Friends and family have me regularly sleuthing for things at the thrift stores I frequent. I've been looking for a bread machine for a friend for quite some time and came across a brand new one at Goodwill about 6 weeks ago.
My friend, Joy, lives nearly an hour from me so we don't get to connect often. In this case it's a bonus because I've been putting the little machine through boot camp.
I know, or at least was nearly 100% confident, it was brand new. No dust, no goo, no scratches anywhere, had the original book, cord was factory wrapped. Pretty likely it had never been used. Less than $3, too!
It's a beautiful Sunbeam model and, so far, has performed like a champ. It's given us a pair of golden baguettes, a dozen potato rolls, 2 dozen brioche hamburger buns and, today, I'm about to put two loaves of white toasting bread in the oven. The only other recipe I'm going to throw at it is cornmeal pan rolls. I have no doubt it will get an A+.
Joy is not well-experienced in making bread, so I've been creating each recipe as a tutorial. Another reason for testing the machine. I can give her the step-by-step of what is necessary to do well.
I'll include a homemade pastry/bread cloth for shaping her dough, a quantity of yeast (I buy it in 2-pound packages.), and a spare bread-slicing guide I don't need. She can play in flour and yeast to her heart's content.
