**REVIEW** Hamilton Beach 2 Lb Digital Bread Maker

 As mentioned in a prior post, here is my review of the breadmaker that I got for Christmas.

The machine, the bread pan and
2 kneading paddles

You can see the controls beside the LED
and 12 usage options along the 
top left side

I chose this one after looking at a bunch of others because:

• The features, especially being programmable and being able to make a variety of items.
• The price was reasonable & I didn't want or need the fanciest, priciest machine from my family.
• Things mentioned in less-than-glowing reviews didn't really put me off.
• It looked easy to clean.

Now that I have the machine and have used it, I'm really pleased with my choice. I can add these to the positives:

• Incredibly easy to use. I was sweating and stressing but as soon as I started, it was a snap.
• Even though it's quite large and my kitchen is small, I have found a counter for leaving it out on and a space for storing it away. And, believe, me, my kitchen is almost too small to cuss a cat in.
• It's very quiet. I have one annoying and noisy neighbor who I always complain about. I didn't want a machine that made me look bad. I can use this thing at night and it wouldn't wake anyone in the apartment.

There are some things I wish were better, but they don't ruin my experience. These include:

• The LED display doesn't show where in the breadmaking cycle the machine is at. I have to pay attention to the alerting beeps if I want to add seeds/nuts or remove the prepared dough for baking in the oven. (I sometimes want a loaf made in the cast iron or fixed into a particular shape.) I also like to remove the bread after the last kneading so that I can remove the paddle. That way, I don't end up with that hold at the bottom of my finished bread.
• Since my recipes include a lot of seed/nuts and mixed flours, I do have to open the machine sometimes. I do this to see if I need to scrape down the ingredients. For my thinner doughs, I have not had to do this.
• Hamilton Beach does not have one of the silicone-scraper kneading paddles. As a matter or fact, there are no accessories for this machine as far as I know.

Not much to complain about there. Also, the beeping is fairly loud so I can listen for when to add things or remove the paddle.

As I said, this is a pretty quiet machine. Here is what it sounds like (and you can see that I am standing right above it filming):

Basically, I can run this machine in the kitchen and just barely hear it from the bedroom about 12 feet away with the door open. Tiny apartment living can be challenging so this is a Plus.

Here is one of my first loaves of bread because I ate the 2nd loaf without getting photos!

Whole wheat & white flour; turmeric, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, 
and flax (seed and ground).

My play on an Ezekiel Bread type of loaf. With a twist!

I got the basic recipe online. and added the turmeric.

 Now that I have gotten comfortable, I will be modifying all recipes with nuts, ancient grain flours, and as much healthy stuff as I can think of. I don't want to live by bread alone, but I want to enjoy every piece of bread I eat.

I have not even thought about how to use all of the functions yet but here are the choices:

Glad the option is there but I 
won't be using the gluten-free...

The Basic cycle is what I used to make my first loaves of bread. I plan to try doing a Brioche-style loaf soon though. But the thing I am most excited about is that Jam setting. 

I first thought that the Jam setting is the one I would never use (I mean, after the Gluten-free option), but I have watched videos showing how easy it is to make jam in these things. Of all the methods I watched, the easiest recipe was this one:

• Fruit (fresh or frozen but I am going to use unsweetened canned pineapple)
• Sugar (anywhere from 1 to 4 cups. Apparently, sugar thickens the outcome if you aren't using pectin)
• Lemon juice. 

I have seen some recipe videos where people acted pectin to thicken the jam. Since I plan to make very small batches, and I don't want a lot of sugar, I will use either no pectin or a sugar-free version. Also, I am cutting way back on sugar - which is why I'll use pectin at all. This lady here had the most no-nonsense recipe for beginners, in my opinion.

One of the best marmalades I ever had was one I found back home in Anchorage. It was a pineapple-orange marmalade that I've never found yet in Iowa stores. 

Oh, and this machine makes both jam and jelly...

Thanks to Spruce Eats, I understand the differences between jam, jelly, and marmalade:

The more you know...

So that's is all about this amazing bread machine.

The price has been swinging all over the place for the past year. I started looking at this one about 6 months ago when the price seemed to hover between 80 to 90 dollars. When I sent my family the link, the price was around 90 bucks.  I almost changed my mind and when I made the final decision, the price was down to 80 and some change. Not bad, right? Well, when I just now went over to grab the link for this post, the price was sitting at 70 dollars. Crazy.

Still, it is worth what it cost. If I was able to buy it for myself, I would not have been mad about paying $100. If you have priced Ezekiel Bread (or any other good quality bread) lately, you will see how fast the machine pays for itself. And with the jam? Shut UP!

Next time, I will be reviewing the Stand Mixer that was my second gift.

Peace

--Free

Christmas Gifts & Better Nutrition

NOTE: Soon, I will be posting reviews

 of each of the appliances mentioned here.

Guess what I did? I thought I had posted about my Christmas gifts from my family and... The unfinished draft is still sitting on my blog list.

Well, here goes.

For Christmas, I got a stand mixer and a bread machine. Every year, my family asks what I want and I wanted a bread machine. They encouraged me to think of a second item so I asked for a stand mixer.

This is the stand mixer:

This is the bread machine:

I am in love with both of these appliances! I had not used a bread machine since my sister had one years ago. We only ever used ready-to-use bread mixes and I think we gave up buying them because of the prices. The bread wasn't even that good, come to think of it. Well, we have come a long way.

My stand mixer is perfect for my tiny kitchen. When I'm not using it, it fits right on top of the fridge next to the Instant Pot. I had to clean out a cabinet to store the bread machine!

Anyway, I made my first bread today and it came out so much better than I expected. It was slightly salty but that was from using the Food.com recipe. My instincts were to cut down on the salt and add some honey or brown sugar. Since this was my very first loaf, I didn't mess with the recipe, but now I am more confident. King Arthur Flour had a much better-sounding recipe but I wanted to try the simpler one. Bad decision. If you try it, I suggest cutting back on the salt and adding some honey. The bread I made works only because I have some honey butter made up to use on it.

Whole wheat flour/White bread flour mix with chia, sunflower & flax seeds;
turmeric powder and oatmeal

I was using the stand mixer from Day One. I mixed up a from-scratch cake and some frosting. Not very healthy, right? Well, for my next creation, I am going to attempt to make these whole wheat cookies - or rather sables. I will substitute the hemp hearts (which I don't have) for sunflower, chia, and flax seeds. 

My goal is to eventually make both some bread and cookies with some "ancient grains" added in. But I will save some of those ideas as I get money for ingredients.

By the way, for anyone who has considered getting either of these appliances but wanted more detail, go and read every review you can. My family basically let me pick out the ones I wanted and I sifted through a lot of info and reviews. The one thing I didn't find for either was how loud they run. 

The bread machine sounds like a very, very quiet washing machine and only makes noise when kneading. The beeping to signal ending and beginning of cycles was not very loud. I can run the kneading cycle at night and not disturb anyone sleeping 10 feet away in the bedroom with an open door.

The mixer is slightly louder but not annoying at all. I would only run it during the day though. It's not that it's really loud, but it's a more constant whirring than the bread mixer.

I will say that the only thing I wish for the bread machine is that the LED indicated which part of the cycle is currently happening. It's seriously easy to set the machine for bread type/crust shade/start but when I would check to see which kneading or proofing cycle it was on (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) so that I could remove the bread paddle before the last proof start. Other than that, it's perfect.

By the way, the helpful tips listed in the notes to this video are awesome. This is where I learned about removing the paddle so as not to have a hole in my finished bread! Big thanks to that channel.

So, while I hate making resolutions for the start of a year, I can say that I will be saving money and eating better. I whipped up my own version (kind of) of Ezekiel bread for about 40 cents (I'm guestimating here). And I do plan to learn more about ancient grains.

To my family, I want to say again how much I love that they love me!

Peace

--Free