I took on this breadmaking hobby a few months ago. And, as per usual, "what else is out there" got to me. Last one was the Cuisinart Convection unit. Makes nice loafs, Great recipe book.
BUT
What a difference:
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Damn, I was going to ask if it makes coffee too. Then I noticed that they have coffee makers and sesame seed grinders. Have you ever needed a sesame seed grinder?
The breadmaker cooks meatloafs and makes jam. I am certain that it is versatile enough to do something illegal with it.
And the scariest thing of all?? No Price. You know it is expensive when they won't even tell you how much it costs. I guess if I don't know, I can't afford it.
We had a "BreadMan", or something like that and really enjoyed it, before the element started going. Coming home to goo-bread wasn't much fun. We then replaced it with a Cuisinart (the only other machine we could find), which apparently makes goo-bread by design. Evidently bread makers are passe, so haven't replaced it. SWMBO just buys specialty bread from Panera now.
At $235 from Amazon isn't exactly FesteringTool country. That's about the price of a 106" hunk of Festering metal. If the bread machine works as well as our old BreadMan it would be well worth that. The Cuisinart can go to the dump. That was a lot of money wasted.
Robatoy wrote in news:7b5b4d94-f6d9-451b-962d- snipped-for-privacy@j8g2000yqd.googlegroups.com:
We've had one for about a year - makes the previous unit look like an Easy- Bake Oven. Buy good quality, only cry once.
Scott
About $250 Here's one:
Indeed. Of course, now I am eyeing the 10 qt induction heated pressure rice cooker. I mean, a "Gaba Brown Rice" setting? That's worth a couple of hundred bucks right there! UNDER 400 smackeroonies, no less.
How does it do on making pizza dough?
Upscale wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
We use ours for pizza dough more often than anything else - it makes superior pizza and foccacia... mmm.
I used this one for a few years when the bread machines were the rage about 10-15 years ago:
In a year of total indulgence, I bought a sack of bread flour from Sam's, as well as 3 pounds of yeast. It was about the same price at Sam's for bulk as it was nickel and diming those ingredients from the grocery. We had fresh bread constantly, and I experimented for about
5 years or so with all kinds of recipes only to find there is no such thing as "bad" fresh, warm bread.We also put on several pounds apiece. The bread machine is now in the garage. It is too much temptation for us. The smell of fresh bread, garlic breadsticks, foccacia etc., in the house let us know just how weak we are.
I realized I had gone over the cliff when I found an old recipe to make a "workman's loaf" that was bread dough wrapped around chunks of ham and cheese, then baked altogether.
The idea was that loaf would cook around the meat and cheese, and they would stay out of the air (bacteria) and be safe to eat at the workman's lunch break.
I found I could eat a 1# loaf of that at one sitting when it was warm...
Brushed with garlic olive oil and browned in the oven before serving made it too much to resist...
Robert
You are a bad person. Now I want some foccacia, drizzled with some EV and fresh rosemary. I wasn't hungry till I read your post. You are a bad person.
Very bad.
Horrid!
Damn I'm hungry ...
Truly and thoroughly disgusting!!!
Luigi
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That's yak urine.
That's yak urine.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, yet another source of Oil!!
LMAO.... I grow our rosemary, parsley, etc. that we use and it is always ready to go.
Try this in your new Cadillac machine. It is a classic white Italian, made to be sliced, brushed with your favorite infused oil, and toasted under the broiler. I have literally made this a few hundred times as it wound up being a favorite for us, but for family when we have everyone over around the holidays.
It is an easy, basic, peasant style bread.
Out of the pan it has a great crumb, and real bread flour and gluten make it have a slightly nutty taste. Out of the oven for 30 minutes, Kathy and I have eaten 1/2 a loaf with butter.
water - 1 1/8 to 1/1/4 cups olive oil - 1 1/2 tablespoons salt (a must) - 1 teaspoon bread flour - 3 cups wheat gluten - 3 tablespoons active (instant breadmaker type) yeast - 1 1/2 teaspoons
The wheat gluten (or vital wheat gluten) makes the bread have an excellent texture and great crust. Bake it on the french bread cycle as it will need to warm a bit on the rising cycle to get the benefit of the added gluten. You will get a 1 1/2 pound loaf. This dough also makes great soft breadsticks.
I have made rolls from this dough as well. I work rosemary in the top of the rolls before baking, and some parmesan. Sometimes just parmesan. Most of it flashes off, but it looks great on the roll tops.
May I humbly suggest the vaunted bible of the bread machine, "More Bread Machine Magic" by Rehberg and Conway. I bought several books at the used book store, but as suggested to me on a now defunct baking forum, this IS the one to have.
Congrats on the Zo. They don't come better than that one. The reason I didn't get one when I was hunting was that the Zo machines were $399, and the Breadman machine I got was rated as high for most uses (versatility and hard doughs go to the Zo) and it as $149 as a promo on Amazon. I admit, still a bit of lust in my heart for a double paddle machine....
Robert
On Sat, 3 Jul 2010 17:46:26 -0700 (PDT), Luigi Zanasi wrote the following:
I didn't think so. Of course, I was eating my Anytime Gourmet Rosemary Chicken at the time I read that, so...
-- It's also helpful to realize that this very body that we have, that's sitting right here right now, with its aches and its pleasures, is exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, fully alive. -- Pema Chodron
On Sat, 3 Jul 2010 18:25:02 -0700 (PDT), Robatoy wrote the following:
Next time, break out the mortar and pestle and grind your rosemary so you don't have Lip & Gum Needle-Puncture Syndrome after eating the bloody bread, eh? (Or mix it with the liquid in a blender before inserting into the recipe.)
-- It's also helpful to realize that this very body that we have, that's sitting right here right now, with its aches and its pleasures, is exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, fully alive. -- Pema Chodron
I am assuming you rasp (on course of course) your own Parm. That gives a wonderful look to a bun. My 'cheese pusher' owns a wonderful deli and is a down-to-core Italian. He's explained all the different parmeseans to me. I often mix romanos with parms for 'dial-in' saltiness. (Too bad his team didn't make in the World Cup...NOT..)
The dual paddle pulls the dough and compresses it like a hand kneading. The texture is so much better with the Zo, even if you compare the same recipes.
I will try your french.... the recipe looks really familiar.
Hint: Don't try to measure out ingredients between phone-calls (damned cell-phones) as a double dose of sugar (cane) and yeast makes for a very sticky mess. (The loaf pushed the door open trying to leave)
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