Are bread machine mixes any good? Yes, some of them are, but the problem with all bread machine mixes is that they limit your choice and discourage your creative talents. That may sound a little harsh, but think about it for a minute. If you rely on bread machine mixes you can only make the bread for which you can find a bread machine mix and you can only put the bread machine mix in the bowl and switch the bread making machine on. You are not encouraged to alter the bread machine mix for fear that it won’t work.
What is the alternative? Well, the old-fashioned cookbook, of course! Not any old cookbook, but a specialized bread making machine recipe book. Bread making is a very simple, but rather tedious process. The ingredients are everyday, household items: water, flour, yeast, salt, sugar and oil. You already have those items in your cupboard with the possible exception of the yeast, which can be bought everywhere at low cost.
And I’m sure you already know what happens when you follow a recipe, don’t you? You’ve read the recipe through and you know you have everything in the cupboard, but when the recipe requires, let’s say, sultanas, you open the cupboard door and see that you don’t have any sultanas – they were currants! Oh, well you think, they’ll do. You make do. You experiment. And that means that you are developing your skills and creativity. Bread making mixes cannot and will not do that for you.
A good bread making machine recipe book will have well over 100 recipes originating from a number of different countries and you will get really enthusiastic about trying out the different ones. Have you ever tried Welsh bread – Bara Brith? Or Amish bread? Jalapeno bread or onion bread? Cranberry bread is lovely too, but one of my favourites is Brazil Nut Bread – absolutely scrumptious.
The fact is that you may not find recipes for all these breads in one recipe book, but if you have a safe starting point, like a bread recipe cookbook, you can begin by using previously tried and tested gourmet bread recipes and gradually develop your own – oftentimes because you have to.
I once made a fantastic loaf by adding all the left-over vegetables from my Sunday lunch. It was lovely, but I could never quite reproduce it, because I did not write down the weights and measures. I could only remember that it had green beans, potatoes and sweet corn in it!
Bread machine mixes will never in a million years give you that, will they? And bread machine mixes are fairly expensive compared to the cost of 10 pounds. I always vary the ingredients too: honey instead of sugar, milk instead of water, olive oil or butter instead of just corn oil. Rock salt instead of sea salt or visa versa. I’m sure you see what I mean.
Bread machine mixes are not only limited but limiting too. Furthermore a bread making machine is a great way to use up leftovers. I have often put meat and fruit in my gourmet bread. My guiding principle is: if it’ll go in a sandwich it’ll go in the dough – like an Indian stuffed paratha or stuffed naan bread.
Stop buying bread machine mixes – they are a waste of money. Instead be creative with a bread machine recipes cookbook.
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Tags: appliances, bread, cooking, diet, family, food, gourmet, guides, how to, international, kitchen, machines, other, recipes, Uncategorized
