I love to make bread, but I don't really like making it in a bread machine. It's really not hard to do it the old way; it takes a little time, but then so does the bread machine. It's not difficult at all.

I have 2 bread makers which I use a few times a week. However, I only use them to make the dough. This is really convenient for me and keeps the mess to a minimum.

I bake the bread in the oven, although I rarely bake whole loaves. Usually, I make breadsticks or rolls or cinnamon rolls, because they bake very quickly and no slicing after they come out.

I don't buy the pre-packaged mixes anymore because I discovered how easy and inexpensive it is to put the ingredients in from scratch. Sometimes, if I know I'll be making a lot of bread that week, I put the dry ingredients in separate ziplock bags - enough for 6 or 8 batches. Then, it only takes a couple of minutes to add the wet ingredients and yeast and get the dough going.

I would never have thought I'd use my machines this much but now, I rarely buy a loaf of bread!

Funny I have a bread maker and I love it, it does everything all at once, just add ingredients in order from your recipe book that comes with the maker, and it does it all by itself, kinda like magic, mixes, kneads and even rises all in the same appliance, takes about 3 hours, love the smell of bread baking and so do my neighbours I live in an apartment so everyone can smell it when I am baking bread.

Same thing happened to me...I got one as a gift, I used it for about a month and started making it the old fashion way....

Things I don't like about bread makers...

Bread is always a little "wet" when it is done

Bread always has a hole in the bottom of it where the mixer was at

Bread crust is never very good...

just my two cents!

My big Zojirushi does it in three hours from start to finish vs. 8 hours for the regualr way.