Bread
Are Bread Machines the Secret to Eating Good Bread on a Budget?
The machine of yesteryear is proof that some hacks never go out of style.
Photo by Bobbi Lin

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4 Comments
M
February 22, 2023
These were big in the aughts but quickly disappeared because they just don't make tasty bread, are an impractical size, and will have a gaping hole where the paddle sits. Didn't help when no-knead bread hit and it made significantly better bread than the space-hogging machines.
If you taste a bread from one of these machines, like it, and know you want to make a LOT of it, it'll be worth it to you. But don't waste money and space on a machine like this because TikTokkers who want to go viral and insist that a decades-old, unpopular machine is a new "hack." There's a reason there are countless debunking videos about TikTok "hacks." And there's a reason the author of this piece couldn't find a machine at the same price.
If you taste a bread from one of these machines, like it, and know you want to make a LOT of it, it'll be worth it to you. But don't waste money and space on a machine like this because TikTokkers who want to go viral and insist that a decades-old, unpopular machine is a new "hack." There's a reason there are countless debunking videos about TikTok "hacks." And there's a reason the author of this piece couldn't find a machine at the same price.
Smaug
February 22, 2023
I should be happy to never see the word "hack" again; it seems to be the younger generation's way of announcing that they've a better way, which they generally have not. ln answer to the initial question, the key to eating good (fill in the blank) is to learn how to cook. Which you can't do by watching videos, it has to happen in the kitchen.
Smaug
February 21, 2023
My mother used a bread machine after her hands got so bad from arthritis that she couldn't do it by hand; made decent enough sandwich bread once she'd developed some recipes; the loaves are a weird shape, and you have to tear the mixing blade out of the loaf. Can't really see the need for the machine otherwise, bread making should really be a basic life skill, but here in America survival skills are more and more limited to shopping. Bread flour is currently running near $2/lb. in these parts, but still cheaper than buying commercially made bread; they have to buy flour too. Of coursed a machine is very limited in what it can do; no English muffins, no baguettes, no pizza etc. Some people do use their machines to mix dough and then finish it outside the machine, but it's really not at all difficult to do without.
I suspect that most of you, unlike the author of this article, know better than to store bread in the refrigerator; it would have been preferable to have someone who knew breadmaking do the tests.
I suspect that most of you, unlike the author of this article, know better than to store bread in the refrigerator; it would have been preferable to have someone who knew breadmaking do the tests.
Bert G.
February 20, 2023
So sorry you don't get the value of fresh bread. As you say "Because the bread is not made with any preservatives, it did go stale quickly." Maybe that's a good thing.
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