A friend in HKG has started a micro-bakery - http://www.facebook.com/microDBaker I never knew bread was so complicated until I spoke to him!

(Last time I stayed they were just finalising this, so he didn't have time to bake :()

I've got a bread maker, and go through phases, but haven't had the inclination to really experiment to get the best out of it.

Your friend has made things a bit tough for himself. That stuff looks pretty intricate and complicated. Choco-Cherry sourdough?! That Fendu crust looks good. Good advert though. ;)

I suspect that producing a range and in quantity is pretty complicated ... particularly with sourdoughs etc, and of course there's coping with seasonal temperatures in the bakery etc But to be honest I'm suprised at how easy it is to produce bread I'd previously thought of as being difficult.

The only thing I've really not pursued is sourdough - too much of a palaver - but instead simply mature starters for a day or two. It's only 20 seconds work to mix a little yeast water and flour in a tumbler and leave it for a day or so to froth and mature and gives a flavourful but un-sour loaf.

I guess if you don't think about bread or yearn for really good bread all the time as I seem to - and that bread is inaccessable then it isn't really worthwhile.

He is a perfectionist. His sourdough mix was brought back from London, travelling in the pointy end of the plane :D

Bread is fattening and I can eat it in vast quantities, so I try not to have it in the house.

But I can't resist proper, artisanal bread either. I can't go to Edinburgh farmer's market without coming back with a loaf from Konditorei http://www.falko.co.uk/visit-us/edin...farmers-market

I love good bread. I enjoy making it, but I just don't have the time (don't like the stuff baked in the bread machine, it doesnt work for me, happy for it to do the kneading and rising, but I need to do the baking part myself). So I buy good bakery bread. Yesterday I bought ciabatta rolls, they are lovely, warm with butter (yes, butter, not olive oil!) I even go Argentinian and add salt on top sometimes! Today I have paneer curry with some garlic naan, and reading this thread is making me think I need to go and nuke it!

Emma,

you are very naughty. :p

If you have time to post on FT you have time to make a little bread. The machine can do most of it for you. Just make a starter the day before and finish by hand. Buy one of those baguette tins and you're there.

A nice soft flatbread could be made in your machine .... a little milk or yoghurt to a plain bread mix .. flatten it out and cooked on a steak griddle. How tough is that?

I'll have you making bagels in no time .....

I think my office might notice that I am making bread at my desk - at least doing this it looks like I am working on an important document (ok, right now I am eating naan and typing, but still).

My problem is that I often don't get home until 8ish, and the thought of baking bread at that point doesn't inspire me. Weekends are easier, absolutely.

The timer feature that many bread makers is great for that if you are OK with the bake-in-the-maker loaves (and don't make recipes that call for fresh milk or other ingedients that spoil too quickly).

Just put starter ingredients in the maker before bed, let it run on the dough cycle, dump the other ingredients on top before work, and set the machine to start about 3 hours (or whatever the length of the cycle is) before you get home. Fresh bread on arrival.

I forgot people work as well as make bread! :D

I do bread occasionally, but I used to make it a lot more- at least once a week. I noticed something. The flour today seems.. different. Not as good, in fact I was doing a loaf of "no knead" about a month ago and it actually had MOLD on it the next day! Making bread can be tiresome & is very messy. I got sick of dealing with it and end up buying good bread. The bread in stores has better gluten content than any I have made, too- homemade bread just isn't "springy" enough for me. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.

That could be either technique OR the flour type/gluten content. If it's the latter, aside from adding gluten separately (which should be in most good supermarket baking aisles), there are also some "harder" flours which have a higher gluten content beyond normal bread flours.

One such: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/...ten-flour-3-lb

King Arthur is our preferred brand. While I don't do a ton of loafs, it's so easy to make your own pizza crust dough in the bread machine that we haven't had take out pizza in months.

Yup, not a fan of how my bread machine bakes loaves - the hole in the bottom, the crust isn't great, it seems hit or miss as to whether it cooks evenly (and it isn't a cheap machine). I prefer shaping it and baking in the oven, it just seems so much nicer that way.

It's mildly shocking to me how many people use bread machines. I don't even think I've ever even seen one.

It's much nicer that way, absolutely.

OTOH, I find the bread machine results still nice (although not as nice), and much easier (if not a better result) than making a same-day trip to one of the better supermarkets for a fresh loaf won't keep well, and much nicer than the bagged sliced bread I can get anywhere that will keep for ages.

Likely not very useful, and I have not tried them, but BreadMan now advertises a collapsing paddle to avoid (or at least minimize) the hole in the bottom.

I am lucky in that there is a good bakery steps from my office, so if I want a fresh loaf it's easy peasy. If I had to get in my car to go and get bread, I might agree.