In August of 2018, we found the podcast Choose FI. What an inspiration to change! In one of the first few episodes of the podcast, the co-hosts discuss how they’re making bread in their bread machines. Putting in 5 ingredients, press a button or two and forget about it until it’s beeping and done. On August 29th, our first bread text was sent…
Mind blown for the day, That 20 year old bread machine could be making $.18 loaves of bread if I buy 20 lb bags of flour at Costco for approx. < $6.00 / bag. I’ve been trying to get rid of that thing for years. Perhaps I’ll need to see if it still lives in the way back corner of my kitchen. J to M
The first loaf of bread was made between us on September 2nd, and the texting continued. Pictures of 25 lb. bags of flour, bricks of yeast, discussions on storage of bags of flour and yeast, and not to mention the discussions on bread machines themselves.
In late September, M buys a $10 Black and Decker bread machine on FB marketplace and J starts making pizza dough. We start finding additional bread machines for family members. And start reviewing bread machines and comparing the features looking for the exact model that is the best. We discover that grocery budgets are down a tad in September and are curious to know if it’s the reduction of bread from the bill? Do you suppose?
Storage is a concern for how to keep the bread freshest, longest and not contributing to a plastic crisis in the oceans, even though we live over 1500 miles from an ocean. An investment in Bread Loaf keepers, and bread knives are made. Another bread machine is purchased on FB marketplace for J’s son. J tests out the machine, by have a bread down with dueling bread machines. Classic white in one machine, and French bread in the other.
October brings on the Buns and the Cuisinarts. Hamburger Buns, Garlic Basil Buns and Garlic Bread. Hamburger bun recipe is used for Brat Buns, and experiments with Bagels. After watching a post on FB market place for a post on Cuisinart CBK-100 bread machine for several weeks, the owner had lowered the price to something we could not risk missing out on. The bonus, the owner had 2 machines, each for the $25 price. J and M took them both and arranged pickup through another of J’s sons. After a good cleaning of the bread machines, from J’s husband, J tests them again, dueling bread machines, French Bread and Rosemary Bread.
More bread, and more buns finish out the month and start the month of November, and some discussions on “Perfect Loafs” and “Falling Bread Loafs”. A reduction of bread being eaten occurs at M’s house and a Crouton Recipe is tried on the bread that’s remaining unnoticed.
Cinnabon cinnamon rolls and Sweat sticky Bun dough is created in the bread machine, and plans for rolls on Thanksgiving weekend and Christmas weekend start to be formed. There’s a discussion about how to put Pam on the bread machine paddle to keep the dough from sticking to the paddle and being a mess. J starts testing the Pam Paddle and is a believer of it. M uses the bread machine to mix tortilla dough and makes tortillas for her family for lunch. Best tacos the family has had in a longtime.
November continues with discussion on pizza crust not holding its shape and hanging down while being eaten. Where we learned a different recipe for pizza dough with Corn Meal in it and discovered that it had more strength to hold it’s shape better and it’s delicious. J’s family takes to making the new recipe and eating it quite regularly modifying a few things during the baking instructions, to brush the edges with olive oil and sprinkle some sea salt on it. YUM!
In December, J’s family makes a motion that the caramel (sticky buns) rolls is much better than the Cinnabon recipe and move forward with several caramel rolls over the month. M cannot seem to make the Caramel rolls without mixing the caramel topping with the center cinnamon spread for the roll. M decides that even though she’s never made the recipe correctly, we’re having Caramel rolls for Christmas Treat Day at work. M gets out both of her bread machines out and starts mixing the dough process. Dueling bread machines to make two pans of caramel rolls. As time comes close to the time to stretch the dough out and put the toppings in the pans, and sprinkle the center cinnamon roll onto the dough. It’s discovered that there’s a shortage in the pantry of the brown sugar. No problem, 15 miles from town and 2 miles to J’s house, she called J to demand using her brown sugar. J indicates there’s a shortage at their house as well, but she’s willing to give all she has to the caramel rolls for work.
M picks up the few table spoons of brown sugar and determines there is only enough brown sugar to make 1 pan of caramel rolls. M introduces Jam Rolls to the mix. One pan of Caramel rolls go to M’s work, Jam rolls go to M’s husbby’s work. The struggle is real people, with brown sugar. J continues to go through several lbs of brown sugar in a month timeframe even while buying it in bulk.
Over Christmas break, it means kids are home, J’s family starts to make their own rolls and breads. M’s family makes some more jam rolls and have a New England hotdog bun pan to try out. New struggles with the new pan, cause for bread to be doughy in the middle but the end buns were delicious. Try again, follow instructions closer.
With all of these adventures, though out the months, we have been sharing them with many friends and co-workers. Enjoying the stories of miss-measured ingredients, bread fails, pizza struggles and the like. Throughout this timeframe, M’s hubby decides, he’s not eating bread to try and lose weight, and J moves forward with a Keto diet to reduce sugar and start feeling better. This is not stopping the bread from being produced. Possibly a little less often to keep the temptations down. J’s family has taken over bread making and eating responsibilities but J still enjoys seeing her family’s successes and is still sharing updates with her co-workers who have also embraced the Bread Machine path. J has converted 3 individuals, to consider the bread machine life style, her hairdresser has decided to get a bread machine, a co-worker asked for and received a bread machine for Christmas, and a 3rd friend is trying to make gluten free bread and purchasing a bread machine as well. M’s bread machine updates at work have grown to a larger following of individuals. One of her co-workers made a suggestion for Beer Bread which is leading to a number of beer induced dough making by both M and J’s family. The coworker is now considering a bread machine of his own. Another co-worker busted out her bread machine from storage and is working with her machine regularly as well. Now she’s sharing her adventures with us as well. It’s crazy how much fun we’re having discussing bread and yeast. How many bricks, loaves, rolls, brown sugar bags are being consumed during these several months. The wins, the delicious creations and an occassional fail shared by this group of friends will lead to additional learnings and updates on utilizing our Bread Machines. Keep yourself posted for more Bread Machine updates. I do not think this fun is going to end anytime soon.
Retire With Us - 2028 