Morphy Richards 48280

The Art of Acquiring Unwanted Machinery

I love home-made bread. There’s something about the smell of brad proving over a warm oven that comforts and calms. It’s a smell which also has the function of making me incredibly hungry – don’t know about you, but I’m sure that’s why the big supermarkets stream the isles with bakery smells, just to make you feel hungry and buy more food as a result!

In my opinion, there is nothing ...
...nutty bits and a thick, dark crust, and a bowl of hot, steamy soup. The flavour isn’t important, but the ritual of dunking bread you’ve made into soup you’ve made, and relishing those flavours and that sensation of having worked hard to make it all is just the best thing ever, in culinary terms.

Himself and I recently visited Newcastle’s Green Festival, where lots of earth conscious folk get together and have a lovely weekend in the ... more

The Art of Acquiring Unwanted Machinery

I love home-made bread. There’s something about the smell of brad proving over a warm oven that comforts and calms. It’s a smell which also has the function of making me incredibly hungry – don’t know about you, but I’m sure that’s why the big supermarkets stream the isles with bakery smells, just to make you feel hungry and buy more food as a result!

In my opinion, there is nothing better than a slice of freshly cooked bread, preferably with nutty bits and a thick, dark crust, and a bowl of hot, steamy soup. The flavour isn’t important, but the ritual of dunking bread you’ve made into soup you’ve made, and relishing those flavours and that sensation of having worked hard to make it all is just the best thing ever, in culinary terms.

Himself and I recently visited Newcastle’s Green Festival, where lots of earth conscious folk get together and have a lovely weekend in the sunshine in the park. One of the discussions we got involved in was about consumerism, and how we all buy so much stuff that we don’t need, or that breaks within a year and needs replacing.

I thought quite a bit about this on the day, and realised that actually, contrary to my original belief, we don’t buy an awful lot of stuff. We seem to acquire it, slowly and gently. My wine making kit – all of it – can from an uncle who got it from a mate who’d bought too much for his needs. Most of the stuff for the baby is coming from my sister and friends – second hand (and sometimes third hand) stuff that’s all been used before but will do perfectly well for me and mine.

And then I thought of the bread machine (hence this review!) – mum bought it for my sister’s husband who then developed an allergy to gluten or wheat or something – so it came to me. When (IF!!!) I’m done with it, mum will probably have a go, and maybe, the bread machine will become a family pass-a-bout, serving the needs of whomever needs it at the time! I like the idea of rejecting the consumerist pull to buy, buy, buy, and to recycle and re-home all this “stuff” we think we can’t live without!

The Machine

So, what about this wondrous re-homed machine? Well, it is very fancy and beautiful, in a functional sort of way. And large. Very large. Mine lives out in the garage on top of the tumble drier that we never use and should probably free-cycle, until it’s needed, and then it comes into the kitchen and sits on a bench. Takes up the whole bench, but looks the part, so I let it off. It is, after all, only a simple bread machine!

White, with a easy to view panel at the front that has all the settings, and a lift-up lid on the top, which also has a viewing window for all you curious cats out there who, like me, like to be able to see what’s going on in there.

There are cleverly designed air vents in the sides of the machine and the lid, so that the steam can escape. I wouldn’t recommend leaning over these when the machine is running, as they get rather…well…warm!
Inside the machine you have a metal, non-stick pan with a handle at the top and a kneading blade at the bottom. It’s easy to lift in and out of the machine, though again, gets quite hot, so use a hand towel to retrieve it after baking has finished.

The machine will make either a 1.5lb or a 2lb loaf, depending on the recipe you use, and can also be used to make different types of dough (for example pizza dough), jams, cakes and fruit loafs.

The panel on the front of the machine gives you the 12 settings and these are:

Basic white
French
Whole-wheat
Quick
Sweet
Fastbake I
Fastbake II
Dough
Jam
Cake
Sandwich
Extra bake

The one I use most frequently is the Fastbake II option, which means you can bake a 2lb loaf in less than an hour. The other setting I use is the one for dough, which allows me to make a mean pizza dough – though it does take an hour and a half.

The machine has other functions, like a timer, for if you want the baking process to start later (like for fresh bread in the morning…Mmmmm!) and a beeper, to alert you to the program finishing (and your newly baked loaf!).

The Method

Making your bread is as easy as pie. If you’re using measured ingredients, just follow the recipes in the booklet you get with your bread maker and you can’t go wrong (unless you make it up as you go along, see the section on guesswork below…!)
If you’re using a packet of ready to rock and roll bread makings, which you can buy in the shops for less than a pound, then just follow the instructions on the back of the packet. The general rule is to put the wet ingredients in first, then the dry, but this is one rule I never seem to remember about and it hasn’t seemed to make much of a difference to my loaf making capabilities.

Uncle Brian’s kiwi bread…and other novel stories.

My Uncle Brian is a bit of a genius. Well, he’s certainly not afraid to try new things and experiment a little, particularly when it comes to making odd shaped/coloured breads in his bread machine. His most recent triumph has been his raisin and walnut bread, which is divine, and I think he was talking about a cheesy type bread the other day which reminds me I must ask for the recipe. His most unusual inclusion to date has been kiwi fruit, which made for a wonderfully green bread, sweet, and as far as his wife was concerned, completely and utterly foul. But each to their own, eh?!!!

A Recipe of Greatness…

My most favourite use of my bread machine at the moment is to use it to make a very delicious pizza dough. Using the recipe below, you will get dough that comes out stretchy, pliable and silky smooth. And when it’s cooked, is as crisp and tasty as though you were sitting in a tiny back street café bar off Via Sistina in Rome…

1 cup water
1 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 ¾ cups flour (I use normal plain flour, not bread flour…)
1 tsp fast action yeast

Put all ingredients into the pan, pop down the lid and hit button number 8 to make the dough. When the dough is ready, take it out and divide into four equal pieces. Take each piece in your hands, (one at a time), and pull and stretch till the piece looks flat and as near as possible to round as you can get it. Sometimes I cheat when I’m not feeling strong and use a rolling pin to help me, but the idea is to get the dough as thin and round as you can. Grease a pizza tray, pop it on and throw it in the oven for about 5 minutes on gas mark 8.

When it is just starting to colour, take it out and let it cool. Do the same with the others and then you have four part baked pizza bases which you can either use all at once, or freeze until needed. Obviously if you want mini pizzas for the kids, cut your dough into smaller pieces. With some home-made tomato sauce (tinned tomatoes, onions and whatever else you fancy, boiled up with some olive oil, a teaspoon of sugar and some Italian herbs till it’s thick) and some mozzarella cheese sprinkled over the top, you have yourself a fantastic, quick, and non chemical laden meal waiting for you. Yummy! Isn’t it great knowing EXACTLY what’s in your food?!!!!

Thoughts About Not Guesstimating…

Basically, my advise is to not estimate at all. I’m terrible for doing this in all other culinary areas, and I’m always throwing a little bit of this and an extra bit of that into the pot just to see how it will turn out. Don’t be tempted to do this with bread making because you will fail miserably. I know. I did. And now that I’ve learned my lesson, I follow the instructions, and am never tempted to make up my own. It’s true that bread making is very scientific. If you make it up, the chemistry gets skew whiff, and it will all go terribly wrong. Honest!

Ease of Use

As bread machines go, it’s the only one I’ve had experience of, but I have to say it’s very easy to use. The instructions are clear, the display panel is very easy to navigate and the bit I like best is how easy it is to clean the mixing pan. I give it a full ten out of ten for making my life a little bit easier!

Where to Buy and How Much to Pay

Well, as this was acquired in the aforementioned way, I’ve had to look it up. Most department stores will sell these types of model, and you can buy them new and used on sites like EBay relatively cheaply. Standard retail price is around the £45.00 mark, though it really will depend where you shop as to what you actually pay. Try Freecycle – you never know your luck, you might get one for nowt!

What I Think

I have to say this first – I’ve been making bread for years – not every day or every week, but I know how, and to be completely fair, if I hadn’t been given this machine I would never have gone out and spend hard earned cash on one. I don’t mind the whole elbow grease requirement of actually kneading the dough myself. It’s quite therapeutic, really. But having one means that I can multi-task, and that’s something I like to do. Getting the very most out of every day feels great, and there’s nothing better than having a pan of broth bubbling away into gorgeousness, a machine full of bread makings doing it’s thing, and the time not only to tidy up the dishes I’m made while preparing everything, but to sit down with a nice cup of tea and a magazine while everything else just gets on with the business of being made.

I think I’ll appreciate it even more once the baby arrives, and I can make good wholesome bread every day without having to spend more than 5 minutes measuring the ingredients and hitting the relevant buttons. I like the idea of making organic, wholegrain bread and knowing exactly what’s gone into it, for when the baby is old enough for toast fingers and cheese sandwiches. I’m getting ahead of myself really, but it’s nice to think ahead to my little one’s future nutrition. I can thoroughly recommend this machine to anyone, whether you have wee ones or not, and think it’s a great idea that we all start paying more attention to what goes into our daily bread, and being more in control of it all by simply making our own!

Thank you for reading, happy bread-making! Kate x 

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