The Unbearable Squareness of Baking with a Bread Machine

At the moment I’m reading The Bread Book (Lewis, Sara (2004), The Bread Book, London: Index). It contains within it, if not a lie, the misrepresentation that bread machines are useful when pushed for time.

It has just taken me 2½ hours to bake a quick white loaf using a machine, whereas by hand typically it takes just 1½ hours. The actual contact time may be less in the bread machine, but wrestling to remove the finished loaf afterwards soon erases the benefit. Indeed, if you scarcely bother to knead the dough – and some argue it is unnecessary – then there is little benefit whatsoever in using a machine compared to the earlier ready-time of a hand-made loaf.

The crust of a machine-made loaf tends to be quite thicker than the hand-made equivalent. To my taste, such a crust is unpleasantly chewy and rough on the gums.

I believe I may have made my last machine-made loaf. Never say never, however, for the ability to set a bread machine on a timer may one day save my bacon-butty. I won’t always be young enough or well enough to appreciate the idea of getting up a tad earlier to get the oven going!