Power Tool

After a long time of wanting one and having seen them at work in friends' places, we finally have one of our own: a Bread Machine. We got it from friends because there was a little piece broken and although it has been fixed and was working again they decided to buy a new one. So we got to adopt one that came without the notice, because these people trow out systematically the notice and guaranty papers. Luckily we found a new user guide on the French website: mesnotices.fr And have been making bread at an average rate of 1 and a half bread a day ever since. We bought all kind of ready mixes that turn out just fine.
I bought also mixes that are not really ready-to -bake mixes, you have to add everything except the flour. What a fake! Still a lot of recipes to try and to discover.
The great thing is i can bring my favorite lunch: peanutbutter sandwiches made of chewy big bread slices.
Instead of wondering what to eat today i wonder what kind of bread to make. It's a different feeling. I feel more complete now we have this machine. Maybe because i take care now of our daily bread instead of buying it someplace where you have to consider opening times and days and where there's just an exchange of money and no physical action involved. I did make bread by hand sometimes. It's not that much work but you have these waiting times and you have to have a good place to leave the dough rising. That's way easier in summer than in wintertime when i have a hard time keeping my house warm! With t he machine just put the ingredients in, program and after about 3 hours you have your house smelling like a bakery.The only trouble is getting the bread out and you'll end up with 2 big holes in your bread. But we have found out that if you take the mixers out before the baking process starts, the bread comes out easier and the holes are smaller. I want to try a pain aux epices with figs, and try to make a cumin bread like I recently had from the Jewish baker over at Rue des Rosiers in Paris. I wonder if they use some rye flower?

If you have a machine too let's share experiences and recipes!

Next thing on my want list is an expresso machine....