Kenwood BM250 BreadMaker

Perfect Loaf of Multiseed Grain Bread

We have been making our own bread since 2008. Primary reason for this was to start eating healthier and to have better bread where we can control our ingredient. If you ever wondered, here are some of the chemicals and preservatives that goes into every loaf of commercial bread that is available out there.
Potassium bromate - banned as they causes cancer
Mono-and triglycerides - Otherwise known as fats, the saturated kind..
Sodium stearoyl lactate - Won't be kind to your tummy digestive
Partially or fully hydrogenated oils - transfat. Evil. Banned in a lot of countries.
Calcium propionate - this preservative caused allergic reactions in bakers as well as sleep problems and restlessness in children.
Sugar & salt - In moderation is good, but not in excess.
The above is just what you will see, don't forget the whole processed flour where the flour are bleached with more chemical to gives you the end product of soft white bread.

Homemade raisin with pumpkin seed herb bread

Some of you have asked which bread maker i am currently using in the previous post. We are using the older Kenwood BM250 bread maker. We purchased it from the local electrical shop back then for about RM500. It was an investment that we intend to use often and we did.
The bread maker comes in White and Silver/chrome. We settled for the white and it has since turned slightly yellowish due to usage. However, the unit is still in perfect condition churning out bread on weekly (sometimes once a month) basis.

This one make bread with slight tinge of blue. The days of crappy cameras ;-)

It has 12 build in menu or functions that allows one to make anything from Jam to French loaf, and even pasta dough if you wanted to. Typical bread making time is about 3hours 30minutes where the ingredient are placed into a square pan that will make up to 1kg worth of bread (that is TWO average loaf weight, by the way). It has three different browning function where you can choose a bread that is lightly browned, medium or roasted for that un-mistaken aroma of toasted bread.

With timer functions so you will wake up to a fresh loaf every time!

It has three weight option as well to make a 500gram, 750 gram or 1kg bread - though we have ours set to 1kg all the time. Bread that is left to raise longer (i.e. more mass) will be fluffier too.

All shocked up

There is no secret with bread making using bread machine. While we started off using pre-mix, we then switched to bare flour and make our own mix. You see, with bread mix where the only extra ingredients you don't need to put in are the flour mix (and often, it has bread improver and preservatives as well to store the flour longer on the shelf).

Sesame, rye, organic flour and yeast

I believe any other bread maker available in the market is good, as long as you know what to do with it. Often the bread that comes out from the bread maker will not be soft and fluffy by virtue that it doesn't have improver or shortening. I often modify the bread recipe according to taste and if i have other items available that will add more bite or nutrition into the bread, we will add in.

As big as my face Papa!

You can find many different bread recipe i shared in this blog. Most of them are classified under the FOOD tag and/or the HEALTH tag. With no preservatives, these homemade bread will need to be consumed within 3 days of baking and the unfinished portion needs to be placed in the freezer to prevent it from turning mouldy.

Can almost smell the wholewheat bread here

The initial investment on a bread maker is high, as well as the ingredient that you will buy to make your own loafs. Which is interesting as you will then realise, that for the commercial bakers to sell you the bread at the price they are selling, are you really getting the ingredients you should be? What gives? 

Dough-er Coaster

For us, to take away that uncertainties, it is best to just bake your own. With less salt, less sugar, less oil and definitely no usage of margarine or transfat, each and every loaf that comes out is uniquely baked. All of them has different character, color and texture, which makes the whole experience more rewarding that getting that predictable taste.

How about some rosemary and thyme bread?

Eating healthy is a choice. Make the right one today.