Talk to me about breadmakers

[Kelby]

Congratulations on Superbaby!

I have the Sunbeam Quantum and it is fantastic. Makes any kind of bread you want and has the fruit and nut dispenser. You can set it to come on at say 4am so you have fresh bread at 7am

Ditto to Leah-although we only make the 1.5kg one, but we have more mouths! My only complaint is that the recipe book that came with it is pretty cruddy, I bought another.

Easy as pie, I manage to make all of our bread. When i'm lazy we get standard wholemeal, when i'm inventive I use the dough setting and make pretty much anything. It's very cheap, I get 10kg bags of top quality flour from the mills for $13.50.

I actually got asked which bakery I bought my bread from last week-i'd made pesto bread by rolling the dough flat then rolling it up around pesto.

[Ladybird]

We have just resurrected our breadmaker from the pantry, since bread rolls have doubled in price and gotten smaller in the last 6 months. Not to mention they seem to be full of air with not much substance to them. I also like the fact that you know what is going into your bread (no preservatives), it is a lot cheaper and tastes a lot nicer. I have also been making the 'twists' that Brumbys/Bakers Delight makes, the possibilities are endless - Yum!

[SB2]

I have an old one my Dad 'repaired' (the dough hook was cemented to the tin with old dough, so wouldn't turn, so the owners had given up on it! LOL!) - but like Shara, don't use it to cook the bread because of the funny block like shape it turns out.... But I use it to mix and rise the dough all the time, then just knock it down , bung it in a bread tin or freeform, give it a second rise, and bake.... I use my Dad's own bread recipe with good effect.

My mother in law uses the Breville Ultimate Baker's Oven every day (puts the timer on, so fresh bread at 7am) and swears by it (after the first wore out after about 8-10years of use she has just bought her second). She used to find the Lauke breadmix gave the best results, although it is a little more pricey. I think she uses a cheaper brand at the moment. She did use a bit less yeast than recommended, as she prefers a denser loaf.

[Superwoman]

Just thought I'd give you an update.

We got the Sunbeam Quantum yesterday. DH made a wholemeal loaf overnight, which has already been eaten up.

I'm currently making a crunchy wheat & honey loaf = and all the wholemeal flour has gone.

Where do you buy your flour from? Is it cheaper online? I haven't seen anything that comes close to matching Kelby's 10kg for $13.50

Cheers
A

[mum2miya]

I buy our plain flour and wholemeal flour from a bulk foods shop at $10 for 5kg. When I can sort some good storage I'll buy the 10kg bags

[Pobie]

Carolyn and I get our bread flour from The Mixing Bowl in Hallam. TBH I haven't seen bread flour anywhere else other than there.

All the supermarkets around here seem to only stock Bread Mixes, not just the flour.

The Mixing Bowl is about $10 for 5kg I think. I cant quite remember. If you take your own container to re-fill they will do it a little cheaper for you as well. The sell all sorts of yummy baking things there

[Superwoman]

Thanks Suze

I'll get out there later in the week hopefully.

Cheers
A

[Kelby]

Yes......i'm finding since I moved that I had a very good deal!

[Narmi060504]

I use standard plain flour (either either white or wholemeal) from the supermarket. I then add gluten flour (except that the coast has completely run out of it so I now use any other high protein flour) which increases the protein levels and helps it rise and become nice and fluffy. I find this by far the cheapest way to do it, because I haven't been able to find bulk flour close to us. I then add whatever I feel like - soy flour, linseed, oats, etc.

[Superwoman]

OK - I went to here today: http://www.snk.com.au

And got:
25kg wholemeal - $45
10kg white - $20
5 kg rye - $15.5

Plus another $30 worth of grains, seeds etc.

The plan is to make wholemeal as our standard bread and rye or wholemeal multigrain as a "special" bread and to also make the odd sweetbread or crusty french stick.

It's definitely not as cheap as I'd hoped, but I live in a Vietnamese area and we don't pay more than $2 for anything around here - rye, wholemeal or white. And the breadmaker will work out not much cheaper - but I am doing it for the convenience and the taste - as well.

Just need a milkman and a few chickens and I'll be set!!!!