The bread machine saga....lightening up the cupboards!

Late last year, my bread machine started to smoke. It was still able to make the dough, but it smelled like it was burning up. Literally. I only used my bread machine for some of the basic doughs - and then would bake them in the oven. Much of our bread, I made from scratch. But I liked the convenience of having the dough made in the machine on days that I was kind of busy.

So for Christmas my husband surprised me with a new bread machine, and the old one (faithful for over 15 years!) was sent to the garbage. I was excited to try out the new machine, and eagerly awaited the first loaf. Imagine how sad I was when it came out with a deflated top. Not knowing what I did wrong, I decided the next loaf - I would simply make the dough, and bake it myself.

I was actually home, and cooking, while this second run was in progress, and as I checked the progress on it, I realized that the paddle and motor combination in this new machine was far from sufficient, and the ingredients were barely getting mixed. Frustration set in. My husband felt it too - and volunteered to take it back and get a different one. But instead, I decided to go without completely. To force myself to bake all of our bread (and for friends) from scratch. It feels good to have one less appliance in the cupboard. Here is to simplifying my kitchen! (a little sarcasm there... read on)

That first week sans bread maker I had to make 4 loaves of wheat bread, something I had always started with breadmaker dough. So I started digging through cookbooks, bread books, and the internet, trying to find a simple wheat bread to make. And while I found one, it was a bit more dense than my normal wheat. So that look continues. Needless to say, when forced to make large quantities of bread, you can never quite get it like you want!

For another week, I simply went back to my standard from scratch french bread. A proven standard, one I wouldn't be worried about. So this week, not having any bread to make for others, I decided I better try to figure out a white bread from scratch, and I'm happy to announce that I was able to modify another recipe and am happy with the results. Who knew that removing that one appliance would encourage me to experiment, and come up with my own recipes?

Simplifying isn't so bad after all!