Cooking and baking are great activities to invest your time in. Doing so can be rewarding, and when you are finished you can have a great meal. However, many meals have bread in them. As a result, most people use bread from the store which stops your meal from being completely homemade. With that in mind, you are left to ponder the question, is it worth it to get a bread maker?
There are many things to consider when you are looking to purchase a bread maker. The cost, brand, usefulness, and other factors come into play. You need to weigh the pros and cons to determine if a bread maker is a smart purchase for you. Here you can read about all the pros and cons of buying a bread maker.
Bread makers and bread machines are very useful devices that typically have two baking options: convection and conventional baking.. Many people picked up bread making at the start of the pandemic, and as a result, they purchased bread makers to go along with them. However, not everyone stuck with it, and their bread maker ended up collecting dust on the shelf. It is crucial to be committed to bread-making if you are going to buy a bread maker. Otherwise, it will be a waste of money.
Here are the pros of purchasing a bread maker.
First and foremost, it is convenient to own a bread maker. Having a bread maker means you can prepare pastries and other meals that require bread. You can also make plain bread for sandwiches and toast.
Additionally, having a bread maker means you will always have something to do on the weekend. It should keep you entertained when you have downtime on the weekends.
Unfortunately, making bread without a bread machine takes a lot more upkeep. The yeast is more challenging to manage. You might enjoy working on it on the weekends, but you will not love needing to check on it every night when you get home from work during the week. Fortunately, a bread machine will resolve that problem.
Bread machines come with a timer that will have your bread ready whenever you want. Schedule it to finish baking when you wake up and you will have freshly baked bread in the morning. You can do this every day so that you always have fresh bread for breakfast. Most bread makers have a time range of up to 12 hours, so you can easily set it to bake before you go to bed.
If you find regular bread boring, have no fear. Several bread makers come with automatic nut and fruit dispensers. These dispensers will feed ingredients directly into the dough. As a result, you can get your bread cooked with nuts, fruit, raisins, or whatever you want. It is a good idea to get a machine with these dispensers.
While making bread is rewarding, it is also more of a workout that you might affect. If you are not familiar with the process of baking custom bread, you might not understand how it could be a workout. However, some aspects of bread-making take a lot of work to get done.
Notably, kneading the bread takes a lot of physical effort to get done. Kneading means working the dough with your hands to develop the glutens in the flour. Doing so gives the bread a good texture and structure. Additionally, kneading the bread evenly distributes all ingredients throughout it while incorporating air. Without air, your bread will be very flat. Air in your bread dough will give it a fluffy and airy texture once it is baked.
While it can feel good to have dough in your hands, it takes a lot of time and effort to properly knead it. The best solution to avoid this step is to purchase a bread maker. Bread machines knead the bread automatically and are great at doing it. So, you can complete every other aspect of your homemade bread and leave the kneading to the machine.
Baking and cooking of any kind can get messy. If you are not an organized person, your kitchen will look like a disaster if you are baking bread. Fortunately, breadmakers do a great job of keeping everything clean and tidy.
All the ingredients you need to bake a custom loaf of bread go in the bread maker. As a result, the mess will be minimal. Put the ingredients in the bread maker, press the start button, set the timer, and you are good to go. Your kitchen will be saved except for some spillage from putting ingredients in the bread machine.
As you might have been able to tell from our instructions, another benefit of using a bread machine is they are easy to operate. You do not need much instruction to get started. As long as you know what ingredients to put in the bread maker, you should not have trouble getting delicious, fluffy loaves of bread.
Everyone is always looking for new ways to stay healthy. Staying healthy is not easy these days. We are surrounded by processed, unhealthy foods, making it challenging to keep weight off. The best way to stick to a healthy diet is to make as much homemade food as possible. Unfortunately, most people draw the line at making their bread themselves.
However, if you are willing to do the work to make bread yourself, your body will benefit from it. Homemade bread is much healthier than store-bought bread. It is even healthier than bread from most bakeries.
The reason for this is most people make bread with baking enhancements. If you make bread yourself, you can replace the baking enhancements with healthier ingredients. For example, you can use organic bread flour rather than regular flour. Alternatively, you can use gluten free flour if you have dietary restrictions.
There are many cookbooks out there for you to purchase with bread recipes, including for gluten free bread. What about making your own garlic bread? Those books will give you plenty of ideas on how to make bread in new creative, healthy ways. A bread machine will only help you with the process.
Not to mention, many bread machines come equipped with preprogrammed settings to bake a variety of breads. As an example, the Cusinart CBK 200 has many different types of bread that you make with its programmed cycles, including:
The economy is always changing, and as a result, it is crucial to stay on top of your finances. With inflation at an all-time high, everyone is looking for ways to save money. You might not think purchasing an expensive bread maker will save you money, but it can in the long run.
Most bread machines cost between $65 and $320. That is expensive, but it should pay for itself after a while. How much bread you make will determine how long it takes for you to make your money back.
It will take a while to make your money back living alone. However, if you have a family that eats a lot of bread, you will make your money back quicker than you expect.
Additionally, you do not need to worry about replacing your bread machine for a long time. Most bread makers will last for at least a decade. You will not even notice issues with it for several years.
The price of essential ingredients for a 1.5-pound loaf of bread is about $1.50. Even the cheapest and most basic white bread loaves cost at least $3. Fancier and healthier bread can cost up to $15 a loaf. As a result, you can see how buying a bread maker will save you a lot of money over a decade.
Another reason to purchase a bread maker is it can do more than cook simple loaves of bread. You can also use it to make rolls or buns.
However, you can use bread makers to make some surprising dishes too. Notably, you can use them to make sauces, soup, cake, yogurt, jam, pizza dough, rice dishes, and even scrambled eggs. It can serve as a mini oven if yours is out of order. That is not to say it can cook anything, but it can cook many things.
While there are several benefits to buying a bread maker, there are some downsides. Here we will cover the cons of purchasing a bread machine for your household so that you can answer the question: “Is it worth it to get a bead maker?”
Before we start here, we need to state that the amount of supervision you need to do is dependent on the machine you purchase. Some machines do not require you to watch it, but those devices are on the higher end price-wise.
Machines that require supervision require that you check on the dough at every stage of the baking process. As a result, baking a loaf of bread is less automated and less convenient. Purchasing a fully automatic machine is the best course of action.
This con mostly comes down to preference, but many people like a nice, crispy bread crust. Unfortunately, when you cook in a bread machine you do not get the crispy crust many people love. The reason for this unfortunate fact is bread machines do not use steam to bake. Instead, they are baked in a bread pan. As a result, the bread is unable to get as crispy as you might like.
Again, this issue is subjective as it depends on your living situation. If you live in a large home or apartment with plenty of closet space, you do not need to worry about the size of your bread maker. All you need to do is make sure you can find a spot for it somewhere convenient.
However, if you do not have a lot of cabinet space, you might need to store your bread maker on the counter. Bread makers are cumbersome, and as a result, they take up a lot of space on the counter. Storing it on the counter will limit how much space you have for cooking things other than bread.
With that in mind, we recommend planning where you will store your bread machine before buying it. Find a place that is easy to store so that you do not need to worry about it getting in the way when it is not in use.
Check the dimensions of the bread maker you are interested in and come back home before you purchase it. Compare those dimensions to different areas in your kitchen so you know what options you have.
Sourdough is one of the most popular types of bread. It is fluffy, light, and delicious, and as a result, it is a favorite of people all around the world. Unfortunately, you will probably be unable to make sourdough bread in your new bread maker.
You see, sourdough bread has different rise and proofing times than regular bread. Typically, sourdough bread takes much longer to bake than commercial yeast. As a result, bread machines do not bake it very well. You are better off cooking sourdough bread in the oven and setting a timer.
Alternatively, you can use the manual modes that come with some bread makers. You can adjust manual times yourself, but it will take extra time to figure out how to make sourdough bread in your bread maker. Making it in an oven where you know the exact temperature is easier.
You might think making your bread in a bread maker would prevent your bread from getting screwed up. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Bread makers do not make it impossible for your bread to turn out wrong.
The problems that arise from cooking in a bread maker are not solved by adjusting your settings. Bread is fickle, and it can fail to rise for several reasons. Here are a few issues that can arise when using a bread maker.
Your bread can collapse in the bread maker. You will then have a flat and hard piece of bread. It could also fail to rise in the first place. You will then end up with the same result as you would if it collapsed.
Furthermore, bread can come out of the machine heavy and dense. This happens if your machine did not knead it enough. When the dough is not kneaded enough, it does not get enough air, and as a result, it ends up dense.
It is also possible for your bread to end up undercooked. The worst-case scenario is if it ends up gummy on the inside. If this happens, it did not cook all the way through, and as a result, it is inedible. Additionally, undercooking can result in the top not getting browned.
Finally, aesthetic issues can pop up when you cook bread. Notably, it is common for people to open their bread makers and find a large hole in the center of their bread. Lopsided bread is also a common issue when cooking with bread machines.
It is possible to deal with these problems by modifying the machine's settings, but it takes a lot of work. It is not like troubleshooting a computer where there is likely a code error you need to adjust or a setting you need to turn off or on. All bread makers are different, and as a result, the solutions vary from device to device.
The last problem with bread makers is they can get very loud. Not only are they noisy by nature, but they vibrate a lot. As a result, if your bread maker is resting on a countertop, it will make even more noise from vibrating on a hard surface. Not only will this annoy you and your family, but it can annoy your neighbors if you live in an apartment building.
So, after reading through the pros and cons of buying a bread maker, should you get one? That will depend on individual circumstances.
Buy a breadmaker if
Don’t buy a breadmaker if
