Does anyone use a bread-maker?

[Koala77]

I've never baked a lot of bread but up until now I have always made mine the old fashioned way and baked it in the oven but yesterday I bought my first bread-maker. Today I made my first loaf ..... but I'm not happy with the results.

I followed the instruction manual and used the recipe that came with the machine, and although the loaf looked beautiful and smelled wonderful, I wasn't happy with the taste.

For a start it looked more like cake than bread and it tasted sweet to me. I bought the special bread-making flour so that should not have been a problem, but I added the sugar that the recipe called for. Do I have to add sugar to the ingredients or can I omit it all together?

Do you have a tried and true recipe to share? The bowl holds 4 cups of flour. Thank you.

[Kitt]

I've had a breadmaker for years and I love it. I just follow the recipe to a tea and I've had no trouble. The bread is not cake like. I would guess it depends on which recipe you used. Was it a recipe for white bread or something else?

Anyway, I do know that you have to follow the recipe exactly. And you do not just scoop the flour out of a container. You put it in a measuring cup with a spoon and then level it off. I do not use any special flour. Just regular all purpose flour or a wheat flour, etc. if making that kind of bread. You do need sugar as it's needed for the yeast to work properly.

My breadmaker makes a 1 lb. loaf. I've had it since the 1980's. You will need receipes that fit your breadmaker.

[Kitty]

I have a bread maker. It makes 1 or 2 pound loaves. I've had good results with it when I followed the recipes exactly as they recommended. One thing that can cause differing results is the weather. If it's particularly humid or if you live at a high altitude it can sometimes alter the results. I'd have another try at it and see if the next one comes out better. Sometimes it's just trial and error. Good luck!

[karousel]

I have one and almost got rid of it. Whenever I made bread, and I followed the directions exactly, the bread came out heavy. Instead of tossing it I bought a bread machine recipe book. I've made a few loaves and so far they've been much better than the recipes that came with the machine. I haven't loved any of the loaves yet so I don't even have a recipe to share. I do what to try a few different recipes to see how those come out. That is if I can ever remember to do it!

[Jo*mar]

I tried a few bread machines before finding one w/results I liked.

To test another loaf or 2 I'd look up online a few basic french bread recipes for the machine.

for a plain french style bread

I generally use about 1 cup warm water
2 cups flour on top of that
then add
fast rise or bread machine yeast (2.5 tsp+\-)
1 tsp salt
pinch of sugar

start the machine and let it get partially mixed, then slowly add more or less 1 more cup of flour - how much does depend on the weather, keep adding flour and watching to make sure it begins to form a smooth ball.

Sometimes I even help it along with a wooden spoon or my hand if it looks like it is not getting blended nicely.

basically you want a firm and not sticky dough.

When it is at that stage leave the lid closed and let it do its thing.

If it still does not come out nicely then maybe google that machine and see if there are bad reviews on it.

[Koala77]

Thank you ladies.

I decided to make a plain white loaf as my first one so I could work out how to use the machine.

The recipe that came with the machine says to use 2 cups of flour, salt, dry yeast and warm water, butter, salt, one egg and 2 spoons of sugar.

I think if I was adding fruit to make a sweet loaf, those ingredients would be perfect but for plain white bread it looked like cake and was far too sweet for my taste.

Tomorrow I will try Jo*Mar's recipe and I'll let you know how I get on. Thank you again.

[Jo*mar]

Oh and don't leave it too close to the edge of the counter...my mom made a very firm dough and it skipped itself right off the edge, on to the floor and broke the top of her machine

now I always push mine all the way back LOL

But she may have had some spilled flour on the counter top, made it more slippery than usual.

My machine rarely moves much at all.

[Kitt]

My machine doesn't move at all. The dough doesn't get real firm and not really sticky either. Another thing not to do is to lift the lid and see how it's doing. You just get the right amount of ingredients in there and let it go.

I just cannot figure out why your bread gets so sweet. I have two recipe books that I use for my machine. I guess I've hardly used the few recipes that came with it. The recipes are for a regular loaf or a large loaf. I use the regular loaf recipe as that makes a perfect amount for my 1 lb. loaf.

Here is the recipe for the Classic White bread that I use. It is good. It makes a regular loaf which is like 8 servings.

3/4 C water
2 C white flour (It says bread flour which I never use. Just my regular flour).
1 Tbsp. dry milk
1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. Butter
1 tsp. yeast (fast rise) or
1 1/2 tsp. yeast (active dry)

I know that every bread machine is different so can't guarantee that this will work. Good luck!

I can make it with the regular, rapid, or delayed timed bake cycles. My machine is a Panasonic which I bought int the 1980's. I can honestly say that I have never had a failure with it.

[Koala77]

I made another loaf from a different recipe this morning but that failed, but then I made one from your recipe Kitt. That loaf was the best ever! Thank you so much.

It tasted really good but the loaf was a little dense so I think it may have a little too much liquid for my machine, but hubby really loved it so I'm going to stick with your recipe and just adapt it a little at a time until I get it perfect.

Thank you both for your input.

[Kitt]

I'm glad that it turned out fine. It is a good one IMHO.