I use my breadmaker mostly to mix and do the first rise for dough that I then shape by hand. Since I bought it last year I haven't bought any bread.

    My dear Dad is on his third machine - the first 2 wore out. He too makes all the bread that my folks eat.

    I hope your new machine calms down soon - Dad and I find have each found that ours like to jump up and down a lot when mixing!

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  37. Hello Peggy and welcome. Glad you're enjoying the blog. I'm amazed that it's taken me so long to work out what you and others know already - make the dough in the machine, then finish it by hand. I must be a slow learner. :-)

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  38. Hi Mickle. So you're another who worked out the "finish by hand" method long before me. :-) Isn't it lovely to be free of shop-bought bread (especially when living miles from the shops like us)?

    Glad to know I'm not the only one who wears out bread machines. The new one is at least quiet when mixing, but the results are so inconsistent. Sigh....

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  39. I thought that the photo was a Panasonic - P said it looked like ours!! We are very happy with it after ....(?) years, although I still haven't tried making dough yet. Not sure whether my arthritic hands will function well eough to do the knocking up (at least, that's my excuse - but I do still make pastry by hand occasionally!!) I make a variety of mixtures - often 10oz of strong wholemeal + 2oz of Strong white + 2oz of malted flour (bake as wholemeal) or reverse the quantities of wholemeal and white adn bake as white (rapid programme does this in 1hr55mins, while the other takes 3hrs on rapid (5 on normal!) Both versions work well, but P prefers the whiter version, and as I have to avoid yeast products on the whole, he gets his preference!! For your friend Fly, if the Panasonic is available across the pond, I'd recommend it. Also, I used to have a recipe for no-knead wholemeal bread - if I can remember it I'll pass it on. It makes a very coarse but nutty textured loaf, which I used to love (and it toasted wonderfully).

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  40. Hello, J. Nice to see another member of the Panasonic fan club here. :-) Many thanks for the bread-making tips. I'm always on the lookout for new recipes, so the no-kneading wholemeal one would be very welcome. I forgot to mention that the one guaranteed successful loaf in the new machine is French bread made with proper French flour. It's gorgeous!

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  41. I won't tell anyone if you won't.
    Breadmaking is a thing of the past for me. we have a wonderful bakery not far from the village; I adore choosing from among the many different kinds and nationalities of bread available. Along with jamming, jellying, vast quantities of preserving etc., my food needs are now served by shops. Ludlow is just so much better at providing stuff than I could ever be.

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  42. Thanks, Friko. :-) I started to make my own bread when the children were young, partly for reasons of cost and partly because we have always lived out in the countryside, a long way from anywhere with a decent bakery. Your bakery reminds me of the wonderful side-street bakeries in Hamburg with their fantastic range of breads. The other reason I still make bread, jam etc is that I simply enjoy it. :-)

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  43. I used to have a bread maker but it broke a while back. My husband bought me another, a different brand, but it is still in the package. Let us know the results of your baking the bread after the machine did part of the job.

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  44. I will indeed, Vagabonde. At the moment the machine is making me a loaf of French bread with French flour, the only recipe guaranteed to work every time. After we've finished that I'll be baking some wholemeal the new way, so watch this space....

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  45. DD1 bought DH a bread-maker two Christmases ago and we have rarely had to buy a loaf since.

    One of the luxuries of being retired is lying in bed in the morning and smelling the newly baked loaf timed to be ready for our leisurely breakfasts!

    He is a treasure! (DH) and the bread-maker is pretty good also!

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  46. Hi PolkaDot. Glad to hear that your DH has mastered the use of his bread-maker so successfully. Once, when I was in hospital, my DH dutifully followed my recipe to make some bread and then wondered why he had ended up with a solid lump that most closely resembled Terry Pratchett's dwarfbread! It turned out that he'd confused the jars of wheatgerm and yeast which were both in the fridge. :-)

    I don't often use the timer setting partly because we have porridge for breakfast, but partly because I haven't managed to get good results with it. Any tips very welcome...

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  47. Another dough maker here, Perpetua.
    We use a PanicSonic. Currently using the pizza dough cycle to make bread dough. Also use Spelt flour in the mix as it gives a better rise! Holland & Barrett do Doves Spelt flour. Also from H&B is Vitamin C powder, which we use to get a better rise with non-white flours... at one-eighth teaspoon per loaf, the 170gms doesn't seem to vanish at all... so keep in a zip lock bag to make it outlast its [probably artificial] sell by date.
    Bonne chance!

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  48. Hi Tim and welcome. Thanks for the breadmaking tips, which I have carefully noted. We can get spelt flour at our local wholefood shop, so I shall get some and try it. I haven’t tried Vit C powder, so that’s another item on the shopping list. Your Panasonic must be posher than our machine, which only has one dough setting. :-)

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  49. Ours has a dough setting under each bread type... except for Pizza which is dough only.
    Choose bread type from the Menu, then the operation from Select... which should give you a dough setting under each one... never, ever use the Quick mode for a bread type... doesn't work. Well, it makes a loaf, but it isn't bread... more like a dry cake in texture.
    I shall be blogging about it later... just taken pix of what's left from yesterdays loaf.

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  50. Thanks, Tim. That would be so useful, but unfortunately my machine isn't a Panasonic and only has a single dough setting. Thankfully it makes reliably good bread dough, though I haven't actually made pizza dough so far with this machine. I must try it and report back and will make sure to read your post.

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  51. That's a brilliant alternative! It works the same as the bread dough hook on my mixer...I make bread all the time and claim it as "home made"--which it is, but a machine did do all the kneading! You'll have fun trying all sorts of recipes with this tactic! Debra

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  52. Thanks, Debra, I know I’ll enjoy trying new ways of shaping the bread too, rather than always having the odd squarish loaves that most bread machines produce. My mixer came with a bread hook, but I’ve hardly ever used it, as the bread machine was even easier to use. Perhaps I ought to have another go with it.

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