Making Bread at Home

If you were going to make bread at home and had absolutely no experience, should you buy a breadmaker or just use your oven?

Depends on what kind of bread, I guess. If you're talking about quickbreads (banana nut), that's easy as pie with no breadmaker. If you're talking about sandwich bread, I have no experience in that either. I've always kind of wondered if breadmakers were really worth it.

Im thinking, alot of this depends on why your making bread at home. If your going for the "I just love bread and need to understand the art of bread making" then no,I wouldnt go with a machine. Otherwise if your just unhappy with the "wonder"type crap pushed by the mass monsters and looking for something better,then yeah,maybe a machine. I just go out a get the good stuff from somebody that knows what their doing.Although there is something about the smell of bread baking at home. A good read on this is Jeffery Steingartens,the man who ate everything, hes got a great chapter on making bread at home.

My husband has been in bread making overdrive lately. What began as an expiramental "rustic loaf" has snowballed into a project that took over our refrigerator, oven, most of our flat baking equipment, and several LARGE storage containers.

I love the book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day." It's a great reference, and is (clearly) motivational.

I love to make bread at home. I just make them by hand but I think that if you have a very high quality food processor or stand mixer then THOSE would be the way to go rather than a bread machine. Alas, I have neither, so I do it the old fashioned way.

This is similar to the first bread I made. I wouldn't use nearly as much sugar as it calls for, a couple of tablespoons is plenty. This is more of a sandwich loaf but it is good and very easy.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Amish-Whit ... etail.aspx

Then I found the beautiful King Aurthur flour site. I've tried a couple of breads from this site and they have all been wonderful.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/

Most bakers don't like bread machines because you cannot control the baking process. You can't spray the inside of your bread maker to create steam and you can't shape your bread the way that you want it. You can use a bread maker to mix your dough and then put it in your oven, but why bother? A food processor or stand mixer could be used for many, many different things but a bread maker is only good for one task.

Making it by hand is almost therapeutic. My fam bought me a bread machine a few years ago, thinking they were helping me out, and I used it once! I even made it by hand when I worked. The worst part about making it is that it is eaten so quickly. My son Rick, however, uses his bread machine always, and does not do any by hand.

I agree that it is therapeutic. I'll even go so far as to say it can be spiritual.

I've had a breadmaker for years, and love it...for kneading my dough. I make focaccia, challah and pizza dough in it regularly. then form and finish them in the oven. Most of the recipes I use require two rise/knead cycles so it's much easier to do it in my machine than in my stand mixer. A number of the recipes on the King Arthur flour site ( which I also love), are also designed to have the bread machine do the hard, lengthy kneading of the dough, then finished by hand.

That said, I love to make my rustic, crusty loaves by hand with sourdough starter that I also created. Kneading for 5-10 minutes is truly cathartic for me and I've learned the feel when the loaf has just the right elasticity. But it's not something I do every day...

Have you tried the No'-Knead Bread method popularized by Lahey in the NYTimes a few years back? Turns out a GREAT crusty round boule, with a really low- effort slow-rise method. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dinin ... .html?_r=1

( I use more salt itn my loaf than he does - I'll check quantity if you are interested )

DEb

I've never made any type of bread before and wouldn't have the first clue where to start. I'm thinking the machine may be the way to go for me. Some of the recipes on the King Arthur website for the bread machine look pretty tasty and require little skill for the preparer!

Our love for homemade bread has been sated since we found the NY Times no knead recipe that Deb Hall referenced above (in case you missed it, here's the link). All you need to make perfect bread is a cast iron or le creuset-style covered pot and an oven. Unfortunately, you have to start the dough a day in advance, but the recipe's easy-peasy and the result is just great! We also have a bread machine, but in my opinion it simply does not measure up to this recipe.

I've never made any type of bread before and wouldn't have the first clue where to start. I'm thinking the machine may be the way to go for me. Some of the recipes on the King Arthur website for the bread machine look pretty tasty and require little skill for the preparer!

NO!! It's too simple to make bread without lots of. . .stuff. Check out "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" (why won't my cursor highlight the line?????) or Alton Brown's bread episode of Good Eats.

If you're going to buy an appliance, make it a Kitchen Aid mixer.

Sara, Jay Shreve teaches a class at Campbell's Gourmet Cottage ever so often on "No'Knead Artian Breads" that is based on Jim Lahey's method. Maybe it would help for you to attend one of these classes. His next class will by Tuesday, April 14th at 6:30 pm when he will make "Meyer Lemon Sage Loaf, Kalamata Olive Rosemary Loaf, Sundried Blueberry Pecan Loaf and Cranberry Walnut Loaf. IF you are interested you can sign up by calling 893-6700.

I went to one of these classes and found it very interesting, not that I have ever got around to making any of the breads, but it is on my list of things to do one of these days.

Happened upon this recipe for a quick & easy Foccacia that does not require a long rise or any special equipment.

http://www.thepauperedchef.com/2009/03/ ... bread.html

I think I may try it later in the week. My favorite recipe is awfully good ( and easy in the bread maker) but it makes two and they don't re-heat well. Anyone have a recipe for Foccacia that's a little thicker ( say 2 inch), that keeps well and could be sliced horizontally for sandwiches?.

DEb

Sara, I started out with a breadmaker about 12 years ago. You may find, as you get into it, that you prefer to remove the dough before the final baking. I was dissatisfied with the shape restriction of the loaf that the breadmaker imposed, and I also disliked the hole left in the loaf by the mixing hook. Baking the final loaf in the oven also gave me more options in terms of shape (traditional loaf pan, free-form on a pizza stone, baguette, etc.) as well as a better crust because the oven provides a lot more flexibility and heat. From there it was a short step to making my bread with a stand mixer. Whichever route you choose, I'm confident that you'll enjoy the process and results. The first couple may be "learning loaves," but you'll progress quickly from there.

I used to make bread all the time in college, its pretty easy to make white bread, it's harder to make rye. You really don't need a lot of equipment, people have been making bread for literally thousands of years with no high tech devices. Give it a try with white first and you'll be hooked. Have fun with it !