Why You Should Get a Breadmaker

Ever since we inherited our in-laws' breadmaker about 10 years ago, we've been making our own bread - one loaf every 2-3days.  There are so many great reasons why we do it, and I think that more people should!

• The taste and smell of freshly baked bread!  Can't beat it!
• I know exactly what goes into it - no unpronounceable ingredients or preservatives
• We can make it as healthy (or unhealthy) as we'd like - using white or whole wheat or gluten-free flour
• Homemade bread is much more filling for our boys than store-bought (we can go through a loaf of store bought in no time!)
• In that same vein, have you seen the price for a loaf of bread these days? $2-5 a loaf?!! Or gluten-free, for that matter?  $6-7
• Making pizza dough - we use it once a week for this purpose

Reasons why people don't end up using their breadmakers (and my response)

• People think it's too much work, but we just make it a part of our routine.  Find a good recipe that works, tape it to the outside of the breadmaker, so it's easy. (You can kind of see the ripped paper on our picture above with the pizza dough recipe we've used for 10 years).
• If people have had a few recipes turn out poorly, they tend to give up.  We don't experiment very often - when we find a recipe that works, we stick to it!
• Some say that breadmakers are too expensive and you don't save any money because of that cost.  We go through one every 9-18 months or so, but we never spend more than $20 on it.  Value Village and other stores often sell them for 10-20 dollars in great  condition.

 There are a few accessories that we've picked up over the years which make it easier to use homemade bread.  I love this square Tupperware container.  It's the perfect size and shape of a loaf of homemade bread.  We usually leave it on our counter - since we finish our loaf in about 2 days.  If not, we put it in the fridge.

This knife is great - extremely sharp, and it helps you not to cut to thick a slice (often a problem with homemade bread).  I can cut nice thin slices with this, and the cutting board helps catch all the crumbs that come with homemade bread.

Have I missed anything?  Do you use your breadmaker? Make it automatic, have the machine and recipes accessible.  Any other tips to share?

In case you'd like it, here's our recipe for pizza dough.  It makes 3 large pizzas - enough for 1.5-2 meals for us.

Combine on the Dough setting:
2 c. water
1 tsp. salt
4 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
6 c. flour (we do half whole wheat and half white)
3 tsp. yeast (not quick rise)

Check out the rest of the pizza recipe here.

 

 

Here is a great recipe for hamburger buns that we love.