Will never buy bread again.....

[Fjgrogan]

OMG - what have we unleashed?!

[lonelymom]

You have unleashed the troll in me

[Fjgrogan]

Getting back to the breadmakers (almost on topic!) - I have finally ordered a new one and it should be here tomorrow. Tesco had the Morphy Richards compact version on offer, so I have gone for that. I doesn't do a fastbake, but it does do jam, pizza etc, and two sizes of loaf, and has a retractable paddle, so I reckon good vallue for £45. Having space on my worktop was ultimately more important to me than the speed of baking. So I shall let you know how it goes. I also picked up a Good Housekeeping book of bread machine recipes from the library, so it could get very exciting around here in the next few days! Also ordered from Argos the new toaster, which seems a bit odd - why would I want to be wasting lovely fresh bread on toast?

[Sallz]

you can cook crumpets in a toaster.... lovely

[Ajarn Philip]

... jam, but it appears it's spread onto another thread too!

[Ajarn Philip]

Oh, the oddest coincidence today. The latest addition to our English teaching staff (a Dutchman ) was talking about his breadmaker. He's offered to bring a sample loaf in next week. He should fit in very well.

[Fjgrogan]

Yes, we regularly cook crumpets in the toaster and English muffins - the American type don't fit!! that is why we need a 4-slot one with wider slots. I have in my cupboard a jar of limited edition Marmite with champagne, and I am sure I read somewhere recently that there is another limited edition with Guinness. Do you think if I hang onto them for long enough they will become collectors' items and I can take them to the Antiques Roadshow and show them to Fiona Bruce?

[lonelymom]

The Guinness limited edition one is available in Tesco at the moment.

[Fjgrogan]

Wouldn't you just know it! I put in an online order the breadmaker, and just two hours later my inbox contains a coupon that would have given me £5 off the price - too late now!

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

Try my last Post -- on "Spiders"
to see how the subject can change --- !!

[lonelymom]

Wouldn't you just know it! I put in an online order the breadmaker, and just two hours later my inbox contains a coupon that would have given me £5 off the price - too late now!

Buy another one using that coupon, then when you get the full-price one take it back for a refund saying it was a duplicate/unwanted gift.

[J.R.]

Wouldn't you just know it! I put in an online order the breadmaker, and just two hours later my inbox contains a coupon that would have given me £5 off the price - too late now!

Buy another one using that coupon, then when you get the full-price one take it back for a refund saying it was a duplicate/unwanted gift.

That's exactly what I would do !

[Euterpe13]

Call the customer care line, give them the order number, explain that you forgot to key in the reduction coupon code and ask them to apply it to your order - they should be happy to do it for you - if not, cancell order and rebook with the code.

[Fjgrogan]

Today I thought I would test drive the cake-making potential of the new breadmaker. The whole exercise was a total disaster! I had a book from the library with a recipe for coffee and walnut cake. First the muscovado sugar and the coffee powder had set in hard lumps, which even the food processor struggled to crush. Then I found that I had no self-raising flour and spent ages looking through assorted books to find out how much baking powder to add to plain flour. Then I had to find my long-unused mixing bowl, at the back of the cupboard and had to be washed before I could use it. My hand mixer doesn't completely switch off - it will go down to the lowest speed, but has to be operated from the plug for on and off! - well it is about 30 years old, made by Moulinex - inevitably I had trouble finding one of the beaters. Having finally got everything mixed and wondering what was the point, I realised that my breadmaker doesn't actually have a bake-only programme, so I had to hunt for a suitable cake tin to bake it in the oven, with no idea whatsoever how long for or what temperature; just kept testing it and resetting the timer. The end result looks OK, not sure what it will taste like. I now have a mountain of washing up to do - no dishwasher - and I guarantee that my husband's reaction will be to complain that I have used up most of 'his' walnuts. I don't think I dare experiment with jam-making! Come back Miss Jukes, all is forgiven!

[Sallz]

I had a go at making strawberry Jam in mine the other day. It tasted lovely, the whole jar has already been used! It didn't set very well though, just stayed runny. I might have another go to see if it will be more sucessful with other fruits.