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Given the upcoming apocalypse is showing no signs of abating I thought I'd get a bread maker, which would leave toilet paper as the only remaining item I'd be forced to fight zombie hoards for, just to secure another day of survival. It turns out that even with a bread maker it's not as fool proof as I'd hoped. Sure you toss the ingredients in and press a button, but if you don't like what comes out you need to research what might have caused it, tweak the ingredients for your next run and so on.
We had some moderate success with the first two loaves but "edible" would be the best adjective I could probably attach. The third loaf was pretty decent but a little too heavy. So I found a bread-making forum and posted my question; "I made a loaf of bread but it didn't work." The advice I got back was that the problem might be the temperature of the water that I used, as it was fairly hot. We did another loaf with water right from the tap and the results were an utter disaster. Even the machine was disgusted as for the first time it was making all sorts of banging noises as it was doing the kneading phase. The finished loaf looked like Seth Brundle emerging from his pod so it went right in the bin.
At this point my ideas for progress and my partner's were quite different. She wanted to try a different mixing paddle, different amounts of the ingredients, different flour, different this and different that. I disagreed, saying that that what we had to was go back to the last known good configuration. The only thing that was different to the loaf before was the temperature of the water so to confirm that was the issue we had to go back to the previous temperature and try again. If we can confirm that was the issue then everything else had to stay the same and the only change we'd make was to try a slightly lower temperature. By changing only one variable at a time we know that the new result is solely down to the last thing that we changed.
Who would have thought that the skills you learn when writing code would translate to even making bread 
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Yet another good reason to buy off the shelf. All through lockdown bread was one of the products that there was always plenty of, down (not sure where you are) here.
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I gave up on bread makers in the end - they were just such a source of disappointment!
You'd watch it optimistically for ages and it looks like it's going to be wonderful ... the house smells of fresh bread ... it's starting to crust ... then at the last minute it collapses into a hockey puck. 
Or it bakes wonderfully, an dyou cut it to find one huge bubble with a crust. 
Salt is important, as is the age / type of your yeast, the flour mix, the flour type(s), the flour manufacturer, the batch of the flour, the time of bloody day, and probably the phase of the moon ...
Nowadays when I make bread I use the dough attachment on my mixer, hand finish the kneading (you can "feel" when the dough is "right" after a while), and rise (in a bowl) in the Sous Vide so I get a consistent ambient temp and humidity. Then bake it, and - mostly - it works fine.
Good luck!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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F-ES Sitecore wrote: would leave toilet paper as the only remaining item I'd be forced to fight zombie hoards for
You're joking, right? 8 months on, white bread flour is still like hens' teeth. Not quite as bad as it was in first lockdown, but it's still a case of "if you see any, buy it, regardless of the stupid price they're asking".
I now resort to making with 1/3 white bread flour, 1/3 wholemeal, and 1/3 plain. Works fine, but (unless you forget the yeast or the fat) it's pretty much impossible to mess things up, I find. And having had my "own" bread from the breadmaker, I can't bear shop-bought stuff. Been using a breadmaker for about 15 years, on the 3rd one now, but only because previous ones have disintegrated through over-use. Always buy the entry-level Panasonic; great loaf every time. Use dried yeast - one packet or two level teaspoons.
[I do not work for Panasonic, neither do my relatives, and I receive no commission. YMMV.]
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Yeah, I'm rocking the SD-2501WXC.
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When the first round of panic buying hit, I dug out my old (>20yr) breadmaker and fired it up for the first time in maybe a decade. Halfway through the second loaf, it shredded the main drive belt...
A "new" one from the charity shop cost less than a replacement belt, so I now have a reasonably upmarket one. Its great virtue is that it is almost infinitly programmable. As well as its 8 built-in programs (each with loaf size and crust colour options), you can store 4 of your own.
The real lesson is ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL. I use 5 different bread mixes from 2 manufacturers, 4 different programs. The "wholemeal" programs start with a half hour preheat (35C) before it does any kneading, so initial temperatures don't matter.
Because I live at altitude (a bit over 1000m), above 12% of the atmosphere or thereabouts, I have to use less yeast. In theory you can add salt to achieve the same effect, but I've found it easier to use a measured 5ml teaspoon out of the usual 7g sachet. No big bubbles, loaves hitting the chamber roof and other embarrassments.
Water quantity is critical too. It pays to measure to +/- 10ml if you can.
Cheers,
Peter
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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We bake bread in our air fryer mostly with ready Waldkorn mix, and it is delicious!
The air fryer is identical to the Secura mentioned here: Air Fryer, Homemade Bread - Fork To Spoon[^]
At the end of the year we even bake oil dumplings in the air fryer (without the oil) 
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That one-variable-at-a-time is the way one does scientific research. Actually, there are ways to do a specific set with multiple changes that can be de-convoluted but that's quite a ways to go for bread making.
Our stashing is only a slightly larger supply than before as my normal habits when shopping for non-perishable is to have enough on hand to span sales.
In fact, were it not for hoarding simpletons and lemmings, there were no shortages in the US for disasters (at least in my lifetime) . . . until recently. It seemed to start some years ago in Florida, pre-hurricane, and spread from there. The only thing that normally causes a shortage, due largely to the size and multiple sources for pretty much everything, is people buying because they expect a shortage.
So - I have a 25lb bag of jasmine rice stored as backup (which is not anything unusual for us). More dried beans than usual (the shelves were wiped of canned goods and dried goods like this). Pasta and various tomato sauce precursors. I've slowly increased the backup as COVID started its return.
Things like masks and gloves (loose food prep, not latex - easier and cheaper to use) are new additions but not any big crazy backup - just what we bought over the summer as they became available. A few liters of iso-propanol (still difficult to get without being gouged). This paragraph contains non-standard items.
Bread - we can get buy without although I'd rather not. I don't recall a short supply of that around here.
So long as they don't turn off the water . . .
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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F-ES Sitecore wrote: which would leave toilet paper as the only remaining item I'd be forced to fight zombie hoards for
Get a bidet. I'm serious. It cuts down on your TP use and we weathered the zombie apocalypse just fine last time.
F-ES Sitecore wrote: Who would have thought that the skills you learn when writing code would translate to even making bread
I transferred my skills with witchcraft to code. Life is funny that way.
Good luck with your survivalist endeavors. 
Real programmers use butterflies
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honey the codewitch wrote: Get a bidet. I'm serious. It cuts down on your TP use and we weathered the zombie apocalypse just fine last time.
I think that in the future water will be a far more valued resource than recycled paper. Using drinking quality water to flush down your sh*t is completely crazy, when you think of it!
I never understood why there is almost zero demand for switching to un-purified water (maybe mechanically filtered, by simple means) for toilets, and in residential areas for watering your garden and things like that. In many countries, there is a distinction between regulated AC (e.g. for electronics) and unregulated AC (e.g. for heating). We should, at least twenty to thirty years ago, have introduced a similar distinction between drinking water quality and a secondary water quality, not intended for drinking but suitable for toilets, watering your garden, flushing the streets, ...
A new ditch for those secondary water pipes today is of course expensive. But if every dich dug the last thirty years for the water supply had added secondary pipes for the secondary water, the cost would essentially have been that of the pipes themselves, which is a small fraction of the cost of the ditch.
We didn't do it, then. And noone does it today. I never understood why.
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Absolutely. It would be nice if municipalities did more to reuse gray water.
Real programmers use butterflies
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In my corner of Idaho we have just that (for watering the garden anyway). We have a separate supply of non-potable irrigation water hooked up to the sprinkler system, which we get for a fairly small fixed cost per year. So you can use as much as you want (within reason) at no extra charge.
I think the main reason we have this is that we live in an agricultural area in a high desert climate (hot and dry in the summer). There is a large system of canals to supply water to the fields and some residential areas make use of this system. Definitely better than throwing expensive municipal water on your garden!
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trønderen wrote: We didn't do it, then. And noone does it today. I never understood why
Because it didn't work, when scaled.
Unpurified water tends to clog the pipes and faucets.
It works fine on farms, but you don't want to bury the pipes.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
Never stop dreaming - Freddie Kruger
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Back in my bread maker days I learned to watch the following:
* Always buy fresh ingredients, especially yeast and eggs
* Measure the temperature of the water, don't just guess; too cold and the dough won't rise, too hot and you kill the yeast
* If you take ingredients straight from the refrigerator and use them, that will lower the temperature of the water; sometimes it's better to leave them sit on the counter for an hour or more to reach room temperature
* The pre-mixed ingredients will only work a majority of the time; if your bread maker is a little out of tolerance, they might never work
* As you've described, when you're starting out use a simple recipe and tweak one thing at a time until it's to your liking; then start adding elderberries, sage, and curry powder if that's what you like
Software Zen: delete this;
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Gary R. Wheeler wrote: elderberries
That reminds me of your mothers perfume...
If you can't laugh at yourself - ask me and I will do it for you.
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The amount of water/liquid is critical- too much and the loaf falls in the center, too little and you've got a brick. I look at the loaf while it's in the initial mixing phase and add more flour or liquid as necessary.
The older machines that produce a round loaf seem to mix better- sometimes you get unmixed flour in the corners of the rectangular pans.
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This machine locks the lid once it starts :\
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CodeProject made quite an impact on my (professional) life, but this is getting ridiculous.
Tonight I dreamt that my bedroom (or rather, a bedroom that was apparently mine) was turned into a CP museum.
All I remember from it is that it had some kind of Canadian award on display.
At first I was honored, but then I realized I probably wouldn't have much privacy sleeping in a museum.
Also, there was this guy who was supposed to do my laundry, but didn't.
@chris-maunder Stop the Inception crap and go make your museum somewhere else.
Also, ask @Kent-Sharkey to do my laundry to make up for emotional damages 
Should I start worrying...? 
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Sander Rossel wrote: Should I start worrying...?
Bit late innit?
I also wouldn't have expected Kent to be the man of your dreams.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
Never stop dreaming - Freddie Kruger
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He wasn't, but I can't remember who it was (not someone I know in any case) and my laundry really needs to get done
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So not Sean?
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
Never stop dreaming - Freddie Kruger
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Nope, it was some Garret or something like that
If I knew who it was there'd be hell to pay for not doing my laundry!
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Sander Rossel wrote: Should I start worrying...?
No, this is perfectly normal behaviour, once you have been absorbed.
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They legalized it where you live, didn't they ?
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I'm from the Netherlands, always has been (but I never have)
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