Absence from the Forum and my shop.

[Benchwayze]

I thought I'd update. Over the last few months my wife's health has been deteriorating. She was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's, so I am experiencing a 'lifestyle' change of some magnitude.

I'm not complaining mind, but I should advise my friends on this forum, that woodwork is taking a back-seat at the moment. So much so, I am toying with the idea of closing the shop altogether. I am much too busy on the domestic front, and I really find it difficult to get time in the shop.

In connection with my new found kitchen skills, I don't eat bread, but my wife does. I am tired of serving up dry, day-old loaves from Asda et al, or loaves with additives to keep them fresh. So I took the plunge and bought a bread-machine from Lakeland. After two tries I can't get one that works. I had a refund, no probs, and am researching a model that I can rely on. I must have checked out all of the available models, yet they each seem to attract one-star reviews for one reason or another.

I am thinking I might try a Panasonic, but they are said to lace the bread with chips of Teflon from the baking tin!

Any ideas anyone? Or should I buy a Kenwood chef, just to use for kneading. I might be able to make nice meringues for SWIMBO too!

(Yes, I know I would get better results from hand-kneading dough, but I have severe tendinitis in my thumbs, and hand-kneading is OOTQ!

Thanks in anticipation folks!

John

 

[John15]

Very sorry to hear of your wife's bad health John. As you say, when this sort of thing occurs it's life-changing.
Best wishes to you both.

John

 

[morfa]

I'd get a Kenwood chef for the kneading personally. The chef will be more flexible as you've rightly pointed out. I did have a Panasonic bread making machine and it worked well. But these days I have a Kenwood K-Mix (similar to a Chef), which will do the kneading and lots more besides. All the best to you both.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Swmbo bought me an "Andrew James" mixer for xmas - her decision was price based, much as a older Kenwood would have been nice they fetch a lot of money (and she wouldn't have known what she was buying). It's a quite good machine for bread and of course it has other uses. I had a breadmaker, but I found that I got much better results if I turned the dough out and baked in a oven, so when it packed up I didn't replace it. No regrets at all. One advantage of a machine of course is the timer - you can get up to fresh bread, although once you are used to baking the timing is more easily managed - you can refrigerate your dough over night for example. Two good books - Bread Matters by Andrew Whitley and The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown. There is a thread running on "bread" at the moment that might be worth following.
Incidentally, what does the "I" stand for? She Who Must Instantly Be Obeyed?

 

[Doug B]

Sorry to read about your problems John, can't help with the bread in our house you're lucky if there's any bread left, it doesn't have time to go hard.

 

[paulm]

Sorry to hear about your wife John, no surprise you don't have time for much else at the moment.

Our panasonic breadmaker is very decent, haven't had problems with the non-stick coating ourselves. Whichever way you go the bread will be miles better than the shop bought stuff and the smell is great too !

All the best, Paul

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

+1 for both sympathies for your situation and the Panasonic. I've had one for 15 years which ironically gave up the ghost before Xmas so I'm also in the market and wont hesitate to get another Panasonic. No idea about the Teflon thing....mine always tasted good...awfully slippery now I come to think of it mind......

 

[Benchwayze]

Swmbo bought me an "Andrew James" mixer for xmas - her decision was price based, much as a older Kenwood would have been nice they fetch a lot of money (and she wouldn't have known what she was buying). It's a quite good machine for bread and of course it has other uses. I had a breadmaker, but I found that I got much better results if I turned the dough out and baked in a oven, so when it packed up I didn't replace it. No regrets at all. One advantage of a machine of course is the timer - you can get up to fresh bread, although once you are used to baking the timing is more easily managed - you can refrigerate your dough over night for example. Two good books - Bread Matters by Andrew Whitley and The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown. There is a thread running on "bread" at the moment that might be worth following.
Incidentally, what does the "I" stand for? She Who Must Instantly Be Obeyed?

Thanks for the input Phil Yes. I = Instantly. A Split-infinitive, I know, but few seem to care these days! 8)

John.

 

[KevM]

Sorry about your news.

On the breadmaker front we've had a Panasonic for 10-12 years now, yes the blade is pretty chewed up and it's lost some coating, but the pan is fine. I'd put that down to the machine's reliability/longevity rather than a flaw in the coating - it's churned a lot of dough in the last decade!
These days the machine sees much less action as I make 80% of our bread by hand from sourddough, but the machine's still still a keeper for the other 20%!

 

[Benchwayze]

Thanks to all of you.

I have ordered a Panasonic. If this doesn't produce the goods, then I will turn to a good food mixer, capable of kneading dough. I don't envisage using the bread machine every day, as I feel that one loaf will last my wife a couple of days at least. (Plus, I can always cut them in half and freeze one portion.) The model I have can also make Jam I am told, so I look forward to a cream-tea now and then! \/

I appreciate of the response, and thank you for your good wishes, from me and the Missus!

Thanks again.

John

 

[Steve Maskery]

Hi John
I've had two bread machines over the last 20-odd years.

One thing I've found with them is that it matters ENORMOUSLY what flour you use. It even matters what your water is like, it really does. When I moved house all my loaves failed. Same recipe, same flour, same yeast. Different water. The recipes that come with the machine are only a guide. You have to get to know your machine.

The machine might say what flour they recommend for the recipes, typically Allinson's, so if your flour isn't Allinson's it will behave differently.

The most common problem I have is when the loaf rises but then collapses so that it is cratered. This is because the dough is not strong enough, so use more flour, or less water, or use a stronger flour. Look for Strong or Very Strong on the bag.

I have given up trying to get the machine to do everything automatically though. Now I use the Dough cycle first, then, when it has risen to the point I want, I set it to Bake. I've very happy with the end result.

Good luck to you both.
Steve

 

[n0legs]

Well John I am sorry to hear about the wife's poor health, keep your chin up mate and push on through the difficult times.
If you shut your shop, call in here when you can and share in this virtual shop of ours.
Try not to be a stranger, but we'll understand if you can't.

 

[JakeS]

Sorry to hear about your wife's problems!

Regarding bread: we've been making our own on and off for some time. I've used a breakmaker, but there's something weird about the bread it makes - very yeasty, and reducing the yeast resulted in not such a good rise. We use a Kenwood Chef for kneading, which I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone - it's an excellent machine and I'd buy another tomorrow if it was stolen (I don't think it's going to break, it's already survived a drop off the countertop onto tiles with no sign of damage!).

The tips I have for getting really good results with bread, which at least work for us, are:

- Whatever your recipe says, start with these steps: mix half the flour and all of the water together first, leave for fifteen to thirty minutes, then put in the rest of the ingredients - the yeast, the salt, the rest of the flour and anything else you're adding. This first wait allows some chemical change in the flour which makes the dough far more elastic than if you just throw everything together and knead it from the start. The more elastic the dough, the more well it will rise and the more consistent the loaf. I wouldn't think twice about doing this before turning the breadmaker on if I went back to such a machine.

- The best flour we've found that's readily available more or less everywhere is Sainsbury's "Strong White Canadian Bread Flour". Apparently there's a strain of particularly high-gluten flour that's grown in Manitoba and Saskatchewan that makes excellent bread.

If you do end up going back to an oven:

- Get a baking stone - a nice thick slab of something that you stick in your oven and pre-heat and then place your bread on to cook. We leave ours in the oven full-time, but we basically just use our oven for bread, pizza and the occasional cake, so it doesn't bother us there. We have one of these: http://bakerybits.co.uk/bakery-equipmen ... thick.html

- Spray a fine mist of water into your hot oven just before you put the bread in, and then again after a few minutes - then keep it shut and leave the bread to rise. The moisture stops a crust forming on the bread too soon, which means it has more of an opportunity to rise before the crust constrains it.

 

[Peter Sefton]

Sorry I can't offer any advice on the bread maker but I do hope your wife is OK and you manage to get some time in the workshop or a break for yourself. I am sure being a carer must be difficult at times.

Peter

 

[Harbo]

Sorry about your problems John

I've used a Panasonic for years and just follow the instructions - it's pretty foolproof.
I generally make the Ciabatta recipe using strong white flour and olive oil.
Turns out great every time.
You can muck about with extra fermentation times etc but generally I just use the basic setting - put the ingredients in, switch on and remember to go back in 4hrs time!

Rod