Adventures in Breadmaking (1)

Last week I struck gold at the Salvation Army store nearby.  I've had several adventures there, one of which included locking the baby in the truck.  In fact, I hadn't been back since November; I guess that particular time was pretty traumatic.

For years I have thought in the back of my mind that it would be wonderful to have a bread machine.  About 20 years ago my parents bought a DAK machine, which is still running, even though the DAK company has been defunct for years. 

image credit DAK Auto Bakery

Nothing could quite compare to walking in the door from a long day of errands, piano lessons, or just being outside, and meeting the aromas of dinner in the crock pot and a golden loaf rising in the bread machine.  My mom is smart; she knows that errand day requires dinner to be made by a machine.

There have been a few times in the near 6 years I've been married that I have attempted to make yeast breads.  The effort was grand, and the results were less than stellar.  The conclusion is, if I want bread, it has to be the quick bread variety (like banana or beer bread), the kind the comes out of a can that pops when you open it, or I have to buy it made already.

But, this all changed when I saw this beast on the floor near the appliances.  And for only $12.99, I nearly squealed!

Really pretty, right?

I opened it, inspected it, took it apart (partially), put it back together again, plugged it in--everything checked out.  I hurried eagerly to the register and bought it before anyone else could see it and take it out from under me. 

When I got it home, it took me hours of searching online for a manual and printing it (seriously, it took me 45 minutes to figure out how to print the pages into a double-sided booklet), and it took me literally several days of prying, scraping, and pounding, using olive oil, two screwdrivers, and a spatula to remove the dough hook from the bowl.  Apparently many yeas of disuse left it nearly fused to its washers.  But I was not to be deterred!  I was at least going to test it out to make sure it worked.  I figure that at this price, if we get a half dozen loaves of decent bread, we'll get our money's worth. 

It takes up as much room on the counter as a microwave, and there's no way that and a crock pot or rice cooker would all fit in the kitchen at the same time.  It has to live on the floor in the garage when it's not being used.  But who cares, if the house can smell like a bakery for a few hours every couple of days?

Bread, glorious bead!

So far, I've made pizza dough, which was a success, and one beautiful loaf of egg bread, which will surely not live long enough to see the light of day tomorrow. 

Gorgeous and perfect egg bread, wouldn't you say?

I can't wait to try out wheat bread, cinnamon rolls, and bagels!

Do you have a bread machine?  What's your favorite thing to make?