I go through periods of breadmaking,and in between it lives in the pantry. Getting it out for this challenge though.

Unless you just want it for sandwich bread you don’t really need a breadmaker. Google “no knead bread recipe” and you’ll see how easy it is!

The reason I am even thinking about it is that we only eat 100% whole grain bread. Not so much for sandwiches, but we do have a slice most mornings for breakfast, along with some fruit and yogurt. It is really hard to find good, 100% whole grain that has the hearty, chewy texture that I like. There is one local brand that's great, but it is often sold out. Of course I'm maybe incorrectly assuming that I could figure out how to make a good whole grain bread myself.

I have a Zojirushi bread machine that I got used for $50. In the past, I used it a lot and I may again some day. I used it alot when my kids were at home and in school. I loved being able to put the ingredients in the machine at night and tell it to finish at 5am which meant warm bread with breakfast. I also loved it for pizza night because my dough was ready when I wanted it.

Nowadays, I still bake our sandwich bread but even though I still work fulltime its feels easier to make the bread dough in the mixer.

I had a Zojirushi for many years. Now I have an Osipoto 17. I do not make bread as often as I used to (not because I've tired of bread, I love it, but because of my lowered carb intake due to diabetes), but when I do I have the Osipoto mix the dough and rise, and then I bake in bread pans. I definitely recommend getting a bread machine. Most modern bread machines can be used to make a variety of recipes, from sweet breads to loaves to pizza.

I have had several different brands of bread machines. There was a time in the late 90s when it made all our everyday sandwich bread. It was really good, until it broke. I tried several others and nothing quite matched the first one. Now that I'm on my own, a bread maker is probably too much for me.

During the early days of covid, I was making no-knead bread. Like a lot of rustic loaves, it's fantastic day-of, okay next day, and loses its life by day 3.

I have a hard time finding decent sliced bread that isn't either too sweet or too stiff. I usually default to some form of rye.

It's worth a try. Especially when you set it up night before and time it to have the aroma of freshly baked yeasty bread ready and saying "Good morning, Sunshine!"

I say Yay! I would love to have one, but I am weak and may not stop eating all the bread. It’s great to try different types breads. Great for gift giving. When you are entertaining. The smell through the house is amazing. I grew up with a mom who made homemade bread all the
time and never used a bread maker.

i say Get One! It may take several recipes to get the chewy wheat bread you want so dont give up. itsit’s also cheaper than store or bakery bread and usually has only the ingredients you need for good bread. no preservatives so it doesnt last long on the counter so i slice and freeze the loaves every few days. always fresh that way.

Ive had my machine for about 8 years and have made many dozens of loaves of bread. i remove the dough from the maker and bake it in the oven to avoid the paddle hole.

i also make lots of rustic no-knead boules because my family loves them.

This is what’s left of todays loaf.

Sheeshie, thanks for the reminder. One of my bread makers left an annoying hole, so I'd let the machine do all the mixing and kneading, then form it in the pan for the second rise, then bake it in my regular oven.

Yes, slice the bread when it's completely cooled, wrap it up, and stick it in the freezer for a slice or two at a time.

When you first get a bread baker you go nuts with fresh warm bread slathered in butter. Then things calm down a bit and you eat it like regular bread, kinda.

Boy, is that the truth, Bunny!

also, i bought an electric knife just for slicing bread! So easy, makes slices nice and even.

I'll start by acknowledging that I am biased - never have bee a bread machine fan, never wanted one and some of the worst bread I've ever had was made by friend with a bread machine who loved them. I've been baking bread, including sourdough, for over 30 years. When I started, I had a mixing bowl, a wooden spoon, and a couple of loaf pans. I have a stand mixer now and have made some breads that require that, but most bread can be made with nothing more than a bowl and a tool of choice - wooden spoon, dough whisk, hands, etc.

If your interest is 100% whole grain, I'd do some research to see if there are some folks out there having success with the type of bread you want to make in a bread machine and how they are using it. A lot of people use a bread machine just to mix the dough. That's a large and pricey appliance just to mix the dough. I also think you might have better success with your whole grains if you mix by hand (or a stand mixer and finish/test by hand). Whole grain, especially 100% whole grain, is trickier to get right than a loaf with little or a low percentage of whole grain. Seeing the dough, handling the dough, watching the dough all tell you a lot about what is going on, how it is working and what it might need. That's even more important if you are using specialty flours and whole grains, and you can't get that with a bread machine. People in every corner of the globe made bread for centuries before home electricity and bread machines were even a thing. You can too.

I got one decades ago and never used it. I gave it to my grandparents and they adored it! They ate a slice of bread with every meal. I was more successful with the one pot no kneed Mark Bittman bread making trend.

Thanks, all! I think I am going to hold off on this. Maybe try doing it without the machine. I probably do not need another big thing in my kitchen!

When I worked having a bread machine was FANTASTIC! It still is! I own two. My favorite one is the Zojirushi. It's elongated, making a "normal" looking loaf of bread. I make whole wheat, using NO white flour. I keep a block of yeast in the freezer, makes a fresh loaf anytime....even if I'm NOT home. I have a Hitachi I use for pizza dough, rolls or danish, with a square bucket. The square bucket isn't good for sandwich bread...wrong shape. You can put the machine on a dough setting, take the dough out and shape it....THAT works!

I was in a thrift store...saw the Zojirushi for $15. LOVE THIS machine! ❤️

The Zojirushi can be adjusted for time, interrupted in ANY cycle, mixing-rising-kneading-baking...and started over at any point....OTHER bread machines don't have that feature.

@sas95...just saw your post. It's HUGE! Storing it takes up a whole shelf in my cupboard.

I would encourage you to buy an enamel stock pot type pot and make your own. It's so good and relatively easy.

I have not made bread for a while, but always made it by hand annd kneaded it on a large maple board.

Years ago I spotted a used bread machine at a clean thrift store, took it home and cleaned it all over again. It wasone of those that leave a paddle hole which I don’t care for.

I now use my KA mixer for dough and have a great slow rise pizza dough recipe that I have a short cut to never needed to knead by hand. I make several pizza doughs overa few days (slow rise) then freeze them.

Kneading by hand is relaxing and good exercise, BTW. And those largely no knead recipes are great.

One suggestion since you say most places are sold out, it to ask around at health food stores, food coops and country stores. Sometimes there are people who make breads on a small scale and you might get the names of a few of these people. Last year I hit upon names of a few country stores that sold whole grain breads — off the beaten path.

If the bread ages out, gets stale, you can make croutons, bread crumbs and things like bread pudding.

ETA Here is a you tube link for the Z* breadmakers

🔹https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=zojirushi+bread+maker

If I had a large kitchen with plenty of space, I might get a machine. My sister got one and loves it. I've been making bread by hand since I was a teenager tho, and I've had a small kitchen for well over 30 years too. Closest I got to a bread machine was using my Cuisinart to knead the dough.

This is my bread bible - it was a birthday gift when I was around 14, and I still have it 🙂

Bread can be as complex or as simple as you want it to be - it is one of humankind's oldest foods after all.

Carol, that was one of my first books and it is one of the classics I recommend for people who want to learn about bread making.

This morning i went to the grocery store and bread was on my list. I picked up a loaf of plain round Italian to be sliced and tooka look at the contents. Despite having been made on site that morning the ingredients list was a paragraph long. I put it back, came home and pulled out my bread machine and have a sandwich loaf baking now. Four ingredients: water, KA bread flour, salt, yeast.

I had one a long time ago. I used it quite often for a while and then stopped for some reason. Then it sat in the closet for several years until I donated it. I'd probably like a machine better if it made a normal shaped loaf but I doubt I'd buy another one at this point.