Breadmaker sourdoughs...

[Octave]

I know, I know - the simple bread thread always has me salivating, but, despite being 100% solar on our property, I still hate turning on the oven to 500f for a loaf of bread. Yes, when we do we double up and use the resonant heat to roast some squash or dehydrate some fruit or something or other, but cranking up that big heat box for a loaf has never sat well with me. And until we harness our wood stove (that heats our home) to also power the oven, we've opted for the world's tiniest oven that also kneads and proofs for you...


So, introductory ramble aside, I'm appealing to y'all for some wisdom on quality bread in a breadmaker. We've kept the same sourdough starter alive for about 6 years now, having originally traded a few hours of bike work for a couple of tablespoons of a friend's grandfather's pre-WWII starter that had been kept alive ever since (and yes, I'm aware of yeast turnover rates and know that probably very little of the Northern France yeast population remains alive in our Oregon air and water). We've been making pretty-passable sourdough with it for many years. We even dehydrated some and vacuum sealed it to bring it here to OR when we left France.

Okay, second introductory ramble aside: who has made successful sourdough in a breadmaker? We've been messing around with an overnight levain that gets put in the breadmaker the following day, and it often turns out gummy. The high hydration rates that usually make an open crumb and tasty sourdough seem relatively incompatible with the function of a breadmaker. I know that we'll never get the rise one gets from putting a well-proofed loaf in a massively hot oven and getting that initial "spring" but I'm willing to accept that. I want flavor. Our latest experiment was to use our classic sourdough recipe, pause the machine after it's second round of kneading, and let it go overnight out on the deck (~40f) then plug the machine back in and bake it in the morning. It works pretty well but it's very hit-or-miss.

So, who has a bread machine and makes good naturally-leavened bread in it?

[j44ke]

There is a spendy Zojirushi bread machine that a chef friend of ours bought and is currently having a love affair with. Not sure if that includes sourdough but I'll ask. I think it is this machine - looks like the same one.

https://shop.kingarthurbaking.com/it...-bread-machine

But wouldn't you guys be into building an outdoor wood-fired bread oven?

[Octave]

There is a spendy Zojirushi bread machine that a chef friend of ours bought and is currently having a love affair with. Not sure if that includes sourdough but I'll ask. I think it is this machine - looks like the same one.

https://shop.kingarthurbaking.com/it...-bread-machine

But wouldn't you guys be into building an outdoor wood-fired bread oven?

Thanks. And yes, we definitely would be into building an outdoor wood-fired bread oven but even an efficient wood-fired oven is a big energy input and hands-on time investment for bread. I suppose if one did 4 loaves at a time and froze them... but I do enjoy fresh bread... and our current "crafting" bandwidth is just about maxed (eyes-peeled for a way OT thread about a DIY rain-catchment auto-fill animal watering trough).

Honestly, we have a Cuisinart bread maker and it does a pretty good job with simple sandwich loaves. It's that sourdough tang we're missing.

[rwsaunders]

We have a bread machine that has to be 20+ years old…made for Williams-Sonoma by somebody and it works very well for small loaves and specialty loaves, like raisin and cinnamon bread. I’ve never used it for more complex recipes like sourdough, biga and poolish based dough, as the machines imho are primarily for what I refer to as “one day breads”. King Arthur sells the Zojirushi as Jorn pointed out and they have recipes specifically designed for the machine.

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blo...-bread-machine

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blo...crust-and-more

[Tom]

That job has to suck. "Hey, spend some time coming up with really really tasty bread using this thing."

Oh, I get to formulate and cook stuff and refine it and cook it again until it's perfect? OK, stiff upper lip and think of England.