bread machine scrap - any dough mixers out there?

Not that I know of. But if anyone would like to tell me otherwise... :-)

Would be great if I could just run a program on my PC, connect to breadmaker (USB?) and download new settings.

My fav trivia question - who invented the Kenwood Chef?

Dennis doesn't seem to be able to do that...

I thought your memory was perfect?

I find that the time spent fermenting doesn't have any effect on the flavour at all. As all the by-products, yeast, CO2 and alcohol are the same I don't really see how they could have any effect on the taste either. However it does have an effect on the texture and I find the dough made in the machine is far better than any I have seen made by hand. Just my experience YMMV.

Mr Kenneth Wood from South Croydon?

Fashioned the prototype from parts of a written-off 1936 Morris 8?

Er, no, I thought not. ;-)

I used to make bread by hand before I had a bread machine. I found that if you skimped on the kneeding, you got a loaf with larger bubbles in it, and conversely, kneeding more gives you a loaf with finer texture and smaller bubbles. I saw an open university program on the science behind bread making many years ago and it said this was because you are folding the dough more which results in the finer texture between many smaller bubbles.

In an attempt to make a very fine textured loaf in a bread machine, I fooled it into doing the kneeding phase twice, but it didn't make any difference. The bread machine is

Eek! Not a bad guess, was it?

(without cheating) Ken Wood.

Well done that man!

Second fav trivia question; What was Napoleons first name?

Napoleon?

As in "Napoleon Bonaparte"?

Yo da man!

I used to run quiz nights for the local school PTA. Surprising how many people didn't catch that.

Well, I do try! ;-)

It's a classic trick question.

In message , Man at B&Q writes

Dennis strikes again ...

In message , "dennis@home" writes

so - wife left you too ?

chew some nicorettes - might improve your memory

I didn't cheat, I just guessed ... right.

Only when I did a Google search did I realise that I'd struck lucky. ;-)

My understanding is that it is more related to the stretching of the gluten within the dough: kneading is essentially a stretching process rather than a mixing process. Hence the importance of using strong (high protein) flour and kneading it to make an extended network of protein chains through the dough.

OK, but is it any good for making bread?

Reminds me of my old chap and his antique broom which had 5 new heads and 2 new stales.