This Has Always Been An Annoying Problem To All Of Us Who Use Bread Machines.

Your bottom slice will have a gaping hole where the paddle bakes into it.

While this is not much of a problem for a large 2 LB loaf, if you use a smaller bread maker, making perhaps a 1 LB loaf, it is a bit of a waste.

One very simple solution is simply to remove the paddle before the bread bakes. I’ve learned just when my bread machine is ready to bake. It gives a beep at 1 hour and 35 minutes. That’s when it does its final “punch down”, and from here on, it’s on the “bake” cycle.

So, when I’m making bread, I listen for that beep. When it sounds, I just lift the lid and remove the baking pan, dump the dough out into one hand, remove the paddle from the baking pan, plop the dough back into the pan, place the pan back into the machine, close the lid, and let it rise and bake.

When the loaf is baked, there is a very small hole in the bottom where the shaft for the paddle sits, but the gaping hole is nonexistent. It’s great!

Of course, you have to actually physically be there to facilitate this. If you miss that “beep”, and your bread is almost ready to be baked, better not fool with it. You can always use the bottom slice for bread crumbs or homemade croutons.

And. . .to make life even easier, some bread machines are equipped with a beep that lets you know when it’s time to remove the paddle before baking or to remove the unbaked dough to shape by hand. Can life get any easier than that? I think not!

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Amazon.com has a huge selection of bread machines at competitive prices.

This entry was filed under Bread Machine Information.