Hi All,
I am looking to purchase a bread machine. I am from Vancouver, Canada. Nothing too expensive maybe under $100. Can anyone can suggest one that kneads the dough and makes good loaf breads?? I absolutely suck at hand kneading!
Cheers
Category:
Hi All,
I am looking to purchase a bread machine. I am from Vancouver, Canada. Nothing too expensive maybe under $100. Can anyone can suggest one that kneads the dough and makes good loaf breads?? I absolutely suck at hand kneading!
Cheers
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Hi
I am in Victoria and have a Panasonic bread maker. It's a couple of years old but in excellent condition. Also have several recipe books that work with it. Let me know if you're interested.
Bill
[quote=farz786]
Hi All,
I am looking to purchase a bread machine. I am from Vancouver, Canada. Nothing too expensive maybe under $100. Can anyone can suggest one that kneads the dough and makes good loaf breads?? I absolutely suck at hand kneading!
Cheers
[/quote]
Hi farz786.
My suggestion would be not to bother about forking out for a bread machine. I have never used one and don't see any reason to do so. Like many home bakers into sourdough, I prefer handmixing in a bowl followed by a few stretch-and-folds - no kneading required!
I don't think any of the posters here use breadmakers. Have a look around the site and check out the pics of the breads people are turning out, and you may reconsider going down the breadmachine route.
Cheers
Ross
You don't have to knead dough to make good bread. I stopped kneading dough after reading the New York Times article on No-Knead Bread. Google it. It spread through the internet like a virus. I just mix flour, water, salt and yeast in a bowl at 65-70% hydration; cover it and let sit in the kitchen for 12-24 hours. Scrape it out onto a lightly floured surface and very gently fold it over on itself from each side once or twice, being careful not to press the air out. Maybe do this again after half an hour or so; then after 30-60 minutes, put in the oven. I bake at a high heat and occasionally splash water into the oven. Sometimes I bake it in a covered pot. Both produce good results but I tend to like the crust on the open-baked loaf better. Presto. Excellent bread. I can be more specific on the proportions that work for me if you want. I am probably doing everything wrong according to the experts here but it sure results in good bread with very little effort.
eyendall, you've merely replicated the content of my post, both in relation to not needing a breadmaker and not needing to knead.
I don't know why you think you're "probably doing everything wrong according to the experts here" - most folk I follow on this site (and other home baking forums) use the stretch-and-fold method instead of kneading. The practice is very widespread among home bakers of SD bread. I have no idea about the NY Times article, but the gurus like Hamelman and Reinhart advocate stretch-and-fold with SD, and I suspect their books - or bread 'bibles' as they're often referred to - are largely responsible for the prevalence of this method over kneading.
Most of my recipes are from Recipezaar.com and requies a good kneading. My wrist is not that strong after so many years of typing at work seems I am developing carpel tunnel syndrome. Also, to keep going back and checking on the dough (to knead, fold and pop it in the oven, splash water in the oven, etc. ) I sometimes cannot do this with a 5 month old screaming his but off!! I think its more convenient for me and with prices going up for almost everything, I figure it would save us $ in the long run. I will definitely have a read at this no knead bread your talking about. Sounds very interesting. Cheers :-) ps. I have tried two loaves last week, both didnt turn out so good. (one was brown whole wheat and one was white whole wheat) It was very dense and the other was better but crumbly when you hold a piece of it in your hand. (I did add vital wheat gluten and followed the recipe EXACTLY)
I have moderate carpal tunnel syndrome in both arms/wrists and intermittent RSI flareups affecting the left wrist. It's absolutely no problem for me doing stretch-and-folds. Most recipes require only 3 or so sets, 1 hour apart. And I'm only referring to sourdough bread. I can't comment on commercial yeast bread because I never bake it.
Here's a video - have a look at Peter Reinhart demonstrating the S&F technique. If you're making sourdough breads, why not give it a try before you buy a bread machine? If you want SD recipe ideas, happy to post some links, or you can just look around this great site and take your pick.
Cheers
Ross