They were very good. But very "specialized" and rather limiting -- and the prep time included hunting down ingredients most common home cooks in the US have never heard of or used, then learning how to prepare those ingredients "just right" individually for just each particular recipe, and then of course, the timing of ingredient preparation to pre-heating an oven or stove had to be worked out... What a headache. I chose 10 out of the 20, originally, and I think I got through about 8 of them before we ran out of time, money, and patience. In the end, I wound up choosing 2 that seemed the easiest, and the rest... Well, I think they're lost in a box somewhere.
At that point I vowed that eventually, I would just learn to do "the basics" and just live on that. Everything else was just too complicated. Currently, I'm fortunate enough to live across the street from a specialty foods store that has everything under the sun, so it's all good -- for now. But I'm swiftly learning, since getting laid off, that it's worth it to get back to the basics: it's tons cheaper.
Thankfully, I have the internet, so I can do a LOT of the footwork online. And for bread making, well, that's just what a person winds up realizing, often too late, that they'll have to do if they aren't already some champion bread-maker. I used to have "the perfect bread recipe" -- but that's lost as well, so, I'm starting from scratch. And I have to say, there is a ton more internet info on the subject than there used to be. When I have a recipe worth posting, I'll do so. For now, here are my favorite bread making links.
General Info
Helpful Info Compilation Charts
Best Bread Machine I Ever Used: Breadman
Breadman Manual/Recipes
Bread Making
I: Ingredient Basics
II: Process Basics
III: Folding and Kneading Video
History and Types of Bread
Bread Making Videos
~ Fav Bread Making Video
Yeast
Choosing Yeast Video
Yeast Vocab
Types of Yeast (WikiPedia)
What Yeast Is
Yeast Proofing Video (Not really optional).
Active Yeast Sourdough Starter Recipe
Large Bakery (Cream) Yeast I
Large Bakery (Cream) Yeast II
A Short History of Yeast
Flour
Other Ingredient Info
Liquid Ingredients
Miscellaneous Ingredients
Specialty Bread Info
What Piki Bread is
What Piki Bread is all about
Bread from India
Navajo Fry Bread
WikiPedia: International Fried Dough Breads (Then Google each for recipes.)
Scones (Best watched in IE.)
Corn Bread Recipe
Banana Bread Links (Beware the bitter taste though.)
Raisin Bread Links
Fruit Cake Recipe
Breadfruit Links (Just for the curious.)
Be Inspired by the Revolutionary Masters
Julia Child @ WikiPedia (Her Videos @ PBS.org: do LOTS of clicking around!)
Emeril
Mr. Food
Rachel Ray
Culinary Institutes of America
Pennsylvania College of Technology
Recipes
Here's the deal: there is no such thing as a bread-machine made "loaf" of pathetic almost-bread that will really hold a stick to a real, non-bread-machine, true loaf of hot, yummy, fragrant, steaming bread that tantalizes your wildest culinary imagination... Unless you just mix the dough in the machine and then bake it in real bread pans inside a real oven. A couple other quick notes: that fact alone changes every recipe out there. Bread machine recipes are too wet for oven baking. Non-bread machine recipes are too dry for a bread machine to handle - they'll ware out the motor/paddle in no time flat. Thus, if you aren't mixing and kneading the dough by hand, a compromise must be made, and the best way to do that is to start with the drier normal bread recipes and simply add a hint of water to make them easier on the machine, yet not so much water that the dough is useless once in the oven.
I'm going to post some good online normal bread recipes here. Play with them however you like. I'll do the same, and when I have something sufficient, as promised, I'll post it. I'm only going to do a scant few recipes, such as Whole Wheat, White, Rolls, and possibly buns or perhaps some Challah. Over time, I may add other augmented recipes, but for now, I'm just going to focus on the basics.
Yeah. I know. Novel idea. Use the machine to save your back, feet, shoulders, elbows, arms, wrists, knuckles - in some cases even your hips if you already have problems... Yet have that old-style flavor, texture, and shape we all crave so much that we're normally willing to pay around $5.00 for a good loaf of something that 80% resembles it, because we're all chumps. Not anymore.
I haven't tried any of these, but they do look reasonably good, so I'll start working with them as a whole first, then will post just a handful of recipes when I'm ready to.
AllRecipes.com Top 20 Best Non-bread Machine Recipes
One-loaf Whole Wheat Bread
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