My Wonderful New Breadmaking Machine

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

A couple of days ago, I treated myself to something I’ve wanted for a long time: a breadmaking machine. I love fresh homemade bread, and hardly ever have the time to make it.

Today, I am ticked off, frustrated, annoyed, disappointed, and glum.

My new breadmaking machine doesn’t.

Make bread.

I followed all the directions faithfully. Ran it once on the prescribed cycle to burn off any manufacturing oil residues. Watched through the little window on top as the kneader paddle clicked around. Smelled the residues burning off. Duly took care of it at the end of the cycle.

That was yesterday. Today I decided to try out my first recipe – cinnamon raisin bread. I followed all the instructions. Carefully measured the ingredients and layered them in the baking pan as directed. Clicked on the correct cycle choices for the recipe. Hit “Start” and heard it clicking away.

But when I looked in through the little window… nothing seemed to be happening. Oh, well, I thought, perhaps at first the mixing isn’t visible, since the paddle’s going through the liquid ingredients. I went away for a while, came back, and looked again.

The dispenser thingie had duly dispensed the raisins… onto an otherwise untouched layer of dry ingredients. No mixing, no kneading, no nothing.

I troubleshot. I checked every possible cause. Nada. I tried hitting Stop/Reset, reprogramming it, and starting it again. Nil. I removed the baking pan, dumped the ingredients into a bowl, put the empty pan back, and tried again. Nichts. I took out the baking pan, hit Start, listened to it click obediently, and watched the little arms that are supposed to turn the little arms underneath the kneading paddle. Zilch. Ain’t moving.

CRAP. I give up. I’ll have to take it back to the store for a replacement. Meanwhile, there’s that pathetic bowlful of ingredients, half-mixed from my fumbling to check the kneader paddle and dumping into the bowl. No way am I gonna waste that! So I plunged in my hands and began mixing and kneading, muttering curses all the while. The dough took shape, dryer than yeast bread dough usually is, alas. Never did get to that wonderful elastic, sticky feeling, but what the hell. I had to keep scooping up raisins and chopped walnut bits that fell out of the dough and shoving them back in.

The dough took two hours to rise somewhere in the general vicinity of double. Punched it down – not very far, stuff was SOLID – formed it into a loaf, and let it rise another hour in the pan. Actually did expand somewhat. Baked at my guesstimate of time and temperature – a half hour at 400F.

And the results? Ehhhhhhhhhh… Actually, not as bad as I’d feared. A VERY heavy loaf, but the texture is okay (though quite dense), and the flavor, while not outstanding, is all right. I’ll be interested to see how it toasts.

I’m still royally pissed off, though.

2

Wait, it gets worse.

I returned the Breadman to the store today. No hassles, took home a Toastmaster Bread Box[sup]TM[/sup] for 20 bucks more than I’d paid for the Breadman. But it also makes fresh-churned butter! Unpacked it, looked it over, read the directions. Seemed pretty simple till I got to the part about “Your breadmaker also comes with: Recipe book. Includes recipes and helpful hints.”

What recipe book? I don’t see any recipe book! Frantically, I rummage through the box. No book. I look everywhere it could be. No frickin’ book!!!

I call the customer service number. They’re closed on Sundays. I go on their website. The model I bought isn’t listed. Is it discontinued? Will I be able to get a recipe book from the manufacturer? Can I find generic breadmaking machine recipes, or does each model require its own recipe book?

Now I’m really pissed!

3

Most recipes will work in any machine. Sorry about your travails. Did the box appear to be opened? Maybe it was someone’s returned present.

I can send you the recipe I’ve got for cinamon raisin if you want. I don’t have one of those shmancy-dancy dispensers though - I have to lurk near the machine with a cup of ingredients in hand.

4

I just checked the box it came in, and it doesn’t look as if it had been opened and resealed. Probably a glitch at the factory.

I’ve been Googling for bread machine recipes and found some sites that offer them, but if you’d like to send me that recipe, This Year’s Model, I’d be very grateful indeed! My email addy’s in my profile. I too will have to lurk with extras cup in hand. The new machine doesn’t have that handy dispenser feature.

I will certainly call Toastmaster tomorrow and demand my rights! Or at least the recipe book.

:mad: :frowning: :mad:

5

My email server seems to be down right now.

Two pound - 1 1/2 pound

1 1/2 cups - water - 1 1/8 cups + 1 tbsp
4 1/4 cups - flour - 3 1/4 cups
3 tbsp - sugar - 2 tbsp
2 tbsp - dry milk - 1 1/2 tbsp
1 1/2 tsp - salt - 1 tsp
2 tbsp - butter - 1 1/2 tbsp
1 tsp - cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
2 tsp - active dry yeast - 1 1/2 tsp
1 cup - rasins - 3/4 cup

My machine (Zojirushi) beeps about 5 minutes before the end of the first knead to add stuff. I hope yours has a beep, or you’ll just have to guess. Good luck!!!

6

Thank you! My machine does have an additional ingredient buzzer for the basic and sweet settings, so I won’t hve to hover forever.

7

I tried out the replacement bread machine today. I used your recipe, This Year’s Model.

It works.

I’m sitting here typing this with a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread cooling on a rack before me. I’m clawing off pieces and devouring them, warm and fragrant and tasty. I just gobbled down the top crust, dripping with butter.

Farewell, toes! I may never see you again.

8

I’m sorry your Breadman machine didn’t work, EddyTeddyFreddy . My mom got me one for Christmas and I love the darn thing. I haven’t played with the little dispenser thingy yet, but I’ve made 3 types of bread that turned out, and one that didn’t. (The one that didn’t was a sweet bread & I should’ve checked to make sure it had enough liquid. I didn’t. :frowning: )

I am glad you found one that works for you, though. And I have a dandy recipe for Parmesan herb bread that came out yummy, if you want something savory instead of sweet. Let me know!

9

Oh, that sounds delicious! Yes, please do share. If you’d like to email it, my addy’s in my profile. (Didn’t I already say that?)

I called Toastmaster yesterday and after waiting on hold for 15 minutes finally got hold of a genuine human being who promised to send me a recipe book.

I’ve now eaten about three slices’ worth of the loaf. It’s still delicious even as it cools. (chomp chomp chomp) And there’s another mouthful…

10

I love my Breadman. I have the big one, and I can play with recipes all day long. After you get the hang of what you can and can’t do with one, start experimenting. I’m going to go make me a grilled cheese sammich right now using a couple of slices from the loaf of Italian herb bread I made Sunday! :smiley:

11

I started using my bread machine as kind of a hobby. It has lately turned into an obsession. My first machine was a Breadman TR444 3+ years ago; just this past week it has been starting to break down (gears and belt). A few months ago I bought a Toastmaster on sale. Two weeks ago a friend of mine gave me a machine he has had in his basement, a Sunbeam.

I am in between jobs now and make bread almost everyday. I have to give loaves away or I will be as wide as I am tall!

EddyTeddyFreddy, I’m glad you got a machine that works. There are thousands of recipes out there. I search new recipes often and also troubleshooting and bread-machine tips when necessary.

I also do not have a dispenser but do have a beep. You get used to the timing of it so it isn’t so much trouble after a little while.

Have fun.

12

We got our breadmaker 11 years ago (gack, yes, it’s really been 11 years). Nothing fancy. 3 bread type settings, a delay timer and a beeper to let you know when to add those extra bits. It’s still going strong.

At first, we stuck with recipies, until we could consistantly get a decent loaf of bread. (We could probably have built a house out of all the “bricks” of bread we made.) Once we had that down, we started playing with recipies.

Here are a couple of tips we learned.

If you are adding extra, chunky, ingrediants (nuts, seeds, fruit etc) add an extra egg. This will do much the same as adding extra gluten, making the bread lighter and fluffier.

In the winter, you might have to add a little extra water. It seemed as the house air got drier, our bread got drier. Kind of makes sense. We would wander over towards the end of the first mixing, and see how it looks.

Buy a large container of dried yeast, and keep it in the frig. Those little packets, especially in prepackaged mixes, often seemed old.

Make sure you remove the beater bar from the inedible brick of bread you are about to throw away.

Once you find a machine you like, consider ordering a second pan and beater bar for it. The machine itself can last forever, but the non-stick finish on the pan will start to wear off eventually.

13

Sorry I can’t email it; I’m still in “guest” status & can’t look at profiles yet. However, since we’re here:

PARMESAN HERB BREAD
Printed from Cooks.com

3 cups bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup non-fat dry milk powder
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (or Asiago) cheese
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil

Put all ingredients into bread machine or follow your user's manual.
Select correct bread cycle and crust color, then press start.

Note: If you use fresh herbs, add slightly more and mince finely
before adding.

This can be made on the dough setting and then rolled out as a pizza
or focaccia crust.

Variations: Add 1/2 cup pitted and chopped black olives (in oil) or
minced fresh onions.

That’s the recipe as written. I added 1 teaspoon of garlic powder to give it a little extra “oomph”.

Hope you (and anyone else who wants to try it) enjoy! :smiley:

14

Thank you, Indyellen! I’ve copied it into an email to myself. Mmmmmm… I bet that’s the next recipe I’ll try.

And thank you, too, Tastes of Chocolate, for the helpful hints.

15

Thank goodness that zombie threads are kosher now… I had to ask, because the site didn’t say… is that for a 1 lb machine? 1.5? 2?

16

I can’t say for sure, but with three cups of flour plus the cheese and dry milk, I’d bet you’d need more than a one-pound machine. Mine’s a two-pounder, so I don’t have to worry about that.

I just made a loaf of white/whole wheat today, with some tweaking of the recipe – altered the ratio of white to whole wheat flour (3 1/4 - 1/4 to 2 1/4 - 1 1/4), added a quarter cup each of ground flaxseed, wheat germ, and wheat bran, and substituted dried buttermilk for dried nonfat milk. YUM!!

I’m making about a loaf a week, which is plenty for one person. When it’s getting time to make a new loaf and I have a slice or three still unused, my horses get to finish what’s left, which they love – especially when I make conrmeal and molasses bread.

17

Well, I made it, and my 1.5 lber was the perfect size… It was delicious. I added a minced clove of garlic to the mix and some fresh parsley, but it was around the house. It was gone within an hour. The whole loaf. I had to make more.

18

I feel the same why about my Iced Tea Machine.
A Ogsend in the South, in Summer.

19

I just noticed this now that the thread is resurrected.

You’re welcome, I think. (Curse me? :slight_smile: ) Did you ever get the recipe book from them?

20

I’m a few months into my breadmachine and making bagels tonight. Should start a recipe sharing thread in a few weeks…