My new breadmaker

That's great Fran - nothing like the smell of home made bread to get the taste buds tingling

so true, Wndy! so far I've had nothing on it but butter: having bread that *tastes* is still a wonderful novelty. Thgis bread is a bit sweeter than I'm used to, because there's sugar in the recipe, but that's a nice variation

Wonderful results! Nice coach machine too! :) YUM!

You should add your own review commenting re the print Fran. Maybe Morphy Richards will see it and sort it out for others in a similar situation.
I have to say, not plugging Morphy Richards, but my rather expensive iron packed in recently and after 1 phone call a brand new one winged it's way to me in 3 days. I'm very impressed with that.

Looks like there's going to be lots of bread tasting in your house Fran. I love fresh homemade bread. The hole in the bottom is the problem with breadmakers, but it doesn't alter the flavour!

I feel quite guilty now Fran ! I only bake cakes ! Everything else is shop bought ! Well done you for persevering !

thanks Karen, Scottish, Waddy, Rose and Snoop.

I prefer to start with a basic machine in anything; learn that and work my way up, rather than dive off the top board! it was hard enough using the small-print manual - found a magnifying glass that worked, but that took both hands, and had to put the glass and manual down to measure the ingredient, then go back to check what measurement, then put them down again - for every ingredient!

And, typically, when it arrived I had: half large loaf in the fridge; half large loaf in freezer; entire small loaf in freezer (I usually split a large loaf and freeze half for later; it can be toasted from frozen). So there I was with, effectively, one large loaf and one small one, and I thought, "Let's make some bread"!

@ SCottish - I'm working on my Amazon review, and I shall certainly give Morphy-Rirchards full kudos for making the effort to meet my visual needs. They do seem to realise that going the extra mile will pay them dividends - I'll look for that brand in any future elctrical item I buy.

@ Waddy - my original idea for getting a breadmaker was to get it to do the kneading taht I could no longer do, then shape it and bake it in the oven - then I could add any glaze or topping that I liked. First time out, I thought I'd try the whole thing. But I'll try the "dough" setting for future bread as well as for pastry.

@ Rpse - I don't tend to make cake or cakes, as there's only me here to eat them, and I'll eat them instead of making a proper meal. Same with biscuits.

Sainsburys does a lovely tasting wholwheat seeded bread, but often it's gone before I get down there. Usually the only other brown option is Hovis, which I have to say I'm not overfond of.

@ I had thought of greasing the whole inside of the bucket with oil, which is needed in the recipe, but it has to be added after the water, so didn't seem likely to take.

When I read the manual properly, it said to grease the whole bucket before first use, which I hadn't done; that might make a difference - the loaf came out easily the first time, but i had to shake the bucket and slap the bottom before it'd release the loaf this time - greasing would certainly help all round.

Maybe I could spread the oil around the sides and over the paddle in the process of adding it to the water. So long as the loaf releases from the bucket it wo'nt hurt to let it go cold before trying to get the paddle out - in both cases the paddle stayed in the bucket, it was getting the bread OUT of hte bucket that was the prob second time round.

but it's all a learning process, and i must read all of the manual now that i've got a readable one!

Excellent news Fran. You are an inspiration!

Well done Fran, I've never made my own bread, I do have a breadmaker but never used it, in my own defence it was a new one dad had bought just before he passed away and my brother insisted I have it, just never plucked up the courage to give it a go, I do make my own cakes, scones and pies though so not all bad, you never know I might give it a go one day, lol..
So pleased Morphy Richards sent the instructions to you, typical of other companies to ignore you, does not make for good public relations does it !!...
I hope you enjoy yourself both making and eating your loaves, mum and dads house smelled smashing when dad was in breadmaking mode, he was in his element trying out different recipes, a great winter pastime.....

Hi Fran I have a Morphy Richards breadmaker, and have always been pleased with the results. Did you get a recipe booklet with your machine? We particularly like the recipe given for Tomato bread :o) and also the Hot Cross Bun Bread! Don't use it as often as I did now, as I'm sure we put on a lot of weight eating such delicious bread!

@ HB – thanks dear. The loaves are eccentrically-shaped, and small – I knew this wasn’t a big machine but was still surprised at how small the loaf was.

@ Stera – thank you! [blushing modestly]

@ Lincs – can understand why you’ve not used yours, as you didn’t get it by personal choice.

I’m going to give Morphy-Richards full kudos in the review, lol and to anyone and everyone who happens to mention the word “breadmaker”!

Most of the smell is contained within the machine, but when I start oven-baking it’ll come out in full (wish they made air freshener in that scent!)

@ PetalTracy – yes, there was a combination manual and recipe booklet, but with my vision I had severe problems reading it – needed both hands, one to hold the paper and one the magnifying glass, put them both down to get the next ingredient, put that down and pick them both up again to check weight, put them down, weigh it, then up again for the next one … lol I’ll have to get a screen on my kitchen cupboard, linked to the PC, so I can just put the thing up on high zoom!

I’m going to go “by the book” till I get the hang of it, then start trying variations: my favourite bread is granary, so once I’ve worked out how to cut and measure half a vitamin C tablet I’ll be doing a lot of that. Didn’t know about hot cross buns; I only glanced through the booklet, and tha was hard enough work!

I rally only wanted it for the actual kneading, but decided to chicken out and do the whole process first couple of times. Next time I’ll try the “dough” setting, then I can shape it and glaze it and oven-bake it. Used to enjoy kneading the dough – lol amazing how much negative energy one can work off!

I have to halve tablets for Brynner Fran, I found the easiest way to get a clean break is to use a BLUNT knife and cutting board, place tablet on the board and press hard, if you haven't the strength to break the tablet then whack the back of the knife with a rolling pin or similar, do not trap your fingers between as it does hurt, LOL, usually can get two clean halves...

thanks, Lincs! I'd been thinking of putting it in a plastic bag and whacking or rolling it all to powder, then measuring the amount I need - can't remember off-hand, but it's a tiny amount. Your way sounds better! If I can cut one properly in half, then crush and measure it, I'll know how much I'll need another time, and maybe I can cut a stack and store them like that to be powdered and added.

lol my local small Sainsbury only had effervescent vitamin C tablets; I posted a question on Amazon about it, and they said that wo uldn't do, I needed proper tablets, which I've now got - Lakeland sells vitamin C powder, but the reviews say that the packaging is very flimsy, some people got theirs loose cos the container had broken.

I'd forgotten all about adding Vit C but the bread seems to be Ok without it so don't worry if you haven't got any.
I don't use a breadmaker but can't see why that would make any difference?

it only says to add it to brown or wholemeal bread, so I assume it'd be needed for granary too. I never did when I hand-kneaded the dough, so I'll try it once with and once without to see what the difference is, if any. The prob was to find vitamin C tablets that weren't orange-flavroured!

Hi fran, on my breadmachines, 2 from Lidl and my
present one a Kenwood, i have managed to take the dough out after the machine has finished its kneading program - many machines give a warning sound at this stage-
you can then remove the paddle and just drop the dough back in. This way you don't end up with a hole in the bottom and it comes out much easier. Good luck w your new toy, i love mine.

Thanks for the tip, Resi! this machine gives a beep so you can add extra ingredients - seeds, nuts, etc - I put some seeds in, hoping that they'd make a topping, but the loaf ended up smooth, so they must have got incorporated into the mix - probably during the rising stage.

It has a "dough" setting, but I'd never thought of taking the bread out at the beep, removing the paddle, then putting the dough back! I'm due to make another loaf today, so I'll try it, thanks again.

I'm taking on board all these instructions and when I'm on my own one day I'm gonna give it a go, our local Sainsbury is at the retail park which is only a short wak to the bottom of my road so it will be an impulse shopping trip one day when I'm bored, lol.......

my local small Sainsbury only has small bags of bread flour, and only a couple of types, though it does have "strong whtie flour" which I assume would do. Hope yours is better stocked! - I'll have to go further afield to get granary flour.

Strong flour and bread flour are the same thing Fran. You can use ordinary plain flour if you haven't got the strong - the only difference is that there is more gluten in the strong one, which helps to make the dough more elastic when kneaded.

thanks, Stera. I don't really like white bread, or at least the kind of white bread that's usually sold! the loaves I made were white multiseeded, which has a nice taste.