Depends on how often you bake. I don’t have a bread maker but do have a stand mixer, and bake a loaf of sandwich bread weekly because I do not like all the additives in grocery store bread. I slice and freeze as soon as the bread is cool.
It doesn’t require much active time and works for me as a WFH day activity.

I think bread machine output is inferior because it can’t bake hot enough. My Zojirushi only goes up to 300F. I use it to make the dough and then do the rest manually. In fact I make dough for 3 loaves and bake them together, and freeze the extras. King Arthur Flour says their test kitchen also uses Zojirushis just for the kneading step.

We had one. It's really fun but I thought that the bread wasn't that good (a little dense) and it didn't keep long. Not worth it for us unless you were using ALL of the bread the day you made it. And it's not crusty bread like as a side. We only used it for things like egg salad sandwiches and toast.

Anonymous wrote:Just be aware - fresh bread does not last. When I had a full house of kids, we’d eat a loaf a day. Now, I put it st smallest setting and have to freeze half.
You could just google Pullman sandwich bread and get a good Pullman pan and make your own once a week, throw in some potato flour to make it stay fresh longer

PP at 10:41 here. This is important to note. When I bake a loaf it is on the counter and we eat it for about 24 hours. After that, I need to slice and freeze. Otherwise it's breadcrumbs, croutons, or in the trash. I read something the other day about some Japanese method of cooking some of the flour in water first before making the dough, and I might try that next time -- supposedly if you do that it'll last more like 5 days.

Mine is still gathering dust on a back shelf but I’ve thought about pulling it out again. The biggest downfall is fresh bread tastes so amazing and I’d eat way too much.

Costco has 10 pound bags of King Arthur’s bread flour at a good price.

I don't have a bread maker, and like you don't like the idea of one taking up space.

I have recently started baking bread without a bread maker -- mixing up the dough, kneading it, letting it rise, baking it -- and I haven't got it totally right yet, but it is a lot easier than I thought it would be.

It's time intensive, but only because it has to rise. The hands on isn't that bad. And I'm averse to recipes that take a lot of effort.

Have you been giving it a try without the bread maker? You might try a few loaves and see.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just be aware - fresh bread does not last. When I had a full house of kids, we’d eat a loaf a day. Now, I put it st smallest setting and have to freeze half.
You could just google Pullman sandwich bread and get a good Pullman pan and make your own once a week, throw in some potato flour to make it stay fresh longer

This- fresh bread does not last- I freeze bread all the time now. Also, you have to buy serious amounts of flour. I know that's logical but it was an eye-opener for me!

The fact that it doesn't last is the whole reason I bake my own bread. I much prefer not to have all of the preservatives and "extras" from the grocery store bread.

I owned one for many years and made bread in it. It was ok. I much prefer to make my own without the machine in my Dutch oven. It comes out so much better.

If you get one, make sure you mic the flower and liquids yourself. I've often had it bake with lumps of flower that wasn't mixed properly by the machine.

Anonymous wrote:Just be aware - fresh bread does not last. When I had a full house of kids, we’d eat a loaf a day. Now, I put it st smallest setting and have to freeze half.
You could just google Pullman sandwich bread and get a good Pullman pan and make your own once a week, throw in some potato flour to make it stay fresh longer

This- fresh bread does not last- I freeze bread all the time now. Also, you have to buy serious amounts of flour. I know that's logical but it was an eye-opener for me!

Just be aware - fresh bread does not last. When I had a full house of kids, we’d eat a loaf a day. Now, I put it st smallest setting and have to freeze half.
You could just google Pullman sandwich bread and get a good Pullman pan and make your own once a week, throw in some potato flour to make it stay fresh longer

Anonymous wrote:Once you get used to the convenience of a bread machine, you never look back.

This isn’t true. I’ve gone back a few times.

It’s fun. I especially liked setting it to have raisin bread ready in the morning. But I’ve acquired and gotten rid of two, because they are big and I don’t have a giant house.

If I had an enormous Utah house though I would def have one. Like if I had a prep kitchen or something.

The other thing is that the bread it makes is just okay, but if you got into making bread I think you’d advance past it pretty quickly.

You need to do the actual math and figure out whether the cost of a bread maker over its useful lifespan will produce significant savings compared to the bread you buy in the supermarket. Significant savings, because there's also your labor and time to add to the equation. My friend has a bread maker that she uses regularly, so some people do like it.

I don't buy sandwich bread, I buy a variety of loaves at the Whole Foods bakery, and even though I did try to replicate the sourdough in a Dutch oven during the pandemic, I'm certainly not going to do that regularly at home. So this is just an ongoing cost for me.

Once you get used to the convenience of a bread machine, you never look back.

I’m also considering this OP. It’s become expensive and good bread can be difficult to find. We’re considering getting the tools to make it our oven rather than a machine, but it would also take up a lot of space. And not sure we’d save that much money.

I used to joke that a bread machine was an expensive door stop.

Now with coat of groceries I’m thinking maybe I could make sandwich bread easily.

Anyone a bread machine convert?

I bake bread in the oven but I
Am guessing the allure of maker is ease?


Total space hog.