Everyone loves bread; some like store-bought bread while some like...
Read MoreAlthough bread machines are not strictly necessary in the kitchen, they unquestionably simplify the creation of delicious homemade dough. It’s no wonder that so many people invest in a bread machine, as it is straightforward to use and does all the hard work for you.
However, are bead makers worthwhile?
Let’s find out!
Why Should You Use a Bread Machine?
There is one clear advantage to using a bread machine, and that is that they are absurdly convenient. If you have a busy lifestyle or are new to baking but still want the aroma of freshly baked bread to fill your home, bread makers are ideal.
Add water, flour, oil, salt, sugar, and yeast to the bread pan, press the start button, and it will do the rest. After placing the ingredients in the pan, you will have freshly baked bread in a few hours. Your trusted bread machine will mix the ingredients, knead the dough, let it rise, and bake it to perfection with no arm-aching labor required.
In addition, many bread machines have a delayed timer, making them even more convenient. With a delayed timer, you can load the machine with ingredients and set it to begin baking up to 13 hours later. You can even do this before you go to bed, and you will wake up each morning to freshly baked bread!
Bread machines can do more than knead dough is another excellent reason to own one. Bread makers can be used to make cakes, jams, pastries, pizza dough, and many other items! Who would have guessed that bread machines could be so versatile?
Are Bread Makers Worth the Investment? Machine vs. Hand Kneading
Kneading
The hand-kneading dough can be time-consuming and leave you with a sore arm. Indeed, you could knead bread dough with a hand mixer, but the bread machine does all the hard work for you. Even if you only use your bread machine for kneading the dough and finishing by hand, it is still worthwhile.
It is also effortless to make mistakes when kneading the dough by hand. Either excessive or insufficient kneading will ruin the texture of your loaf. Bread makers knead the dough for the correct amount of time and at the proper temperature, so the likelihood of something going wrong is extremely low (if you measure your ingredients right).
Shaping
By making bread by hand, you have the freedom to shape it however you like. It can be braided, tied, formed into small bread rolls, or shaped into a round loaf.
Depending on the size of the pan, a bread machine will only produce rectangular or square loaves. If your bread pan is horizontal, you may be able to braid or form two small rolls with your bread. In general, however, the bread-making capabilities of bread machines are restricted.
Adding additional ingredients is straightforward, both by hand and with a bread machine. Many modern bread machines automatically add ingredients such as nuts, fruits, and herbs during the kneading phase.
Before the second rise, you incorporate your additional ingredients by hand. Add your preferred ingredients, then form the dough into a ball and set it aside for its second rise.
Timing
Bread machines are not significantly faster than hand-made bread. Depending on the loaf being baked, bread machines can take between 3 and 5 hours. Including kneading, rising, shaping, and baking, making bread by hand can take up to three hours. Therefore, you will not save time with a bread machine.
However, many bread machines have a ‘quick’ or ‘rapid’ bake setting, which is helpful if you are in a hurry, but the loaf’s quality will not be excellent. You cannot rush the art of breadmaking!
Quantity
You may wonder why you need a bread machine when you can bake bread in the oven. Baking bread in the oven is much more efficient, especially if you want to make multiple loaves.
A bread machine can only produce a single loaf. To make multiple loaves with your bread machine, you must purchase numerous devices or run it continuously! With more space and shelves, an oven makes batch baking much simpler and more efficient.
Tip: If you want to bake multiple loaves but don’t want to spend time kneading and rising the dough, knead the dough in a bread machine and bake the loaves in the oven.
Crust
I believe everyone would agree that the crust is the best part of homemade bread. In my home, there is undoubtedly competition! Unless you have a bread machine with a top heating function, your bread will not have the same quality crust as it would from an oven. Depending on the quality of your bread machine, the top crust may come out very soft or even soggy due to the lack of heat it receives during baking.
This can be easily remedied by allowing your bread machine to do most of the work but removing the dough before it begins baking and baking it in the oven. This will ensure that you obtain dough with the ideal texture and crust.
Bread-Making Machine vs. Store-Bought Bread
Quality
If you examine the ingredients list on the bread package, you will notice that in addition to flour, sugar, and yeast, there are many ingredients that you have likely never heard of. Therefore, store-bought bread is quite unhealthy because it contains many additives, preservatives, and salt to make it bake faster and last longer.
With homemade bread, you have complete control over the quality and quantity of the ingredients. If you wish to reduce sodium intake, you can omit the salt from your dough or substitute honey for sugar. These options are not available when purchasing bread from the supermarket.
The quality and nutritional value of store-bought bread are inferior. By selecting the ingredients that go into the pan of a bread machine, you can consistently achieve the desired level of quality.
Price
What is less expensive, purchasing or making bread? This depends on the type of bread you are buying from the supermarket. If you purchase the cheapest loaf you can find, you will not recoup your investment in a bread machine soon.
Bread makers can cost anywhere from $60 to $400 or more. Prices for loaves of bread can range between $1.50 and $6. The least expensive flour costs approximately $1.05, while the costliest flour can cost up to $5. The cost-effectiveness of purchasing a bread machine depends on how much you plan to bake, the type of bread machine you are buying, and the ingredients you use.
Bread makers that are financially worthwhile
Are you prepared to purchase your first bread machine? Many excellent devices are available, each with unique features and prices. Here are a few machines that have earned my approval to assist you in your search.
Get Baking!
So, do bread makers justify the cost? Definitely! They are incredibly convenient, do all the hard work for you, and guarantee perfectly baked bread every time without any effort. Who wouldn’t want it?
A loaf made in a bread machine is superior to store-bought bread any day of the week. Compared to the fresh, warm loaf that comes out of your bread machine, packaged bread cannot compare in quality.
In all honesty, a bread machine eliminates the personal touch that would be present if you baked bread by hand. Making bread is a skill; if you make the perfect loaf by hand, you will certainly feel accomplished. But a bread maker is well worth the investment if you’re a busy person who wants to wake up every morning to a warm, fluffy, soft loaf.
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FAQs
A bread machine can allow additional uses beyond making bread from start to finish. It can be used for the dough kneading, the dough can be made into rolls or buns and other uses that can surprise you such as making jam, rice dishes, yogurt, cake, sauces, soup and even scrambled eggs.
One thing to be aware of is that using a bread maker isn’t the cheapest way to get your bread. It is slightly cheaper, especially if your breadmaker lasts a long time (but reading online reviews suggests they rarely last more than 3-5 years) but there’s a risk your bread maker won’t last.
Save about two dollars a loaf by making organic bread at home (see my recipe). Two dollars for five minutes of work: that’s $60 an hour! And you can do it in your PJs while listening to the music of your choice. Save energy by heating up a very targeted area instead of your whole oven.
In short a standard bread maker uses 0.36 kWh per loaf to bake a white or wholemeal loaf on the standard setting whereas baking a loaf in an electric oven is about 1.6kWh per use and a gas oven typically consumes around 1.5kWh of energy per use.
Dense or heavy bread can be the result of not kneading the dough mix properly –out of many reasons out there. Some of the other potential reasons could be mixing the yeast & salt together or losing your patience while baking or even not creating enough tension in the finished loaf before baking the bread.
Set the bread machine to the “dough only” setting. The machine will combine the ingredients, knead the dough, and give it its first rise.
Most bread machines have different cycles for different kinds of dough—including white bread, whole grain, European-style (sometimes labelled “French”), and dough-only (for pizza dough and shaped loaves to be baked in a conventional oven).
If you have a large family, like to share with your friends, or want to make bread when you entertain, get a machine that will hold a recipe containing at least 3-4 cups of flour. Some bread makers will hold up to 4 to 4-1/4 cups or even 6 cups.
It’s considerably cheaper to make your own bread than to buy it, if you’re comparing similar types of loaves. In a recent comparison*, the ingredients for a loaf of homemade classic sandwich bread cost $2.06, or 13 cents per slice.
We calculated the price per loaf of bread, including the cost of ingredients and power used to run the bread machine. This cost came out to be around 50 cents per loaf. We compared that to the price we were paying for a loaf of organic bread at the store which is $4.99 per loaf.
Once the bread maker is switched on, there is nothing left for you to do. The machine mixes and kneads the bread dough automatically. After the dough is allowed to rise for a period of time, the machine bakes the bread to a golden brown and shuts off automatically.
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