I had a bread maker and it drove me crazy. It was Schrodinger’s bread box. Put in ingredients, wait, and at the end it’s either oddly shaped bread or a brick. Seemingly absolutely randomly. I hated it with my whole heart and gave it to my neighbor, who could not cook so 75% or whatever was a good enough success rate for her.
Bread is not difficult to make by hand (well, sourdough at least is easy & forgiving) but it takes knowledge of how the dough should look and feel. Flour can act different on different days, the ambient temperature matters, and how old is your yeast, there is no way to absolutely standardize what is going into that machine.
I had a bread maker and it drove me crazy. It was Schrodinger’s bread box. Put in ingredients, wait, and at the end it’s either oddly shaped bread or a brick. Seemingly absolutely randomly. I hated it with my whole heart and gave it to my neighbor, who could not cook so 75% or whatever was a good enough success rate for her.
Bread is not difficult to make by hand (well, sourdough at least is easy & forgiving) but it takes knowledge of how the dough should look and feel. Flour can act different on different days, the ambient temperature matters, and how old is your yeast, there is no way to absolutely standardize what is going into that machine.