Bread machine - 8 months in

I’ve had my bread machine

for 8 months now, & it feels like time to give it a review. I’ve used the bake-directly-in-the-machine function only 6 times, early on; 3 for basic white or whole-wheat bread, twice for gluten-free bread, and once for a pumpernickle bread; those first 5 turned out great, on 3 occassions allowing me to wake to the smell of baking bread, with fresh bread for breakfast; the pumpernickel might have suited some, but I thought it would have made a decent canoe anchor. But I’ve used the machine for dough prep for loaves, rolls, pizza, or pastries baked in the oven at least twice a week, and often daily, over that time, & couldn’t be happier.

I suppose a dedicated dough machine or stand mixer might do the job of dough prep as well or better, and these might be able to handle larger batches of dough or be more versatile, but at $70, this came in well under the price of those (and I really don’t need to work with larger batches or employ a stand mixer for other tasks). I’ve used a stand mixer with dough hook in the past, & been very happy with it, but feel this machine works as well for the small batches I work with. The principal advantages would be the ability to prepare dough for multiple loaves, and to double for other kitchen tasks.

Would another, pricer, bread machine do a better job? I was initially intrigued by those with a horizontal, rather than a vertical, tub. Perhaps I’d bake more in the machine? But I do prefer baking in my cloche & my Pullman pans, and often make braided breads, buns, pizza crusts, & pastries that need to be baked separately. Some bread machines have two paddles, & suggest these do a superior job of kneading; but mine, with just one, seems to work fine for 1-2 lbs of dough.

I’d prefer to be able to make dough purely by hand; working with bread dough is very relaxing; but two things - one, this is incredibly convenient, making dough prep an easy task with the machine running with only occasional attention while I attend to other tasks; being no big deal, I bake more often than I might otherwise, even daily; and two, my stroke left me with a left arm & hand that are basically useless for most tasks, including kneading; I can leave most of that up to the machine, leaving only folding & shaping as tasks I can easily accomplish one handed. & it does an excellent job with the small 1-2 lb batches I typically work with.

Has it saved me money on store-bought bread? That’s a hard one; I doubt I’d be eating much bread without it; there are some bakeries in town that are difficult for me to get to (it’s 9 miles into Bar Harbor, or 14 to Ellsworth off the island, & my transportation is by foot or bicycle), but as I’m dependent on Instacart for grocery delivery, those are off my radar, & the breads in the markets that participate with Instacart are not really worth talking about. Those breads, rolls, & pasties that I can make leave those far behind. My discovery of organic heritage flours has upped my bread baking tremendously beyond anything commercially available. Considering the price of my flours, at $4-6/lb compared to commercial bread flours at ~$1.50/lb, and the price of commercial breads at < $3/lb, I’m spending more, the price of real food, but eating far better.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 - it’s a keeper.