Bread maker

I'm a big fan of home made bread. Actually, tho' I'm not a big eater, I love cooking - heck, I can get fat just from the smell of home grown herbs and spices............. :)

Not good with bread. Don't get me wrong, it's ok, just a bit heavy, and I've spent days, and a small fortune trying to get it light.

So I thought, aw heck. I'd try one of those bread making machines. Me being me, I worked out it would cost us at least 1/3 rd less per year if it works. It wasn't cheap, but it was discounted on Amazon by nearly 40 quid. Veeerum - that's for me :) But more importantly, the machine would pay for itself in a year. Since I use what we have, rather than a special packet mix, it's probably going to be more of a saving.

And d'y'know, as long as you use a strong white flour somewhere in your recipe, it's better than shop bought, as long as you leave it a hour on a cooling rack after you take out the machine. Basil and Sun Dried Tomato tomorrow. Mmmm :)

Ps. After I bought it, I did a bit more research, (doh!) and discovered that it's even more popular than I thought, despite it being a bit expensive. After having it a while, I have to say I'm well chuffed. It does what it says on the tin, and then some. Including Dough, Spelt, Rye, sandwich, Italian... and cakes. Yup, cakes.

A couple of things though. One, it has a timer - so you can set it to have your bread ready in the morning, or when you get back from work. And, by golly, there's nothing like the smell of fresh bread. However, it's not immediately obvious that the end time is the FINISH time - not your start time + begin time as you might expect.

I found Hovis strong flour is a bit rubbish. But Hovis yeast sachets are spot on. Lidel, Morrisons and Tesco strong flours work just fine. I can't speak for those ready mix chuck it in add water things you can get - I've not tried them :)

The machine I bought was the Panasonic SD255 from Amazon