New bread maker. Panasonic SD-BMS105T

I bought a bread maker.

I know, I know, it's one of those top 10 items one should never purchase because it will inevitable end up in the attic or storage, collecting dust.

Why did I buy one?

It wasn't because of some fancy ad. It wasn't because I wanted to make preservative-free bread for my child. It wasn't even because I wanted the smell of freshly baked bread in the morning!

Why, then? I don't know. It was the devil at work.

I don't have an oven at home. Like most Taiwanese families my kitchen is tiny, and all I have is a toaster oven. Maybe this was partly why I wanted a bread machine. I thought instead of a conventional oven which wouldn't fit into my kitchen, I could make good use of a bread machine.

And of course, a friend just bought one and started to tell me how wonderful her bread maker was.

So this will be interesting, seeing how long I can keep using this machine!

Here's the whole story...

Recalling that my mother-in-law has an old bread machine lying in storage (hey! this should have clued me in! But it didn't...), I asked her if I could take a look at it to see if we can use it. She was very eager and helpful, telling me stories of how she used to make fresh bread for her children (Hint No.2!! Last time she used that machine was when husband was a CHILD, wow).

It's a nice looking machine! (Hint No. 3! Looks almost brand new!) Perfectly capable of making bread. I was confident I could bring the machine back to life (and use)! But, wait... where is the manual for this machine? I'm no cook, and definitely not AT ALL familiar with making bread. I need the operating manual for the machine! Of course the manual is nowhere to be found.

Google!

After 3 days of searching and internet surfing, and joining strange memberships to sites that promise locating operating manuals for all machinery -- NO LUCK!  How can this be?  How old is this machine?

On the third day I tracked down the company that imports and sells this brand of bread machines in Taiwan. Gave them a call to find out if they would have the manual by some miracle. What I found was, of course, that the bread maker I have is so old that they've now stopped manufacturing it, and that they do not have a copy of the operating manual.

<BTW, this is the MK Seiko HB-520 bread and dough maker. If anyone has the manual, please give me a copy!>

The people at Seiko suggested that I could consider trading in my old machine for their newest model!  Obviously I would have to pay the difference, after they have evaluated the current value of my old machine. Hey! Not a bad idea at all, I thought.

So there I was, researching bread makers. The MK seiko HB-150 (their newest model) is truly splendid. But so is its price! Even with the trade in, I figure I would be paying more for this machine than the best models of other brands.

More googling, more online reading....Basically every waking moment not spent with my child or working, I was looking at bread makers.

I finally decided on the Panasonic SD-BMS105T bread maker. It is currently the newest model of Panasonic bread makers sold in Taiwan, and it is often compared with the MK seiko. Price of the Panasonic was also much more acceptable to me. (Considering this machine could possible go into storage by the end of the month, bwahahaha)

After another day of purchasing and acquiring the necessary ingredients for making my first loaf of bread, I was more than eager to begin!

And LOOK! An owner's manual complete with recipes! I decided to try my hands on the most basic bread.

Recipe called for

250g   Bread flour or high gluten flour
15 g    Butter
17 g    Sugar
6g       Whole milk powder
5 g      Salt
190ml Water
2.8g    Dry yeast

The manual also suggested that chilled water be used and decreasing the amount of water by 10ml if the machine is being operated in warm weather (room temp over 25C).

This looked pretty good. Not as nice as some of the breads made by other bloggers, but for my first attempt, I was satisfied.

But hey!!! What happened?? I sliced the bread and found a huge air pocket! That's not what other people got!

The bread tasted okay. But I was still puzzled over the huge air pocket.

More bread making to come!!!