I can jump in on the bread machine discussion with tons of experience/advice.
I bought my first bread machine at a Black Friday sale in 1999. I still have it and use it regularly since I make all our bread products. However, it has only made bread the the "bread machine way" about 3 times in all those years.
Those few times cured me of the boxy loaf with a deep belly button in it's center. I decided that the bread machine was my best friend when it came to kneading the dough and providing the first rise. No fuss, no muss, no bother. The machine could do the heavy lifting while I was able to spend my time doing something else. Win, win here.
I learned that all my regular bread recipes could easily be made in the bread machine. The plus, I discovered, is that my recipe for 2 loaves of standard loaf bread could be done in the bread machine on the DOUGH cycle. Again, the machine did all the kneading and first rise. Once done here, I simply shape my loaves, put into pans and set for final rise. This way I get two loaves instead of one.
A few years ago, a friend of mine tasked me with baking baguettes for a fundraiser for the university at which he is a professor. In the end, I made
over 100 loaves in 10 days. Without my bread machine this would've been impossible.
I have never come across any bread product recipe that can't be relatively easily adapted to a bread machine. Most often all the kneading and the first rise can be done in a bread machine. The remaining part of the recipe done by hand.
Additional information...over the last several years I have developed severe arthritis in both my hands. Without my trusty bread machine(s) I could NOT make bread of any kind.
If you noticed, I said machines in my last sentence. That's because I have two bread machines and, often, use them simultaneously. The baguette escapade was one such time.
They often get pressed into service during the holidays and times when I want to stock up on several types of bread.