… and that’s why I love my bread maker

My bread maker, old and used for years by my mother-in-law. Still working, though. Working great. Working miracles on my kitchen counter, jumping and making all those weird and loud sounds that even my daughter got used to.

The thing is that before I got it I knead everything by hand. All my breads, pizza dough, dinner rolls and bread sticks, and we still were buying bread from the store. Two months ago I got that bread maker, I thanked and put that thing to be forgotten. I thought I was doing pretty good before getting it and I’m going to be fine without it. Old habits die hard.

Finally about 3 weeks ago I came across bread recipe which called for a bread maker. I knew I would’ve made it without “that thing” (that’s how I named it) but… I decided to give it a try.

So far I only have used the “dough” setting where I bake the bread in the oven after all (not in “that thing”). The first time I used it I witnessed a real miracle. I have never seen a dough so smooth, rising so fast and big, and after all the bread being so fluffy inside and crunchy on the outside. And I became a believer. Me, a doubting Thomas.

Next thing I made in it was a dough for breadsticks and pizza. You need to know that I made homemade pizza a countless time in my life. Breadstick not so often but a few times, at least.

I’m the Chicago style pizza lover while my husband prefers New York style. I always struggled with making my pizza dough very fluffy inside and crunchy (but not burned and hard) on the outside. With my husband’s crust I’d never came to the ideal paper-like thin but still fluffy with crunchy edges crust. Until… I made the dough in the bread maker.

The same was with my breadsticks. They were always too dense and heavy inside. Tasted great but still… not perfect. 

Now I can tell you that I’m never going to come back to kneading those by hand. NEVER.

My pizza came out with a crust that the best restaurants wouldn’t be ashamed to serve. Breadsticks… hmmm… I can only say:  bye bye Olive Garden… I don’t need you anymore!

extra recipe for very fast, simple and tasty tomato sauce
an extra recipe for very fast, simple and tasty tomato sauce – feel free to double the ingredients and to use big tomatoes instead of small

My husband ate his pizza and there was no crust left on his plate, what he would have done if it was too hard to chew or burned.

1 1/2 cups water*

1 package (2 1/4 tsp) active yeast

3 1/2 cups bread flour

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

Bake in 450 F for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and the crust on the edges golden brown.

From this recipe I made 2 thin (New York style) and 2 very fluffy (deep dish) pizzas.

Since I started using “that thing” we haven’t bought a single loaf of bread and I wonder what was best for our budget. One (sometimes two) store bought loaf of bread per week or homemade bread that I make every other day (sometimes everyday). lol

ah… and look at those fresh baked buns I made my first sloopy joes with…

The recipe and the story behind it in my next post.

Hearth & Soul HopNightOwlCraftingCast Party WednesdayMomma Hens Coop

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23 thoughts on “… and that’s why I love my bread maker

  1. Jennifer Ward-Pelar

    OH! I can NEVER get my pizza dough right. Maybe this is the answer. Yours look lovely! So, you make the bread in the machine, but then bake at 450 in the oven? I’ve never used one before, have no idea how this works.
    How ironic. Guess what my landlord brought over this week? His bread maker!! He said he never used it and he knew I liked to bake, so I could use it. God, I love that man!
    Now I get to use your recipe and try it out!!! I am SOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!

    Reply
    1. Polish Mom Photographer Post author

      Jenn, it’s so much easier with the bread maker. You just put all the ingerdients inside. With all those buttons you set it up for “dough” press start and wait. That’s it. It makes everything for you. After it is done you take it out, shape it like pizza (deep dish or very thin), put the toppings and bake in the oven!
      I got mine with no manual but I google it and I found a tutorial how to use it. You should do the same.
      I’m so excited for you. I had never used one before this either. I had no idea that something like that exists!!!

      Reply
  2. nadinesellers

    now i am SO SORRY that i gave my bread machine away when we moved to the Midwest…
    i did not use “that thing” either, too expensive to make our own special breads in it..and every excuse not to rely on a “machine”
    your recipes look like love..in action. i will try those above. machine-less.

    Reply
    1. Polish Mom Photographer Post author

      You know, it’s actually much cheaper to make a bread in it than to buy one. Last time I made a whole wheat bread with oats, sunflower seeds and flax seeds in it. It was delicious. Very nutritious and still much cheaper that if I bought a bread like that from the store. I’m planning to get a CHIA seeds next time I’m in the store (they are very good for our heatlh). In addition I have the freedom and control over the amount of salt used in it. Of course homemade doesn’t last that long as store bought, but with the bread maker it’s really not a big deal to make a bread every other day… . It’s really fast and easy!

      Reply
  3. Chelsea

    Hi!

    I just thought I’d let you know how much I like your blog :). I’ve spent the last few days browsing through your old posts and I must say your photography is an inspiration. I’ve also enjoyed learning more about Polish culture and am super excited to eventually try all of the recipes you’ve posted. Thanks so much for sharing!!!

    Chelsea

    Reply
    1. Polish Mom Photographer Post author

      Chelsea, it’s so nice to hear it from you! I appreciate your sweet words about my blog. It’s really encouraging. I know I am not writing a lot about Poland and my Polish culture… at least not as much as I wish I was. I have so many Polish recipes I want to try and post here but the thing is that my husband is a very picky eater and not very found of Polish kitchen, so there is no point to cook just for me, these days… although I do that sometimes when I really crave something. Now is a little bit better because my daughter is old enough to eat what we eat so I’ve been trying to introduce her to Polish food so she won’t grow up as my husband. One picky eater at the house is enough!!! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Bama Girl

    I’m with you on the bread machine! Hardly a day goes by that I don’t use ‘that thing’ for something! I love mine, all of them! I can hardly pass one up at a yard sale or thrift store, so I have three! I put them up to save when this one goes out. I am making a sour dough bread, start to finish, as I write this. No starter necessary and it tastes so delicious! It’s our favorite; and unless we eat it quickly, it will last several days before it gets stale. Blessings from Bama!

    Reply
    1. Polish Mom Photographer Post author

      I love that, too. that is the main reason I started baking my own breads. I can even twist a little the recipe for oridinary french bread and make it much healthier than from the store. I mean any kind of bread baked at home is much healthier than the one from the store 😉 and there is nothing better than a warm slice of bread with butter and some tomato on top – to die for 🙂

      Reply
      1. nadinesellers

        french bread recipe please! what passes as french is often not sour enough or too sweet…and it’ s missing the “crust factor”…that’s why i always like home made better..and here, the atmospheric conditions are better to make yeast breads, desert was too dry..

        Reply
        1. Polish Mom Photographer Post author

          So, last time I made a loaf of french bread from the same recipe as the pizza dough. I just baked it a little longer (about 25 minutes), until the crust was brown and when I tapped it it sounded hallow. My husband LOVED it. The crust was just amazingly crunchy and inside so soft and fluffy. The crust got soft on the next day, though.
          There is another recipe I often use:
          http://momphotographer.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/homemade-french-bread-with-creamy-spinach-soup/

          It’s very good, too. Those two are yeast based breads as I do not make my own sourdough starter. I tried twice but every time it died on me. It’s really cold in my apartment and it’s really hard to keep a stable temperature high enough for the starter to start working… . Too bad.

          Reply
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  6. April @ The 21st Century Housewife

    Your pizza looks delicious. I make pizza dough in my bread maker as well, and it really is wonderful. Although I still make bread from scratch, my bread maker is wonderful for when I am in a hurry, and it really does make lovely bread (and pizza!) dough. Thank you for sharing this post with the Hearth and Soul hop.

    Reply
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  8. Aprilcooks

    I know this post is a year old but I just tried your pizza crust today and it is out of this world! Perfectly crispy and perfectly flavored. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply

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