I've never been fearful in the kitchen, I cut my teeth on Julia Child's "The Art of French Cooking", however, baking bread scared me. Bread dough seemed so mercurial, proof the yeast, knead the dough, watch the humidity. The process of making the dough consumed an entire day: punch the dough down, let it rest, set in a warm place to rise for 2 hours then repeat the process.
The result after hours of work and being tied to the house did not appeal to me; just one loaf of bread, maybe two. If I slaved in the kitchen multiple hours then I expected something more filling, like pot au feu, and awe inspiring, like caramel cake with a hazelnut dacquoise and Italian meringue. Then I purchased a bread machine and the process was demystified. Now everyday is fresh bread day at my house.
You will find a variety of machines on the market. When I bought my first machine it made vertical loaves that insulted my sense of how bread should look. By the time I was ready to upgrade I knew enough about bread machines to make a more intelligent decision. Fortunately, the bread machine market had improved to offer better machines with usable features. My second bread machine came from Zojirushi. I consider it the king of bread machines because of its versatility and smart design. Here's what I like about it:
- Horizontal loaf up to a 2 lb loaf of bread
- Wheat and white cycle
- Personalized cycle
- Dough cycle, 2 hours
- Quick dough cycle, 45 minutes
- Beeps when it is time to add things to the dough (raisins, sun dried tomatoes, seeds, herbs)
- Timer for delayed start (best feature ever!)
