Are breadmakers any good? The answer is unequivocally yes!
There’s almost nothing better than fresh bread from your breadmaker. If you love bread or you eat a lot of bread, you may be better off getting a bread machine, so you can bake fresh loaves more easily. You can also save money. It’s not always easy to find bread that I like in the grocery store, and it can be expensive to buy specialty bread.
I have been using a Hamilton Beach breadmaker for about ten years. In the ten years that I have owned this breadmaker, I have probably used it hundreds of times. The majority of those times have probably been in the fall or winter. I make bread once a week during the cold weather months.
Its Easy to Use a Breadmaker!
It’s very easy to make a loaf of bread. The whole process only takes a few minutes. I know what you’re thinking, “Baking bread is hard!” But it’s really not. It’s as easy as 1-2-3! First, load the bread pan with your favorite ingredients. There are lots of bread recipes out there, so you can pick one that you like. You’ll likely find you’ll need ingredients like butter, flour, sugar, salt, and bread machine fast-rising yeast. Then, put the pan in the bread maker. Last, press the start button. Once the machine is on, the bread maker does all the work. And while the machine’s baking the bread, your house will be filled with the aroma of freshly baked bread. Enjoy a delicious loaf of homemade bread!
My Breadmaker Recipe – 1.5 pound loaf
- 3 to 3-1/2 cups unbleached flour
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1-1/8 tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1-1/4 tsp. fast rising breadmaker yeast (instant yeast)
- Hamilton-Beach Breadmaker
My bread pan leaks a bit at the spindle/mixing paddle. My repair attempts have failed. As I have no luck with repairs, the best I can do is work around the issue. My solution is to add 1/2 of the flour to the pan first, then add all the ingredients except the yeast, then add the remaining flour, and finally sprinkle the yeast on top. This way, the flour base stops the water from leaking through.
Sliced Bread is the Greatest Thing!
The first item needed is a good rigid, serrated bread knife
A slicing guide is indispensable for making perfect bread slices.
Croutons!
And when it’s time to toss out the rest of the loaf, there are some really cool recipes out there for things you can do to repurpose old bread. I also make croutons when the bread loaf is about two inches remaining. At first, I was feeding the heel to the birds, but I learned that wasn’t healthy for the birds, and it attracted squirrels. I hate to waste things, so I decided to cut the end of the loaf into small cubes to make croutons.
My Crouton Recipe
- 2-3 inches of bread loaf
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Oregano if desired
Slice bread into 1/4 to 1/2 inch cubes and add to mixing bowl. Add oil and garlic powder and mix well with bread cubes. Spread mixture onto baking pan and bake in oven at 350° F for 12 minutes and voila perfect croutons!
Pizza Dough!
You breadmaker can make geat pizza dough in addition to breads