Should You Use Bread Machine Mixes In Bread Making Machines?
View PDF | Print View
by: MarionJones
Total views: 49
Word Count: 572
OK, what is the alternative? Well, the old-fashioned recipe book, of course! Not just any old recipe book, but a special bread making machine recipe book. Bread making is a very easy, but very tiresome process. The ingredients are ubiquitous, everyday, household items: water, flour, yeast, salt, sugar and oil. You most certainly have those items in your kitchen with the possible exception of yeast, which can be bought in any super store for very little money and it keeps for ages.
And you know what happens when you follow a recipe, don't you? You've already read the recipe through and you know you have everything in the cupboard, but when the recipe calls for, let's say, sultanas, you open the cupboard door and see that you don't have any sultanas - they were currants! Oh, well you think, they'll do. You make do. You experiment. And that means that you are developing your skills and creativity. Bread making mixes cannot and will not do that for you.
A good bread making machine cookbook will have well over 100 recipes originating from a number of different countries and you will become really enthusiastic about experimenting with the different ones. Have you ever tasted Welsh bread - Bara Brith? Or Amish bread? Cajun bread or onion bread? Cranberry bread is lovely too, but one of my all time favourites is Brazil Nut Bread - absolutely delicious.
The point is that you may not find recipes for all these breads in one place, but if you have a reference point, like a bread recipe cookbook, you can begin by using previously tried and tested gourmet bread recipes and gradually develop your own - sometimes because you have to.
I once made a fantastic loaf by adding all the left-over vegetables from my Sunday lunch. It was lovely, but I could never quite reproduce it, because I did not write down the weights and measures. I could only remember that it had green beans, potatoes and sweet corn in it!
Bread machine mixes will never ever give you that, will they? And bread machine mixes are fairly expensive compared to the cost of five kilos of flour. I usually vary the ingredients too: honey instead of sugar, milk instead of water, olive oil or butter instead of just corn oil. Rock salt instead of sea salt or visa versa. I'm sure you see what I mean.
Bread machine mixes are not only limited but limiting too. Furthermore, a bread making machine is a great way to use up leftovers. I have added meat and fruit in my gourmet bread many times. My guiding principle is: if it'll go in a sandwich it'll go in the dough - like an Indian stuffed paratha or stuffed naan bread.
Don't waste your money buying bread machine mixes - instead be creative with a bread machine recipes cookbook.
About the Author
Do you use bread machine mixes or do you want bread machine recipes? If you want recipes, just visit us at: http://bread-machine-mixes.the-real-way.com This and other unique content '' articles are available with free reprint rights.
Rating: Not yet rated
