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| Author |
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| 25 new of 66 responses total. |
keesan
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response 17 of 66:
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Nov 15 14:13 UTC 2001 |
Ours does not have a display. Jim made bread the usual way yesterday since
he was at his house and the bread machine was at my apartment. Maybe we will
try it today or tomorrow but we got sidetracked trying to make a 386 board
accept a 486 cpu (it goes in but does not run despite setting jumpers as
instructed). I have an electric 'natural oven' which means that there is
insulation on the outside of the heating element so it requires very little
heat. I have used it to bake potatoes, and the metal inner pot can also be
used for boiling things. I have a long narrow version for baking bread
(probably intented for turkeys). It takes a while to come to temperature as
it is low wattage compared to a stove. You can close off the vent hole which
makes bread with a crustier crust. I have one with a dial thermostat, and
another where you can switch between three heat settings by plugging the plug
in three different ways (four prongs stick out of the oven itself). This
apparently changes the wattage somehow.
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i
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response 18 of 66:
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Nov 17 01:15 UTC 2001 |
Re: #16
That's the text that the book gives for when the machine's little
display is "E:02", flashing on & off.
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md
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response 19 of 66:
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Nov 17 16:59 UTC 2001 |
We have a bread machine with the Williams-Sonoma brand name on it, but
I don't know who the real manufacturer is. We use it all the time. We
also have an electric can-opener, two electric frying pans, and
electric wok, an electric casserole thingie, an electric carving knife,
an electric sandwich griller, an off-brand (non-George-Forman) fat-
removing grilling device, a couple of mixers and food-processors,
a "salad shooter" that I've never figured out, a JuiceMan juice
extractor, an electric citrus juicer, two coffee makers, an iced tea
maker, a coffee mill, a small U-Line fridge and a U-Line ice-maker
under the bar, two microwaves, a Waring blender, and probably other
things I'm forgetting. When I started making this list I had no idea
we had all that stuff. Some Thoreauvian.
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keesan
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response 20 of 66:
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Nov 17 19:40 UTC 2001 |
A whole army of electric servants? We gave away my mother's and grandmothers
electric can opener and knife and waffle iron and mixer.
The bread machine we have took 2 hours 15 minutes. It mixed up our flour and
water into not one but two little balls of dough, so I unplugged it and took
the dough out and kneaded it by handed into one big ball. I then watched it
'kneading', which involves slamming the ball against the side of the pot for
about 20 minutes. A short rise, then it baked on medium and overbaked. It
half-filled the pot (possibly because I forgot to put in 85 degree water) and
came out like a very hard slightly burnt roll. Next time I will try Light.
It was also a lot tougher than hand-made bread and a bit dry.
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glenda
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response 21 of 66:
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Nov 17 20:11 UTC 2001 |
Which may be the reason that you got it so cheap. If the dough split into
pieces rather than one big ball you didn't put in enough liquid, which is also
why the bread turned out tough and dry.
The rise time on my machine is 60 minutes. If yours is shorted than that the
timer may be bad as well.
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glenda
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response 22 of 66:
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Nov 17 20:14 UTC 2001 |
These are reasons why I don't buy electronics at place like Kiawonas. I buy
them new from stores with return policies. Buying used appliances is a bit
like buying used cars. They can be ok and work fine, but more often then I
like you are just buying someone else's problems that they felt too quilty
about or were too cheap to pay the price of throwing away before they bought
new, working units.
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i
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response 23 of 66:
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Nov 18 01:50 UTC 2001 |
Bread machines always require you to make a few loaves, watching things
and fiddling with the recipe, before they'll do it right automatically.
(Sometimes more than a few loaves...) The machine has no sense of how
the bread's working out, nor judgement nor ability to make any corrections
as a human baker could. Once you've got everything right, though, it can
mindless crank out endless consistent good results. (Somewhat like a
computer program that way...)
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keesan
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response 24 of 66:
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Nov 18 03:42 UTC 2001 |
The machine says it is supposed to take 2 hours 15 minutes and it did.
This seems rather short to me but it did what it said it would.
I will try more water, and warmer water. Since we don't know whether we even
want to own a bread machine, $10 seems like a better amount to risk (they said
I could bring it back if it did not work) than $100 or whatever the new ones
go for. I think I prefer the hand-kneaded double-rise bread we make but this
was interesting and we will try a few more times to get it better.
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glenda
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response 25 of 66:
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Nov 18 18:35 UTC 2001 |
If I have time, I let the machine go through the mixing, first kneading and
rising then either take the dough out to hand knead and rise again or restart
the dough cycle to go through the kneading and rising again before hand
shaping and baking. The only reason I bake in the oven is that most bread
in this house is used for sandwiches and the machine leaves a nice hole in
the bottom of the loaf where the mixing paddle is. I really don't like it
when the filling falls out.
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keesan
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response 26 of 66:
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Nov 19 16:57 UTC 2001 |
Jim is making another batch of bread. 2.5 cups flour 7/8 cup water (a bit
more water than before) and warm this time. He reports that the dough again
formed two balls but after a while they coalesced into one. Light instead
of medium this time. What is the most flour a 1 pound bread maker can
actually mix? We suspect the whole grain flour is not going to rise enough
to fill the pan even with warm water - maybe more yeast is needed because of
the relatively short rise for this machine? I suppose we could add a bit of
honey to accelerate the process.
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i
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response 27 of 66:
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Nov 20 04:06 UTC 2001 |
Every bread machine recipe i've even seen had some sugary stuff added.
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keesan
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response 28 of 66:
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Nov 20 15:09 UTC 2001 |
Our friend who makes successful whole wheat bread says his machine has a 3
hour or a 5 hour whole wheat cycle. Ours does not. He uses 2 1/4 cups flour,
1 cup water (more than we used) and some honey (to speed up yeast
reproduction) and gluten (to make sure it rises higher as the bread machine
probably does not knead as well as hands and kneading develops gluten). He
also said we could take the dough out after kneading, let it rise a few times
in a warm place and bake it in the oven. By that point we may as well make
a larger recipe and knead it by hand. I might mix the yeast, water, and honey
half an hour before starting the machine to give them a head start.
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gracel
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response 29 of 66:
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Nov 22 18:08 UTC 2001 |
Appliance that I think we forgot to mention is the crockpot -- we use it maybe
once a month, to cook my pot roast (no vegetables, just meat).
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keesan
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response 30 of 66:
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Nov 23 00:48 UTC 2001 |
My mother did hers in the pressure cooker with potatoes and carrots - this
is all she used the pressure cooker for.
We made bread this time with warm water, honey and yeast dissolved in the
water before adding on top of the flour, but no gluten, machine set to Light.
This gave us a full half loaf of unburnt bread. Is there some reason we
cannot double the flour, or at least use 3 cups and the medium cycle?
Jim thinks the keep warm cycle is so that the bread will not get soggy before
you remember to take it out.
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md
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response 31 of 66:
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Nov 23 13:16 UTC 2001 |
Forgot to mention the crockpot.
Apropos bread machines: Ours has a small vented compartment in which
you can throw extras such as candied fruit. We've never used it, but I
once made the mistake of putting my nose right over the vent slots in
order to smell that nice rising-bread smell during the rising cycle and
got a snootful of some weapons-grade yeast gas. Unbelievably painful.
What *is* that stuff?
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i
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response 32 of 66:
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Nov 23 15:24 UTC 2001 |
Yeast gas??? Could be CO2 - was the pain similar to burping through your
nose after drinking carbonated beverages?
Bread machines have fairly definite limits on how much dough (roughly
measured by cups of flour in same) they can handle. Experiment with care.
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keesan
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response 33 of 66:
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Nov 23 17:21 UTC 2001 |
The fruit dispenser sounds like a bleach dispenser.
We will try increasing 1/4 cup at a time. What is the symptom of overload?
2.25 cups produces a loaf half as large as the pan (not half the size of a
regular loaf as the pan is only a half-loaf size).
I suppose we could also mix all the ingredients together by hand and let them
sit for an hour before turning on the machine so it would rise more, but then
why use the machine at all? I suspect this one is simply not clever enough
to make whole grain bread.
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orinoco
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response 34 of 66:
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Nov 24 19:39 UTC 2001 |
"Yeast gas" might also have some alcohol vapor; doesn't yeast produce alcohol
as a waste product? A hot shot of alcohol up the nose would be painful
enough.
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keesan
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response 35 of 66:
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Nov 24 21:20 UTC 2001 |
Jim says this time he put in 2.5 cups flour, and more water, and then he
'threw in breakfast' - so we will have oatmeal bread if it works.
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scott
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response 36 of 66:
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Nov 24 21:38 UTC 2001 |
I don't think there could be enough alcohol directly from yeast to cause
somebody an inhilation problem, but maybe we're dealing with a hypersensitive
nose here. Yeast can live in up to 14-15% alcohol (winemaking), but beyond
that you gotta distill.
Here's my usual 1 pound white bread recipe for my Panasonic bread machine:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon dried milk powder
1 tablespoon oil (I dribble roughly that much olive oil in)
1 cup water
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md
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response 37 of 66:
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Nov 25 14:05 UTC 2001 |
If my nose is hypersensitive it must run in the family, no pun
intended. When I cautioned my son not to get his nose too close to the
vent he promptly gave the vent a big sniff and five seconds later he
clutched his face and doubled over in nose-agony. Whereupon my wife
decided to see what the menfolk were carrying on about and despite our
shouted warnings she too suffered the fate. I guess nasal
hypersentsitivity is not the only thing that runs in the family,
although in our defense I must say you wouldn't believe something that
painful could come from a bread machine no matter how many warnings are
shouted at you.
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i
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response 38 of 66:
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Nov 27 00:02 UTC 2001 |
Re: #33
Ask Jim about overload. (Depending on the design of the machine, it could
be anything from poor mixing of the dough to excessive wear on the moving
parts to the motor burning out.)
Also, you can get a longer cycle with some machines by pulling the plug
some time into their cycle, then restarting later (perhaps after the thing
forgot where it was, maybe restarting a different cycle). If & how this'll
work depends on details of your machine & recipe (probably take lots of
experimenting).
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keesan
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response 39 of 66:
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Nov 27 03:46 UTC 2001 |
I think this one starts all over if you unplug it. We only wanted to let it
rise longer, not knead it again (which would make it smaller again). A 2 1/4
hour cycle probably works for white bread. The dough mixes ok but it simply
does not have long enough to rise. It also does not seem to keep the rising
dough warm and the kitchen is not all that warm now.
The machine is a lot quicker to clean up than a bowl and spoon and pan.
Non-stick coatings are better than the Teflon my mother used to use.
It is not a good idea to add leftover wet oatmeal to a bread recipe - the
machine does not seem to overheat, but you get bread pudding.
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keesan
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response 40 of 66:
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Nov 28 23:43 UTC 2001 |
Today while biking home Jim found another Welbilt bread machine which differs
from mine in having a 12 hour timer and a little LED screen instead of lights
for setting the baking time. It also differs in missing its blade. A couple
hours of searching found me a site that sells these blades for $10-20
depending on the model. Kiwanis sells the same machine complete for that.
So we will wait until one of our machines wears out and transfer the blade.
The machines are about $90 new, I read. They are popular among people with
celiac disease who make gluten-free bread by adding eggs and xantham gum to
potato starch and rice and chickpea flour. And who feel stigmatized by having
to eat round instead of square sandwiches, believe it or not. Someone else
wrote in that the 2 pound loaf was too large but you could freeze half.
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scott
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response 41 of 66:
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Nov 29 01:01 UTC 2001 |
What was the website, Sindi? I still need a belt for my Panasonic.
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