Possibly of less interest to those who've already got a machine, but here is something from when they were just becoming known. They were much more expensive at the time.
-- Re-post from rec.food.cooking, 1988 . Edited down a bit.
Has anyone tried one of those new machines that make bread? This was discussed at length on misc.consumers a couple of months ago ...
Automatic bread makers were also discussed at length recently here on rec.food.cooking. One obvious question that doesn't come up much in these discussions is why?
With the five minutes it takes me to buttemble ingredients and the five minutes to work the dough by hand, for a modest batch of dough (which, usually, becomes pizzas later, rather than loaves, but considerations are similar), I'm puzzled to understand why it would occur to anyone to automate the process, unless they have never done it much and the whole thing seems mysterious.
Unless these machines self-measure and self-clean, the savings of real time seems negligible when compared honestly to hand buttembly with a little experience. Therefore other than gimmick value, I gather that the big advantage is to wake up with the smell, as with self-timed coffee makers. Put pay hundreds of US dollars for this?? For that I can pay a local bakery to deliver fresh breads in the morning, aroma and all, dozens of times -- and they'll have brioche and croissants, too. Besides, working dough with the hands is an earthy experience -- and it lives, and evokes (to me anyway) merry memories of 1950s horror movies like The Blob.
-- Max
"Adam and Eve sold themselves for an apple. What would they have done for a truffled fowl?" -- Brillat-Savarin
2005 addendum: "Qu'ils mangent des brioches." -- Marie Antoinette
