It’s Real Bread Maker Week 9-15th May 2011
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Dust of your bread machine for real bread week
Over on Michael’s Green (Living) Review I discovered Real Bread Maker Week which runs from 9th-15th May 2011
The idea is that you dust off your unloved bread machine and use it to bake Real Bread, or pass it on to someone who will.
According to the campaign, there are an estimated 10 million unused bread machines in Britain’s homes.
There are lots of ways for you to get involved, either individually or as a community. Ideas include:
Share tips and recipes with others, preferably using locally produced ingredients
Set up a group or event to help find new homes for second-hand bread machines
Put a bread machine in a communal area for other people to borrow – e.g. student halls, block of flats, staff room or kitchen at work.
Online you can share your Real Bread recipes, stories, tips, pictures, or event ideas with others on their facebook group.
And if you’re looking to acquire or get rid of an old bread machine, then the following organisation may be able to help:
Freecycle
Freegle
Let’s all share
Streetbank
To tempt you to get involved with Real Bread Maker Week the real bread campaign have a fun competition lined up. In order for you to win an American bread slicer from TheCookshopOnline.com and a supply of flour from Marriage’s you have to plug your bread maker in somewhere you usually wouldn’t and take a picture of yourself and machine in action. Email your entry to realbread [@] sustainweb.org
Just don’t try it in the bathroom, eh?
Alas I don’t have a bread maker, I bake by hand and pop it in the oven, so coming up next week I’ll be sharing my favourite recipe for home baked bread…
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I have had a breadmaker for about 10 years – I’m now on my second one after the first one wore out –
and I use it every day.
I have got into the habit of setting it first thing in the morning during my routine of making tea and coffee, feeding cats, emptying dishwasher, making packed lunches etc.
I made sure I bought one with a timer so I can set it to finish at a time that I know I will be around to take the loaf out. I also use it it to make dough for bread buns and pizza bases.
I am so used to using a bread maker, that I now find it more of a hassle to buy bread and buns etc.
I don’t use a breadmaker and have only bought 1 loaf of bread in the last 3 months… And that was Sunday just gone, because I made bread on the bank holiday Friday and it was gone by the Saturday evening!!!
I tend to use Ocado’s recipe for wholemeal bread and it’s yummy! It feels a bit odd using honey, but it’s worth it!
http://www.ocado.com/webshop/recipe/wholemeal-bread/1500?selectedCategories=
This is the recipe that, the first time I made it, my partner went for his midnight snack and woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me how lovely it was and it was the best bread I’ve ever made! 🙂
I am a bit tempted to try a bread-maker (I might keep an eye out on freecycle), but I worry that it’ll just not be as nice… There’s also something calming and stress-relieving in the kneading process… 😉
I use a bread maker and bake by hand. I can’t remember the last time I bought a loaf of bread.
DH will use the bread maker (whereas he wouldn’t bake by hand), even to make rolls, and this stops him nipping to the Co-op to buy bread and coming back with doughnuts and whatever else he spotted too…
I often put it on at night for bread that’s ready when I get up, or put a fruit loaf on to be ready for when the children come home from school (less fat and sugar than cakes all the time).
I also feel it’s more energy efficient if I’m only making one loaf, as although it takes electricity to mix, it’s only heating up the space for that one loaf, rather than a big oven.
But I do like making bread by hand, and I try to batch bake and put rolls etc in the freezer.
I made a delicious Dandelion Bread the other day. We ate it fresh without butter at first and then toasted with butter the next day. I’d seen a recipe and then could only find muffin-type recipes when I looked again, so I made a standard white loaf but replaced some of the water with an egg, added a bit of extra honey and a cup of dandelion petals (no green bits). I wish I tried it earlier in the year as there are hardly any dandelions around now!
Kristen at The Frugal Girl http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/ bakes a lot (no bread machine) and has some great recipes. I use her French bread recipe all the time. Definitely worth a look if you like bread making, or fancy a go.
I use my breadmaker every other day, some times I bake by hand sometimes in the machine, depends how I feel, would’nt dream of buying a loaf if I can help it
I used a breadmaker for 6 months – a Pansonic 253 – it made good bread, but I ended up putting on a good stone in weight – I’d set it last thing to make make a loaf for the morning. But then I’d eat that loaf warm with butter and have to put a second load on for the day…
Anyway, I’m scared to start that business again…but I have started making soda bread…and it’s delicious and amazingly easy…
I started making my own organic stoneground wholewheat bread by hand about 3 years ago, bought a decent bread knife to go with it. 2 months into it and my husband bought me bread machine, panasonic 255. Unfortunately, it makes better bread than me! In 1 hour and 19 minutes I shall have a loaf ready to come, yum, yum.It’s so much cheaper than shop bought. But, I do make the muffins, pizza and doughnuts by hand. My mum has been making wholemeal bread since I was born, by hand, in the early sixties, back in the day when you could only buy wholemeal flour from a healthfood shop and we were considered wierd. how times have changed…
@Layla @ A Green and Simple Life: It sounds like a bread maker is really valuable for you and more than earns its keep 🙂
@Tracey: I love the kneading process too. Although I’m nervous about trying new bread recipes (it took me about 10 years to find one that really worked for me!) I think I’ll try the Ocado one; thanks for the link!
@Hazel: the dandelion bread sounds amazing; thanks for the idea. I agree that putting on the oven for 1 loaf is wasteful but that going to the shop for ‘1 loaf of bread’ and coming home with £20 of ‘must buys’ is even worse! Kristen is amazing; I’ve tried a couple of her recipes but they were a bit too sweet for our palate. Her stuff is incredible though and I LOVE all her photos.
@Sandy: I think there’s no going back once you’ve mastered home made bread. I said I’d be buying some when we go away to save me making it and LMG was horrified that I would BUY bread!
@Adrian007: I saw your soda bread recipe; it’s beautiful bread but doesn’t keep so needs eating up. Shame about the weight gain meaning you had to cut down!
@Alyson: times have indeed changed. Now there are so many varieties that plain white bread seems positively boring (although this is what I make). Glad you are getting on well with your bread machine 🙂
Has anyone got any bread recipes for really tasty wheat free bread that doesn’t taste like a cake many thanks penny
@Penny: I think I saw a recipe on small notebook (?smallnotebook.org). I haven’t tried it, but it might be worth a look. It was quite recently.
Mrs G: I was trying to justify my breadmaker, rather than implying you should be using one! My ideal would be batch (hand) baking in my oven, or even better my Rayburn.. .one day! In the meantime I muddle along doing a bit of both.
Absolutely it’s better to make one loaf than go to the Co-op- see my comment about DH! And usually in a carrier bag because he forgot the cloth one.
I haven’t tried any of Kristen’s sweet recipes, though I do keep meaning to try the Cinnamon Swirl bread. (I love cinnamon, My life hasn’t been quite the same since I realised Nestle owned what was then Cinnamon Toast breakfast cereal. Now that was sweet- not sure I could eat it now, even if it wasn’t Nestle!)
After all of this, I’ve asked my Mam if she still uses her breadmaker and she said she does “occassionally” as she doesn’t like the fact it has a hole in the bottom!
She’s going to loan me it for a while and see if I get on with it and use it (as I say, my fave recipe takes quite a lot out of the day) and if so, have an ask on Freecycle/Freegle to see if there’s one out there needing a good home! 🙂
@Penny: I’ve asked around Penny and will let you know if I find anything.. All I know is that I used to buy rye bread and that was delicious, but very different from wheat. Can you tolerate spelt? That’s pretty similar in taste to wheat but lots of people who can’t eat wheat can manage a bit of spelt…
@Hazel: Enjoy having a go at the cinnamon swirl bread let me know how it turns out!
@Tracey: Fantastic Tracey – how exciting for you!
Just an update – I LOVE the breadmaker. The bread isn’t *quite* as nice as it is doing it totally by hand, but the fact you can just take 5-10 mins to set it up and set it away is great, you don’t even need to be in the house and it just gets on with it! 🙂
@Tracey: Oooo, so you’ve found the breadmaker to be useful – that’s great. At least you now have a choice; if you fancy a bit of Zen kneading you can have it, but if you’re in a hurry you now have the gadget to help you!
@Mrs Green: I’m loving it – one of my friends recommended the “quick loaf” setting for when I’m in a hurry – it uses a bit more flour and yeast, but is really yummy, so if I’m making white, I use it regardless of if I’m in a hurry or not! It’s not so great on the brown.
I asked on Freegle/Freecycle (I can’t remember which they call themselves these days), and someone had one that has sat on her shelf for about a year after she used it once – after it was given to HER by a friend who had had it on a shelf for about a year after using it… yup – once! Two years, two uses and hopefully mine soon (she’s on holiday but said she’d reply again once she’s back) Can’t wait! 😀
T x
@Tracey: hope your new machine now has pride of place in your home, Tracey 🙂