| I used to make all our own bread by hand when we were first married. That would be 45 and a half years ago....the dark ages, indeed. I always mixed in a dishpan because I made a whole weeks worth at once. This worked for me just fine, but eventually the second baby came, and, guess what, no time to make such little niceties as homemade bread. My husband did love it, though and I hated to stop for his sake...but I did.
When I became concerned about the pandemic, I decided I needed to make bread again. I wanted to buy 50 lb sacks so that I would have a large supply on hand. I found that flour was certainly cheaper this way and that loaves of bread were radically cheaper than the bread in the store. Plus, it tasted sooooo much better (unless you were buying the $3.50 loaves).
I got a bread machine and started baking. My first bread machine was inherited from my mother. I got the booklet for it on the web. It only made 1lb loaves, and my guys could eat more than one pound of bread a day, so I started eyeing the machines that made a 2# loaf.
I researched opinions on bread machines on the web, comparing reviews and prices. I finally decided on the 2# Sunbeam breadmaker. I got it at Walmart for $39.95. This was a fantastic deal for what this machine will do.
I LOVE it!!! (Yes, that was an exuberant yell there.) My husband and son LOVE the bread!! I like it very much myself, but I am not as fond of bread as they are.
OK…Why do I love my bread machine so much?:
1. It was cheap. $39.95 for an appliance that will do the job this thing does is phenomenal to me.
2. It’s so easy. Put the carefully measured ingredients in, in the right order, select the cycle, crust darkness desired, loaf size, and press start. That’s it. That’s all. Easy. (If you put in the right carefully measured ingredients, that is. J Also, don’t forget to put the dough paddle in first. Yes, I’ve done that. Believe me, it doesn’t work.
3. It has 12 cycles: basic, French, whole wheat, quick, sweet, Express Bake, 1.5 lb, Express Bake 2 lb, dough, jam, cake, sandwich, and bake. I’ve never figured out how the sandwich bread cycle is supposed to be different. You are supposed to be able to make jam and cake in it. I haven’t figured out why you would ever want to do that unless your stove is on the fritz.
4. It has a timer and is programmable. You can wake up to the smell of freshly baked bread. Yum! (Haven’t done it yet, but I could
5. It does a really good job.
When I looked up reviews for the machine I found that a couple of people were not pleased with the machine. Later reviews revealed that you may not want to follow the recipes in the manufacturer's book.They say that they call for too much yeast. I don't know whether the booklet has been changed since they gave this advice or not. I just haven't used the recipes in the book. I use one that I used with my old bread machine.
You would want to put the ingredients in, in the order that the machine's book suggests. Different machines have different recommendations in this regard, and I suppose that must have to do with the mixing action each machine uses. The reviewers have said that you can use any other bread machine recipe. I wonder if perhaps they didn't make the mistake of using the express bread recipe with a different cycle, since that might cause the results they mention. I haven't compared the recipes in the booklet with other recipes myself.
I want to make it clear that I am not "dissing" any other manufacturers breadmaker. This was just the cheapest 2# loaf machine that I found, and I am very happy with it's performance.
to be continued ... |
