When you’re planning to make a very standard white bread, the crustiness, the color, the crumb, the flavor, everything has to be taken into consideration. And this might cause you an elevated level of distress.

However, even if you’re not a professional chef, a bread-making machine is the easiest gateway to this real perfect bread that you’re dying to make.

If you are wondering, how does a bread machine work? Well, it’s quite simple. It can be a little scary for beginners to bake bread at home.

A bread machine works as meticulously as a pro baker does. With a bread machine, you can put the ingredients the night before.

And the next day you’re going to wake up to a loaf of fresh, leavened white bread rising on your counter. This could be as elite as Michael Jordan, and you’ll definitely leave everyone impressed.

Are All Bread Making Machines the Same?

Bread making machines are going to vary according to their price and branding. Although, every bread machine contains three common settings, which are most important for making bread.

The first setting is the type of bread you want to make; the second setting is for choosing the color of the crust, and the third setting is to choose the loaf size.

Expensive bread machines contain additional settings, but the difference isn’t very significant from the cheap ones. Low-priced bread machines do not knead the dough as efficiently as they should. But the outcome is generic: not exceedingly bad, but not quite perfect.

A Bread Machine

Since there are different types of bread machines that work differently, your bread may not come out as you expect it. So, what you’re going to do is to try to change the recipe a little bit until you get the anticipated result.

If you’re anxious about the safety and proper usage of your bread maker, follow the instruction manual to use the exact settings and exact recipe for getting an accurate result.

How Does a Bread Making Machine Work?

You may have mistakenly assumed that there could be some secret tricks behind presenting you a fat loaf of bread from your bread machine. Just like your nearby bakery store, a bread machine is going to perform the entire process from start to finish.

Mixing the ingredients, kneading the dough, rising, and baking are all smoothly done by a bread machine. Some of you are going to be skeptical about the timing but knowing that this appliance does everything from start to finish, it’s supposed to take at least three hours.

A Bread Machine Work

If you’re not a pro baker, baking on your hands may consume more time than the bread machine does. That is why bread making machines are in fact, a medium of saving your valuable time in the middle of a busy schedule.

Do not go buying expensive bread if you have never experimented with a bread-making machine before. It’s safer to buy the cheap ones and work with it, and try different recipes slightly.

Sometimes, a cheap bread maker with some good quality bread yeast and just sifting the flour would make good bread too. No matter how much your bread maker costs, at the end of the day, your bread machine is going to be worth every penny because using this machine can make a big difference.

How to Properly Use This Machine?

It’s more appropriate to take precautions instead of troubleshooting when the mishaps take place. Here are some important things to remember for beginners when using a bread machine—

Securing the Paddle

If you’re new to using your bread machine, the first thing that you need to do is to secure the paddle into the bread pan. This paddle comes with the bread machine in a separate and small container.

Bread Machine Work

Ensuring the Capacity

It’s very important to check the maximum capacity of your bread machine. Most bread machines don’t go over a two-pound loaf. Remember to put the ingredients that go below the capacity of your bread machine, or your bread machine will overflow, and it might create problems in the aftermath.

Also, try to make medium loaves because if it becomes tall in stature, it will be difficult to slice them with a knife, and they won’t fit in your toasters. Besides, you can’t add additional ingredients if your baking pan is already filled up.

Therefore, it’s convenient to make a medium loaf of bread to maintain flexibility in your recipe.

Putting Ingredients in the Bread Pan

When putting the ingredients, it’s safer to put them in the pan outside the bread machine. Otherwise, the ingredients can fall off to the sides, and it will be a hassle to clean the mess afterward.

Locking the Bread Pan into the Machine

When you’re about to put your bread pan back into the machine, lift up the lid, and you’ll notice on two sides of the container. There are two clips facing each other, and on the two sides of the bread pan, there are two clips as well. When you put the pan in the bread machine, connect the clips with a slight push.

Bread Machine

After connecting the clips, you will notice that they are sealed together and firm in place. Close the lid of your machine, and next, you’re going to do the settings from the display board according to what your recipe suggests. Once everything is selected, go ahead and click the start button.

Checking the Consistency

After the bread machine starts working, you can take a quick look at your dough to check its consistency. If it feels a bit dry, add some water or if it feels stickier, add some flour.

Adding the Ingredients

Please remember that if you put additional ingredients like raisins and whatnot far too early, they will be minced up completely because of the mixing blade, and if you put them at the closer end of the process, they won’t mesh with the dough properly.

Let’s Get This Bread!

Once the bread making is over, it will beep at you to signalize that it’s ready to be taken out. Go ahead and open up the lid with an oven glove. Twist the bread pan and pull it out. You can just flip the bread over and let it cool down for a few minutes.

If your bread doesn’t come down easily, take a plastic spoon, and run down the sides with the spoon gently, and then your bread will come out nice and clean.

 

 

 

Follow the Manual

Try to follow the instruction book as best as you can. If it suggests to put dry ingredients, and then to put wet ingredients in the bread pan, then do it accordingly. Many of you are likely to do it vice versa, and then the bread may look like house bricks in spite of putting the exact ingredients.

Every bread making machine comes with a pretty comprehensive manual. If you’re confused with this step, take a decent look at your manual once again.

Safe Habitation

Place your bread machine far away from the edge of the counter because some of these machines are literal walkers, and they would commit suicide at any moment.

One probable reason for this behavior is because of the toughness of the dough; if the dough is tougher than the machine’s handling capacity, it can cause the machine to vibrate constantly.

Beginner’s recipe

Whenever you’re first starting, you’ll always want to use this recipe because it’s the easiest one to follow. It shows you all of the basics, and you don’t have to worry about the consistency or adding extra things.

Final words

Therefore, buying a bread machine is a fantastic idea even if you have graduated from bread making yet or if you’re not as energetic to make it on your hands anymore.

Once you master how does a bread machine work, making a simple white bread through this machine will be a piece of cake. You’ll soon figure out that your bread machine can do a fabulous job not just in making bread but also in making the best pizza crusts, scrambled eggs, fruit jams, and even doughnuts.