Bread makers run about $70 to $160 on Amazon these days, so you will recover the cost pretty quickly in time saved.
Oh yeah, bread makers are totally fine. Resulting bread isn't quite as good, but it does save a bit of time. I'd say active time when I'm making a loaf at this point is ~10-15 minutes at the most.
Every week. I tend to riff on the recipes in Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast. It always turns out amazing and is pretty simple after you’ve done it a time or two.
Edit: I was gonna post some photos, but honestly, the bread ends up looking exactly like the loaf on the cover
They look like this:
Nice work Norfair!
A lot of folks I know use breadmakers to mix and proof their dough, but form and bake it by hand. It saves a lot of time and saves you having to tie up your microwave as your proofing bin. And as Robear puts it, it will save you a lot in time and effort.
I proof right on the counter, though to be fair, I live in Hawaii where my kitchen is only < 75 degrees during the winter.
I proof right on the counter, though to be fair, I live in Hawaii where my kitchen is only < 75 degrees during the winter.
I proof it on my counter overnight and I only set the temperature to 62 overnight during the winter. It usually doesn’t get that cold though.
Thanks for all the bread info. I bought that book and sent it to Kit’s Kindle Fire yesterday. Hint hint…
We had a bread maker 20 years ago that my aunt gave us when she bought a new one. We never used it and gave it away after a couple years. We recently gave away a really nice food processor that we only used once after impulse buying it. We aren’t allowing ourselves any more kitchen gadgets; there just isn’t enough room for them.
If bread-baking becomes a thing in our house, we’ll reconsider and figure out what to get rid of to make room. Probably the air fryer.
Kit was looking at the bread book last night while watching the British baking show. Stage one complete!
-BEP
Our bread never seems to rise very well. It's always too dense. The breadmakers we've had have had even more dense bread than even the no knead turbo breads we've made.
Our bread never seems to rise very well. It's always too dense. The breadmakers we've had have had even more dense bread than even the no knead turbo breads we've made.
When I hear this, most of the time it is a proofing issue. Either time, temp, or humidity. Another possibility is moisture though. A master baker I talked to once told me that if you think your dough is too wet, it's probably not wet enough.
A master baker I talked to once told me that if you think your dough is too wet, it's probably not wet enough.
I recently made some Pan de Cristal and it was something else working with 100% hydration dough.
100% hydration?! I can't even imagine what that would be like to manipulate... but now I wanna try! 
I used this King Arthur's recipe.
It initially handles like a big blob of slime. You do a series of coil folds while it's proofing, which is basically lifting the blob up by the middle and letting it just flow down under its own weight. And the shaping of the loaves is more a suggestion and gentle nudging than anything else. The dough just forms the loaf its going to form.
The texture and taste, though, are fantastic.
I used this King Arthur's recipe.
It initially handles like a big blob of slime. You do a series of coil folds while it's proofing, which is basically lifting the blob up by the middle and letting it just flow down under its own weight. And the shaping of the loaves is more a suggestion and gentle nudging than anything else. The dough just forms the loaf its going to form.
The texture and taste, though, are fantastic.
I just printed out that exact recipe. King Arthur's recipe for sourdough is one of my go to's, especially their sourdough starter crackers. I make WAY more of those crackers than I do actual bread with my starter
Thanks for all the bread info. I bought that book and sent it to Kit’s Kindle Fire yesterday. Hint hint…
We had a bread maker 20 years ago that my aunt gave us when she bought a new one. We never used it and gave it away after a couple years. We recently gave away a really nice food processor that we only used once after impulse buying it. We aren’t allowing ourselves any more kitchen gadgets; there just isn’t enough room for them.
If bread-baking becomes a thing in our house, we’ll reconsider and figure out what to get rid of to make room. Probably the air fryer.
Kit was looking at the bread book last night while watching the British baking show. Stage one complete!
-BEP
Awesome. The author has a youtube playlist where he goes through the basic steps that every recipe (I think) in the book uses. I found a few of them pretty useful the first time I was making one of his recipes.
The only other thing I'd say about the book is that if you eventually want to make a sourdough starter, his methodology is fine, but the flour amounts are way too high. It's the only part of the book that seems like it's written for people running a bakery rather than a home-baker. I eventually stumbled onto the The Perfect Loaf, which recommends the same basic method but wastes way less flour.
Does anyone subscribe to the NYT who could PM me a link to a PDF of this Kenji recipe?
I could do it out from the YouTube video, but I just wanted to have something I can print out and add to my recipe book. I got the pizza cooking part by making a free NYT account, but then they blocked me, and I do not want to subscribe to the NYT.
I just watched that this morning. I usually do Alton Brown's pizza dough, but am going to try this next pizza Friday.
I agree that a slow fridge ferment is what's needed for good pizza dough. I usually do 3 days, but have gone longer in the past without any ill effects. There's a huge flavor difference between 1-2 days and 3-4 days.
My wife was making cookies at our daughter's house a couple of weeks ago and her KitchenAid tilt head mixer stopped working mid batch of Peanut Butter cookies. I brought it home as it seemed like it had some gear problems, and sure enough, the plastic worm drive gear had melted out in a section, causing the mixer to only turn intermittently.
(This gear is the only plastic gear in the mixer that I can see, so I assume it's designed to fail and protect the other metal gears. Kind of like a fuse.)
This mixer we gave our daughter a few years ago. To be honest, my wife probably uses it when visiting more than our daughter, but over time the grease in these things breaks down and separates into waxy messy grease and oil. Even if not used a lot, they probably should be re-greased periodically just due to the grease problem.
I took it as a project. I ordered a new gear for $10, 4 oz of food safe grease and a gasket. Tore the thing down using some Youtube videos as guides. Cleaned the nasty old grease out, replaced the worm drive gear, regreased, put a new gasket in, then reassembled it all. Runs smoother now than the other tilt head we bought around Christmas this year when my wife decided her big 6 qt pro model just couldn't make some of the small batches she cooks sometimes.
So if you use a KitchenAid mixer, consider regreasing it. It probably looks awful inside. Like the oil in your car, that grease has a limited life and once it goes, stuff will break/melt due to the increased friction.
This picture is after I had already scooped out 90% of the grease and shows the melted teeth on the gear in question:
Does anyone subscribe to the NYT who could PM me a link to a PDF of this Kenji recipe?
Ooh, there's some technique stuff in there that I think will help my "just ok" pizza. Thanks for the link.
I just imported it into Paprika and edited it a little, here's a PDF print.
EDIT: Realized reader view doesn’t show the ingredients so I logged in with a throwaway Apple ID.
Does anyone subscribe to the NYT who could PM me a link to a PDF of this Kenji recipe?
I could do it out from the YouTube video, but I just wanted to have something I can print out and add to my recipe book. I got the pizza cooking part by making a free NYT account, but then they blocked me, and I do not want to subscribe to the NYT.
If you only need the text, Safari Reader View is your friend. Spoilered for length:
INGREDIENTS
Yield: 2 (14-inch) crusts
300grams bread flour (about 2¼ cups, see Tips)
7grams sugar (about 1½ teaspoons)
7grams salt (about 1¼ teaspoons table salt or 1¾ teaspoons kosher salt)
1gram instant yeast (about ¼ teaspoon)
150grams cold water (150 milliliters, about ⅔ cup)
30grams neutral oil, such as light olive oil, vegetable oil or corn oil
Semolina or cornmeal, for dustingStep 1
Make the dough: Combine the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer (see Tips). Whisk together to combine, then add the water and oil. Mix at low speed with the dough hook attachment, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, until the dough comes together in a shaggy ball. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Mix on medium-low speed until the dough is silky and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 5 minutes. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface.
Step 2
Divide the dough: Using a bench scraper or knife, cut the dough into two even pieces, about 250 grams each. Using lightly floured hands, shape each piece into a smooth ball, then lightly coat each with oil, using your hands to cover every surface. Transfer each ball to a quart-size zipper-lock bag or other sealable container at least three times its volume. (Quart-size plastic deli containers also work for this.)
Step 3
Ferment the dough: For good results, let the dough rest at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 3 hours. For better results, refrigerate the dough overnight. For best results, refrigerate the dough for at least 3 and up to 5 days.
Step 4
The day before baking, roll the dough: Transfer one dough ball to a work surface generously dusted with semolina or cornmeal. (Refrigerated dough can be rolled straight out of the fridge, though allowing it to rest covered for 1 hour at room temperature will make rolling easier.) Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a very thin circle 14 inches in diameter, lifting and rotating it occasionally (use a ruler or measuring tape to ensure the right size). Repeat with the second ball. If the dough feels like it keeps bouncing back as you try and stretch it, cover it with an inverted bowl or a clean kitchen towel, let it rest for half an hour, then try rolling again.
Step 5
Cure the dough: Transfer the doughs to a flat surface lined with parchment paper or butcher paper. Allow to rest uncovered at room temperature overnight. The top surface of the dough should end up dry to the touch with a leathery feel. If they puff at all during curing, you can push any bubbles with a fork and push them down to flatten them.
Tips
For this recipe, you’ll want an accurate baking scale and enough room to leave your stretched dough out at room temperature for a night. Using a scale to measure your ingredients is strongly advised here — at the very least for the flour. Going without can throw off the hydration level of your dough, and by extension, the success of your dough.
If you want to make 2 (12-inch) pizzas instead, use 225 grams flour, 5 grams sugar, 5 grams salt, 1 gram yeast, 115 grams cold water and 22.5 grams oil. Use only ¾ of the toppings.
The dough can also be made in a food processor or by hand. To make with a food processor, combine all the ingredients and process until the dough forms a ball that rides around the blades. Continue running the food processor for 30 seconds, then transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and continue as directed in Step 2.
To make by hand, combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, add the oil and water, and stir with a wooden spoon until a stiff, shaggy dough is formed. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth, 7 to 10 minutes. Proceed as directed in Step 2.
Thanks all! Will post results whenever I get around to making that pizza!
Where did you get the new parts (gear, gasket) and grease from?
Where did you get the new parts (gear, gasket) and grease from?
Grease and gasket were from Amazon. When I bought this SKU it included the gaskets (actually had one for the drop bowl mixer and the tilt head). Don't see gaskets in the pics anymore.
Gear I got from ebay because I couldn't confirm any gears on Amazon weren't just cheap knock offs. I bought one that was branded Whirlpool which supposedly is the same as the factory gear. Just search for that part number, which if you look for KitchenAid parts is the updated part number if you look at the exploded diagrams on the appliance parts sites. Appliance parts stores online generally have really high shipping compared to the same parts on ebay.
I watched several video's, but this guy (dressed as Mario in the first of his three vids on the tilt heads for some reason) seemed to have the best for me to follow. I think he sells parts on his website, too, but they're priced higher.
....I don't like that he's holding a hammer...
....I don't like that he's holding a hammer...
That's actually the hardest part, driving out the two pins. One in the planetary gear and one on the worm drive gear that I had to replace. I you are just re-greasing, you won't have to replace the gear that I did.
It's not really that hard, just takes some work with a punch. I saw one video of a guy that did it with a nail if you don't own punches.
It was sort of a comical comment but at the same time, me with a hammer and a high-gloss finish... I dunno. My carpenter ancestors are shaking their heads right now.
It was sort of a comical comment but at the same time, me with a hammer and a high-gloss finish... I dunno. My carpenter ancestors are shaking their heads right now.
You just drive the pin out. You should be using a punch that's smaller than the pin and you shouldn't be hitting the enamel. Start tapping on the pin to try to get it below the surface, then you're definitely not going to slip off and damage the paint. Just be careful at the start and it will be fine.
If you take the tilt head completely off, that's an even bigger pin that it pivots on. I didn't need to do that.
Thanks all! Will post results whenever I get around to making that pizza!
Giving it a shot based off the YouTube comments.
Just have to find the sauce recipe.
Niiiiiiiice.
I'm making Food Lab short rib chili today. Almost finished. Gonna be good.
I have mostly been just eating arugula chef salads lately. Trying to get my vitamins.
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