When bread machines first came out, I was a little envious...but not too much....
I figured that i could not make gluten-free bread rise in it, or use yeast, when for a long time I was also yeast-free. The kicker about not wanting one came in two ways. First my Grandpa thought it was ridiculous and shameful not to make your own bread and by hand. The other was a fear of infertility from xeno-estrogens that leach into foods cooked in or on non-stick coatings....Oh and also, I love the buttery top crust of traditionally baked bread...the crust in a machine is mostly bottom crust.Round loaves really freaked me out. I guess I was a bread-snob.
Pap also thought that one ought to be thrifty and use sourdough starter and not buy yeast. I could not keep my starter alive on rice flour and honey. Honey has antibacterial and anti-fungal properties, so it would die. I still have a jar of that oooze in my fridge, just because it lightly links me to my past and my beloved Pap, long gone. He took his starter, just for me, and kneaded flour into it to make a small dry square cake of starter, stalled but still alive. He brought it with him on the planes, carefully wrapped in waxed paper from his home in Alaska,jsut for me, to get me started. He spent a whole day with me, explaining his system and making bread with me. But alas, Pap was not happy when he found out that I was gluten-free. He did not get that, so I became a disappointment to him in his later years, shunned and shamed.
Years passed...The gluten-free industry boomed and we discovered "Gluten-free Pantry brand bread mixes. They used dry yeast. We were all impressed. My son loved to bake it. I have to be careful eating any gran based carbs, and Any grain-based product that it white and is finely-ground as opposed to as whole as possible....but I cave for home-baked crusty browned yeast bread. WE tried to formulate a silimar mix of our own flours but none were as good at that brand. MY son stalled on making bread this summer. Last week I cleaned out an estate and was offered a bread machine. I thought it would not hurt to try...
He made the first loaf. I LOVE borrowing the enthusiasm and optimism of the youth around me--there is a lot of that surrounding me these days. I handed him the maker, and a package of Montina Wheat--which is ok for some gluten-frees, (but as it turned out---me, not so much---but ok...not pertinent.) It turned out just fine. He did not trust the machine to mix it, so he loaded the machine with the dough already mixed. I have since seen the videos where people dump the ingredients in about 3 to 5 minutes, shut the lid, press the on button and walk away. The first baking option we choose was 4.5 hour process...it was good.
I tried my hand at using a flour mix I created form brown rice and white basmati rice freshly milled downstairs in my Whisper Mill, rolled oats and freshly ground yellow flax...egg whites (from noodles I was making also at that time, and needed only the yolks,) plus one more egg and , some honey coconut butter mix, walnut oil, and water...it only processed for 2.5 hours and it was excellent. Mmmm...
I am a bread machine snob no more! I am not worrying about xeno-estrogens for now.
SO, I am getting the hang of gluten-free yeast breads. And for old times sake and in fond memory of my pap, I put some of my rice flour mix and pure maple syrup onto the jar of sourdough starter from the back of my fridge, and set it out on the counter. I am determined to give it microbial CPR. Someday, I might have enough culinary courage to make a yeast bread without the machine, but for now, this is where our bread is coming form. The price of decent gluten free bread in the health food store is ridiculous, and who is to say that the factories where they are made use glass or stainless steel non-coated pans! I feel pretty thrifty and resourceful. I could bake nightly and the family will wake up to a new loaf in the morning, or just as needed.
I am very thankful for that machine! Sorry Pap...
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