Do I think that bread machine mixes are useful? Yes, some of them are, but the snag with all bread machine mixes is that they place limitations on your choice and do not encourage your creative talents. That may sound odd, but think about it for a while. If you depend on bread machine mixes you can only make the bread for which you can buy a bread machine mix and you can only tip the bread machine mix into the bowl and switch on the bread making machine. You are definitely not likely to alter the bread machine mix for fear that it won't work.
OK, what is the alternative? Well, the old-fashioned recipe book, of course! Not any old cookbook, but a specialized bread making machine recipe book. Bread making is a very simple, but rather tiresome process. The ingredients are commonplace, household items: water, flour, yeast, salt, sugar and oil. You already have those items in your cupboard with the possible exception of the yeast, which can be bought almost anywhere at minimal cost.
And you know what happens when you follow a recipe, don't you? You've read the recipe through and you know you have everything in the kitchen, but when the recipe calls for, say, currants, you open the cupboard door and see that you don't have any currants - they were sultanas! Oh, well you think, they'll do. You make do. You experiment. You are developing your skills and creativity. Bread making mixes cannot do that for you.
A good bread making machine cookbook will have well over 100 recipes originating from several countries and you will get really enthusiastic about trying the different ones out. Have you eaten Welsh bread - Bara Brith? Or Amish bread? Cajun bread or onion bread? Banana bread is lovely too, but one of my favourites is Brazil Nut Bread - absolutely scrumptious.
The point is that you may not find recipes for all these breads in one place, but if you have a reference point, like a bread recipe cookbook, you can start off by using already tried and tested gourmet bread recipes and gradually invent your own - frequently out of necessity.
I once made a fantastic loaf of bread by adding some of the left-over vegetables from my Sunday meal. It was very tasty, but I could never quite reproduce it, because I had not written down the proportions of the vegetables. I could only remember that it had green beans, potatoes and sweet corn in it!
Bread machine mixes will never ever provide that, will they? Furthermore, bread machine mixes are fairly expensive compared to the cost of 10 pounds of flour. I usually vary the ingredients too: honey instead of sugar, milk instead of water, olive oil or butter instead of just corn oil. Rock salt instead of sea salt or visa versa. I'm sure you see what I mean.
Bread machine mixes are limited and limiting. A bread making machine is a great way to use up leftovers. I have even put meat and fruit in my gourmet bread. My principle is: if it'll go in a sandwich it'll go in the dough - like an Indian stuffed paratha or stuffed naan bread.
Stop buying bread machine mixes - they are a waste of money. Instead be creative with a bread machine recipes cookbook.
If you have been using bread machine mixes go on over to http://bread-machine-mixes.the-real-way.com to see what you have been missing.
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