Bread machine v. kneaded by hand

[MostlyWater]

When my kids were small I made all our challah by hand, frozen for a month at a time, and I remember we really loved it.

Enter the DAK into our lives, and while it was very convenient, we never really loved the taste of the bread it mixed and kneaded (and then I baked in our oven.)

It died the same week as the food proc. (see other thread) and I think I'm gonna stick to store bought bread - for a while, at least - as I'm afraid to get another b.m. and us not really liking the bread.

Has anyone had this experience ?

 

[mcnerd]

I love my bread machine, but I can't figure out how such would affect how your bread tasted when it was mixed and kneaded. Good ingredients going in means good bread (dough) coming out.

 

[tannerodell]

In my 14 years of life I have never used a bread machine...The way I learned to make bread is completely by hand. I learned from my grandma. she does it like making pasta, a big pile of flour with a well in the middle, add in the wet ingredients and knead it togeather. It makes an amazing textured bread. My favorite

 

[Katie H]

Been baking bread close to 40 years and began by doing all the work by hand. Now, with carpal tunnel and arthritis in my hands, it's difficult and painful to do all the necessary kneading. After a discussion with some of the staff bakers at King Arthur Flour, I use my bread machine to do the kneading and first rise of many of my bread products. (I make ALL the bread products consumed in our house.)

The folks at King Arthur told me they found the machines do a superior job at kneading dough, which resulted in a fine finished product. That has been my experience.

I made a batch of cinnamon rolls today. The dough was silky smooth and elastic. Some of the most beautiful yeast dough I've ever worked with.

 

[bethzaring]

I have made 10's of thousands of loaves of bread by hand (used to work in a bread bakery!)

I am on my 7th bread machine. Been using one since 1996. I can make a mean loaf of bread entirely in a bread machine. It takes time to learn to work with any given machine. I rely on the recipes that come with the machine. Currently my bread machine either bakes or kneads all my breads.

 

[JoeV]

If you and your family "fell out of love" with your challah when you started using the bread machine for mixing and kneading, I wonder if you altered your original recipe to fit the capacity of the bread machine. From my brief experience (and very limited with the bread machine), I have noticed that bread machines make one loaf of bread at a time, and almost all of my non-bread machine recipes make two loaves of bread. So if you halved your original recipe when you started using the machine perhaps something was lost in that transition.

Then again, sometimes when we have the same thing repeditively, we lose our desire for it, and can even be put off by the sight or smell of it. Even if adhering to religious custom, it doesn't mean we won't lose our taste for a particular food. This happened to me when DW made the same meal on Mondays, week after week after week after week after week, until I finally asked her if she was trying to bore me to death to collect the insurance money. It took almost two years before I would eat that particular meal again.

Maybe making a different type of bread like whole wheat or rye or Italian will stop you from buying the chemical laced products on the grocer's shelves. As far as the machine goes, I got rid of mine and either make the dough in my stand mixer or by hand. I never make less than two loaves of bread, and I can do it a lot quicker in my stand mixer than with a bread machine.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[expatgirl]

I love my bread machine and I'm an old hand at making dough from scratch as well.......I see what my machine does in the way of kneading and..... like Katie E. I no longer have the manual dexterity that I used to have so a machine really does help but I do have to sit and watch and prod it along usually by adding more flour......do any of you have a great challah recipe? my daughter's guyfriend is Jewish and may come down in July for our nephew's wedding......if he's crazy enough

 

[Katie H]

Both of my bread machines are large capacity, so I can make multiple loaves of bread. When I make plain loaf bread, I get two large loaves. If I'm making baguettes, I can make 2 or 3 depending on how large I want them.

I rarely have to adjust the flour of any of my bread recipes because I bake/cook using an electronic scale.

I've had one of my machines for about 10 years, but couldn't tell you how either of my machines actually bakes bread in their own pan. Never used them for that. Maybe I should try sometime.

 

[expatgirl]

Katie, I'm like you........my bread machines are solely there to mix up and knead the dough and then you and I go off from there............my new bread machine needs watching.........like a teen............teen machine........I've had a bread machine for over 15 years and it's still more reliable than the present one..............don't knead to watch this guy on the mix..........

 

[RobsanX]

This happened to me when DW made the same meal on Mondays, week after week after week after week after week, until I finally asked her if she was trying to bore me to death to collect the insurance money. It took almost two years before I would eat that particular meal again.

I thought you were going to say that it took two years to get the spatula out of your ........

 

[PieSusan]

^ rotflol
To be fair one of my brothers and his wife eat like that. Ugh!!!!

 

[Bigjim68]

Without my bread machine, I would not bake bread. Like most on this thread, the machine is used for mixing and kneading. Bakes in the oven. Mine is many years old and lacks the gadgets of the new ones. I have found that a second rising out of the machine enhances the texture for my taste.

 

[JoeV]

I have found that a second rising out of the machine enhances the texture for my taste.

That's true for some, but not all, bread doughs. Enriched doughs most often are best with a single rise, then shape, raise and bake. Basic Flour, salt, water & yeast dough definitely improve with an extra rise.

 

[Katie H]

That's true for some, but not all, bread doughs. Enriched doughs most often are best with a single rise, then shape, raise and bake. Basic Flour, salt, water & yeast dough definitely improve with an extra rise.

True. That's why I let the machine do only the kneading and, then, I handle the rest.

 

[Bigjim68]

True. I mostly bake yeast dough breads. Just pointing out that may be one reason for a difference in taste of hand kneaded and BM kneaded bread.

 

[expatgirl]

True. That's why I let the machine do only the kneading and, then, I handle the rest.

me too, Katie........

 

[Maverick2272]

Ditto here, kneed and first rise then I shape, let rise again and finish in the oven. So far the only difference between doing it all in the bread machine and finishing in the oven is I like the texture better on the one finished in the oven.
But the only taste difference I get is between different recipes.

 

[RPCookin]

My machine does ok, but since I retired, I do most of my bread dough in my KA stand mixer (Pro 600). I knead for a couple of minutes by hand after I take it out of the mixer bowl, and of course punch down and work it a little for the second rise when required..

 

[bethzaring]

here are two pics of the bread I made today in my bread machine; raisin cinnamon ww bread. I usually have to make adjustments to the dough during the kneading cycle, but after that, it is on its own until I take it out of the machine

 

[MostlyWater]

I don't know what I'm going to do. My sister said i could have her old Breadman but I used the cabinet space that used to house the bread machine for an extra pasta pot.

The only time I really want it is when I have a few people coming and want to bake my own challah - to buy them in the stores are usually $4 something each.