Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Buy a Breadmaking Machine ---- and you will never WANT to buy bread again !
You know what goes into it, you can make wonderful loaves, which you can't easily buy viz: Malt Loaf, Butter and Milk,
Challah, Butter-fried Walnut, I won't go on ---- but the smell of fresh bread in the house, takes some beating ! !

NEILL THE NOTORIOUS wrote:Buy a Breadmaking Machine ---- and you will never WANT to buy bread again !

Got one of those! Somewhere in the garage... probably somewhere near my ice-cream maker that I've only used once too!

Funnily enough, I no longer buy kitchen gadgets as I've been there, done that and got the T-shirts for most of them - food processors, pressure cookers, yogurt makers, you name it.....

Bread makers, however - I'm with you, Neil!! Chris bought me one for Christmas and I can honestly say I love it. I'm the laziest cook in the world, but even I can manage to throw some water, oil, flour, sugar, salt and yeast into the pan and switch it on. No washing up - I only have to measure the water in a jug, which wipes clean; I switched from butter to oil and I just slug in a "guess" of oil; put the pan on the scales and weigh the flour straight in; then there is a measuring spoon for the sugar, salt, and yeast, which again wipes clean. And when the bread is cooked and removed from the pan, the pan wipes clean too. It really couldn't involve less effort. And the fresh bread is so lovely - I only buy sliced to keep in the freezer for emergency toasting now.

Haven't really experimented with different ingredients, but I've done various white, brown and granary, and haven't had a bad loaf yet.

You're making me feel guilty! And since I'm desperately trying to cut back on our outgoings (increase in CH fees, don't-you-know ) I'm beginning to wonder if it's cheaper to make bread than buy it. The problem is, our bread use is quite erratic, sometimes we get through loads, other times one loaf seems to last forever. So, my question is, does it freeze well?

Its best warm from a bread maker.

My mum loves ours, warm bread with melted butter every other day, lovely. I tried using it once, but it didn't work out well, I didn't push the container all the way in so it didn't mix. I prefer to make my bread from scratch by hand, but for one person it isn't usually practical.

lonelymom wrote:You're making me feel guilty! And since I'm desperately trying to cut back on our outgoings (increase in CH fees, don't-you-know ) I'm beginning to wonder if it's cheaper to make bread than buy it. The problem is, our bread use is quite erratic, sometimes we get through loads, other times one loaf seems to last forever. So, my question is, does it freeze well?

Yes, bread does freeze, and what is more you can safely thaw and re-freeze, though it really is only fit for toast after that.
Before I got a bread maker I used to make 3 loaves at a time, doing the initial mixing in a food processor, leave it to rise, knead, rise again.

The foodprocessor was in use today for the first pesto of the season (we grow basil in large quantities) and I now have enough in the freezer for the next 2 months (and a pot for a friend)

GLOAT GLOAT.

Thanks for that. So does anyone know whether it is actually cheaper to make bread or buy it? Has anyone worked out roughly what a loaf costs to make?

I'm sure it's cheaper to make your own bread if you can either
a) eat a whole fresh loaf before the freshness goes off (?1-2 days)
b) cut a newlymade loaf, eat part of it straight away and and freeze the rest, once it's cold, for slicing and toasting later

Yes, no one can beat the smell of fresh bread, even from a breadmaker. But for someone like me, even though I have a breadmaking machine, it is a bit of a faff...Being disabled I can't stand for very long so mixing the ingredients is often not an option.

And to come back to the start of this thread, has anyone actually clicked on the link to BBC News with which I started this discussion? I was expecting lots of 'gross' and 'disgusting' replies but, thus far, none in those categories!

...cute??..

mvgrogan wrote:...cute??..

Yes I did (I would wouldn't I ?) do the maths and it IS cheaper to make your own.
This is if you don't count your own labour at the National Minimum Wage !
Many machines enable you to do a "Fast Bake" in about an hour, and also there are options for Small Loaves.
Mine also makes Pizza dough and Cake Mix.

When I had a bad Back (Who hasn't ?) I took the internal pan and did the preparation on my knee -- sitting down -- But then I am naturally bone Idle !-----



I relly don't own shares in these things !

NEILL THE NOTORIOUS wrote:Yes I did (I would wouldn't I ?) do the maths and it IS cheaper to make your own.
This is if you don't count your own labour at the National Minimum Wage !

Right, that's it then, I'm going to make my own bread! Mine makes pizza dough and cake mix too, so I might even try that! My husband will think I'm turning into a domestic goddess (ok, maybe not the goddess bit!). I'll let you know how it goes

I made orange jam in my breadmaker, when I first had it.... with oranges plucked from the trees in the garden of my French friends, on the day I came home from a visit. On another occasion I made walnut bread, made with walnuts freshly picked from their family orchard.
Wonderful at the time!
But given that nowadays I cannot stand for more than a few seconds, I fear that all usage (albeit economical and even innovatory) of my breadmaker has gone to the back burner. I just buy Warburton's small wholemeal loaf each week when I do my online Sainsbury order.

Could you do what Neill said and take the internal bowl out and mix the ingredients whilst sitting?