April 19, 2011 - 8:01am
Just got a bread maker
Hello Everyone!
I just got a bread maker this weekend at a yard sale. I've been wanting one and the price was good, for a starter bread maker. I haven't even tried it out yet but I am looking for some tips and tricks of the trade. It is a West Bend 41065. It has everyting as far as I can tell I think today I am going to try and make some white bread it in.
I'll be wandering around looking at the other post getting ideas.
Hope to talk to ya'll soon!
Ashley
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Thing one with any used breadmaker is to get the manual! (Then you can add tips and tricks from here to the manual.) Breadmaker manuals often include both detailed instructions for making bread and recipes that work well in that model, as well as warnings and tips about particular quirks of that particular model
If the old original manual didn't come with the used breadmaker, Google is your friend. You can often find old manuals in the support area of the company website, which in this case is at http://www.westbend.com/catalog.cfm?dest=dir&linkid=173&linkon=subcategory .
My advice is to use the bread maker on the dough setting, then take the risen dough out, shape, put in pan for last rise and bake in the pan. Much better shape and no big hole from where the paddle was, especially nice for sandwhich bread.
You can then move on to baking free form loaves, rolls, etc the same way. After a while you will probably want a mixer for the increased flexibility and larger capacity.
That's what I did, anyway. :-)
wayne
Thanks!
I actually got the manual yesterday morning. And by last night I had baked a loaf of bread in there, and used the dough setting to make cinamon rolls. I also make just normal banana bread. They all tasted good according to my husband so I think it went well!
I love to use the bread maker to have my fresh bread ready when I wake up in the morning! As Wayne mentioned, there are some drawbacks on using a bread maker;
But for me there is nothing better then fresh bread when I wake up!