Bread machine or made by hand?

[soonermomma]

For those of you who make homemade bread, do you prefer to use a bread machine or make it by hand and bake it in the oven? I'm considering buying a bread machine, but I have never tried making it by hand. I plan on making quite a bit of bread if that matters. (regular bread, pumpkin, banana, zucchini etc) Also, do you use regular flour or bread flour? Any information is greatly appreciated!

[K&Rs Mom]

I mostly use a machine for "regular" bread, but do zucchini bread or banana bread in the oven. I also sometimes use the machine for dough & take it out to make rolls that go into the oven. I don't think I'd have a machine if it wasn't a gift, it never seemed worth the cost, but I do use it plenty. I mostly use bread flour in the machine, but have used all-purpose when I was out of bread flour, and it was fine.

[twoforjoy]

I generally make my dough in the bread machine and then bake it in the oven. I don't like the way the loaves come out when baked in the machine. They're just kind of unwieldy.

 

I used to always use bread flour, but now I use all-purpose flour most of the time. I just don't see enough of a difference, and I always have AP flour on hand.

[redsquirrel]

I used to make all the bread by hand. Then, I had a baby. I switched over to a stand mixer. Then the second baby arrived. I got a machine. Both kids got bigger and ate more bread. I got a better machine.

 

I make banana bread etc by hand. I use the stand mixer if I am making double batches.

 

I use regular flour in my machine but I do add a bit of gluten powder. I bake almost everything, even banana bread etc using the Cornell Formula because that adds nutrition.

[min]

I like to make the dough in a stand-mixer, then bake in the oven. I have a breadmaker too, but still prefer to make the dough and then bake in the oven. I think they taste better that way.

 

Min

[5LittleMonkeys]

I make my dough in my bread machine and then take it out and form it into loaves, rolls or whatever shape is best for the type of bread I've made (foccacia, italian, french, challah..). The exception to that is when I just make regular wheat or white bread. I make all my quick breads (banana, zuchinni...) by hand and bake in the oven. I have a stand mixer that has bread hooks that I could use but its easier just to throw all the ingredients into my bread machine and hit the start button then I can walk away until it beeps.

[Marylou]

www.pleasanthillgrain.com

 

I bought a Bosch this year. It kneads the bread for me. Love. it.

[eaglei]

My bread machine was a gift and I really appreciated it as we were (and continue to be) inundated with life issues that really put a dent in time. I am so glad for that machine!

 

I generally let the dough knead and raise in the bread machine, then remove it, shape the loaves myself, place in pans, do final rising, and bake in the oven. Two good results of this are that the bread tastes better (in my opinion) and, I get two nice-sized loaves instead of one. I use regular flour and it's just fine.

[RoughCollie]

I use bread flour and whole wheat flour for regular bread. For pumpkin and banana breads, I use regular flour.

 

I didn't like using a bread machine, so I gave mine to Salvation Army.

[soonermomma]

Thanks so much for all the info. Does anyone have a great recipe they would like to share for mixing it in my kitchen aid mixer and baking in the oven?

[meggie]

Bread machine. The loaves don't come out as perfect;, the bread machine operates on a timer, it can't poke the dough to see when it's done rising, but it saves me a lot of hassle. It may not look like much, but it's nutritious and better than store-bought

 

ETA: Oops, I use a mix of freshly ground wheat and AP flour

Edited May 13, 2011 by meggie

[alpidarkomama]

I bake lots of bread every week and prefer my Kitchen Aid to do the heavy mixing and then to shape and bake by hand.

[2squared]

For those of you who make homemade bread, do you prefer to use a bread machine or make it by hand and bake it in the oven? I'm considering buying a bread machine, but I have never tried making it by hand. I plan on making quite a bit of bread if that matters. (regular bread, pumpkin, banana, zucchini etc) Also, do you use regular flour or bread flour? Any information is greatly appreciated!

 

My bread machine cost $12 at Goodwill. It is awesome!

 

To answer your questions:

*I only use regular flour.

*Quick breads I mix by hand. I don't see any advantage to having the machine mix for me.

*Breads that rise I use the dough setting in the mixer and then bake in the oven unless I am making bread for french toast, bread crumbs, croutons, etc. That bread I bake in the bread machine since I don't need a nice crust.

 

We love our fresh bread!

[Harriet Vane]

I used bread machines for years and loved it. However, I was frustrated with having to replace it every few years--when you use it as much as we were, this is a factor to consider.

 

We now do Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. It's sooooooo easy, and so tasty, and really quick. We make a bucket of dough that we keep in the frig, and then bake what we want day to day. There is NO kneading or fussing. My TOTAL work on bread for the week (mixing the bucket + daily baking) is roughly half an hour.

[MelissaMom]

I make a loaf every night in my zojirushi. Love this machine! I also use it to make dough for artisan loaves I bake in the oven and pizza dough. Saving

Lots of $$$ here!

[kolamum]

I do both. Sometimes I let the bread machine mix it up and somedays I do it by hand. Either way I usually bake it in the oven unless I set the bread maker to go ahead and cook something while we sleep so we can wake up to a yummy bread. :D {You can bake muffins in there as if they were a sweet bread, can't beat that!}

[IsabelC]

I do it by hand. I find the kneading pleasant - relieves stress and exercises hands - and I feel more virtuous/old-fashioned/homesteady ;)

 

Of course, the above might merely be my way of rationalizing the fact that I couldm't afford a bread-making machine even if I wanted one!

[HLDoll]

I make all of our bread, and bake a couple times a week. I use my stand-mixer for the kneading and bake in the oven. I don't like the shape of the loaves in a bread machine. I've got one sitting in the basement that I haven't used in years.

[Carrie12345]

Bread machine for regular bread and some doughs. I did it by hand for a while, but we go through so much, it got to be a pain.

I use 1/2 bread flour and 1/2 whole wheat.

[fairfarmhand]

I love making bread by hand; it is therapeutic for me to knead and pound.

 

However, I did get a mixer with a dough hook for when I don't feel like making a huge mess.

 

I don't even have a bread machine, so I cannot compare that.

[Tarreymere]

I had a machine that I got at a thrift shop for $5 and I really liked the fact that I could just dump the ingredients into the pan and ignore it. I did not like that fact that I could only make one loaf at a time and it took three hours to complete. I did not like the shape of the loaves. That bread machine broke and I haven't bothered to get another.

 

I make two to four loaves at a time by hand of regular bread, so I bake bread less often and always have some on hand. With the machine sometimes the kids would eat an entire loaf before the next loaf was finished and we would be totally out of bread. I had to run the stupid bread machine twice a day for three hours each loaf and still didn't always have bread on hand. It is just easier to make four loaves by hand all at once, even if I have to do it pretty much every day.

 

If I could buy anything I would buy a good stand mixer for kneading. One of these years I will put my foot down and insist on one.

 

I bake the quick breads in the oven anyway, never did use a bread machine for those.

[Amy1k]

Artisan Bread in Five! I made three loaves once a week for sandwiches...and a batch for pizza/calzones/whatever about every two weeks.

[Ellie]

I make the dough in my Bosch (after milling the flour in my Whisper Mill). If I do the dough by hand, it makes really good pizza crust, lol. Apparently I don't have enough strength in my hands to knead properly or something.

[BlsdMama]

For those of you who make homemade bread, do you prefer to use a bread machine or make it by hand and bake it in the oven? I'm considering buying a bread machine, but I have never tried making it by hand. I plan on making quite a bit of bread if that matters. (regular bread, pumpkin, banana, zucchini etc) Also, do you use regular flour or bread flour? Any information is greatly appreciated!

 

ALWAYS by hand now.

 

I use unbleached AP mixed with fresh ground wheat and flaxmeal and sometimes ground oat.

 

The reason I make it by hand is because I can make much bigger batches, I hate clutter, and I don't want to clean the machine.

 

You make one loaf in the bread machine.

I make six by hand per batch. A bread machine just REALLY doesn't make sense for us. Plus it's just ONE more kitchen gadget...

[2squared]

You make one loaf in the bread machine.

I make six by hand per batch. A bread machine just REALLY doesn't make sense for us. Plus it's just ONE more kitchen gadget...

 

We are almost to this point. I average one loaf/day in my bread machine. I like the dump-and-forget-about-it part of the bread machine, but like you said, our family size is outgrowing our machine size. I have to run two batches for pizza dough when we have homemade pizza.

[Dawn in OH]

I make my bread by hand. I hated my bread machine. I gave it away when we moved from FL to OH.

 

The nice thing about making the bread by hand is that you can make multiple loaves at one time. I can fit about four sandwich sized loaves in my oven (maybe more, but I only have 4 loaf pans).

[MamaSheep]

I gave away my bread machine too. The loaf shape didn't make for good bread slices, it was sometimes a pain to clean, and it took up too much kitchen space for the amount of work it was (not) doing.

 

I'm fast becoming a fan of the Artisan Bread in 5 method too, though I wish I had more fridge space.

 

Bread flour has a higher gluten content, which means it has a little more protein, but also that it makes for a stretchier dough, which rises a little better, especially at high altitudes. I like bread flour best for yeast breads, but I have no beef with all-purpose either, and use it when I have no bread flour. My loaves don't raise quite as nicely, but it certainly does the job, and it's not so significantly much more dense that my family has ever complained.

 

All-purpose works better for quickbreads, though. These are the ones that use baking powder as the rising agent instead of yeast. In those kinds of bread the extra gluten content can make the breads ever so very slightly more tough and less fluffy. But again, bread flour makes a perfectly edible quick bread, and mostly you wouldn't notice much difference. (Some changes occur in the gluten during the time it's kneaded and/or rising with the yeast, but I'm not chemist enough to explain them. Just know that the processes in making quickbreads don't allow the same changes to occur, so the gluten is in a slightly different state in a yeast bread than in a quickbread, and it affects the texture of the bread.)

[Eleni]

By hand.

It tastes better, and it really does not take that much time. Plus it is a form of stress release for me.

[MIch elle]

 

 

I make it in the morning and let it rise a min. of 2 hrs on the counter (more the better) and make all 4 loaves that afternoon. It's the BEST bread I've ever made!

[Ellesmere]

If you are using a Kitchen Aid, this is one of the first recipes I ever used:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/white-sandwich-bread-recipe

 

I use several different ones now and make no-knead bread most weeks.

 

To the left (on the webpage), under yeast breads and rolls, you can find a lot of other recipes. They have ones for whole grain, sweet breads, rolls, gluten free, and more. You can call their free hotline and troubleshoot with them, too. I've even emailed them pictures of things that didn't turn out right and they helped me.

 

This blog entry from their site also talks about baking bread. I started out always using our mixer. I got a machine as a gift and I use it for just the dough kneading and rising, always oven-baking. I use the machine for pizza dough, jams, desserts, and bread doughs, so it is worth the space for us ... but we have to do a lot from scratch. Using a mixer is great and a lot of my recipes give instructions for that method.

 

Enjoy whatever you end up doing! I never thought I could make bread and now I can't imagine not doing it!

Edited May 13, 2011 by Clairelise
clarification

[soonermomma]

Well, I made bread for the first time tonight and it turned out WONDERFUL! I used my mixer and then baked in the oven and I was amazed at how easy it was. Thanks again for all the info!

[gaillardia]

I generally make my dough in the bread machine and then bake it in the oven. I don't like the way the loaves come out when baked in the machine. They're just kind of unwieldy.

:iagree:Dh does this. ;) He lets the dough rise in a warm oven then bakes it in the oven. I don't like the way the bread machine bakes it either.

[BlsdMama]

We are almost to this point. I average one loaf/day in my bread machine. I like the dump-and-forget-about-it part of the bread machine, but like you said, our family size is outgrowing our machine size.

 

OT: Jay's Pizza Crust off of AllRecipes & you won't need a pizza dough recipe that needs a breadmaker. Best pizza dough ever. :)

 

For large families, you can find these:

http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-Inch-Nonstick-Bread-Pan/dp/B000SSS4CA

 

(They make more than one loaf per pan.)

[2squared]

OT: Jay's Pizza Crust off of AllRecipes & you won't need a pizza dough recipe that needs a breadmaker. Best pizza dough ever.

 

I'll have to try your pizza dough and see if it rivals our fabulous dough. My dh is convinced I could sell my pizzas, but he's probably a little biased. :) We'll have to have a cook-off this week!

 

Oh, our pizza dough doesn't need a bread machine. I just like to use the machine. I really like to dump ingredients and walk away. I'm lazy.

 

We use this focaccia bread recipe from AllRecipes for our pizza crust and for regular and cheese breadsticks. I also use the seasoning combination in my Italian bread.