The recipes that come with them always call for about twice as much flour as they should. The paddles on these aren’t those giant Hobart mixers, so they can’t beat the gluten out of a dense ball of dough. It has to be lightened.
You can get a full two pound size loaf from 2 cups of flour, but you need to make the dough much much wetter, or you won’t get the gluten flowing enough to produce a light and fluffy loaf. Not with these designs.
I hope I don’t sound like a know-it-all, but I work in a bakery, so…maybe this will help.
This one really works…
2C flour.
2Tbsp vegetable oil.
1Tbsp Sugar.
1 Egg.
.5tsp salt.
1tsp dried yeast.
warm water. Enough that the ball is flowing just enough to let the paddle almost whip it up like taffy, and not thumping around in the base.
The paddle can’t penetrate that thick of a ball of dough and it just taps it around.
You’re not hand kneading or rolling these for the pans and it’s also non stick, so you can afford to let it go MUCH wetter. The stickiness actually helps the gluten to come out and helps it to bond onto the paddle while it whirls it. This is key.
This varies every time, and you have to eyeball it. I know they’re meant to be automatic, but they need to be reigned in every time unless you don’t mind some variance in results.
I’m a retired chef/restaurateur and got tired of all the hands on time needed to bake bread at home so I’m now on my 2nd bread maker in 15 years. The first, a Sunbeam, still works OK but is still ugly as sin (lol) so I got a slightly different model Cuisinart about 4 years ago. Mine has 16 cycles and an “Add-ons” button but otherwise is the same. I use it at least once a week and regularly more than that. Cuisinart really makes a great, easy to use, machine.
Notes:
If your bread is coming out too dense, it is usually the recipe at fault and not the machine. Machine recipes books are not infallible and some are simply incorrect. Frequently there is just too much flour called for. “Add-ons” tend to make a loaf denser as does too much/not enough liquid. I also have endlessly toyed with yeast amounts, both rapid rise and regular, to get the loaves I like while constantly adding things like quinoa, flax seed, oats, amaranth and pecans just because I like them.
Loaves that are all whole wheat are just dense. Always use bread flour for at least ½ the amount of flour needed, that is unless you like having to mess with adding vital wheat gluten. I use 2 to 1 bread flour to wheat and 2 tsp. rapid-rise yeast instead of the 2 ½ tsp. called for.
I must agree that Cusinart’s banana-nut bread recipe is very good but I change out the white sugar for brown and often add a couple of tablespoons of chocolate powder and about ½ cup chocolate chips as well as a little extra vanilla. Unbelievable results!
We’ve had one of these for several years. It makes great bread. It’s beeping is very load so if you have it start overnight it may disrupt your sleep during different phases of your night. But, in the morning the smell of fresh bread will gently ease you out sleep before… BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!
Also, don’t set it too close to the edge of the kitchen counter. Ours walked itself off the counter one night and got pretty dinged up. However, it still works like a champ, albeit one that looks like it went through a tough boxing match!
I have an older version of this machine and it is still going strong. We use it all the time for the dough cycle to make bread, pizza, bagels, pretzels, you name it. I just transfer the risen dough to pizza stone (also thanks, Woot!) or to stoneware pans, do the second rise, if applicable, and bake. Voila! Crusty, quality artisan breads by “hand” and no guess work on the mixing and kneading.
This is the same model my mom got for Christmas. She loves it and won’t stop using it.
Some advice from Mom’s Kitchen though:
Bread rises at different rates due to air pressure, room temperature, air quality, etc. Sometimes, you need to let it rise longer, or add an extra pinch of yeast to get it to rise right.
You can also find some amazing recipes online as well. Don’t limit yourself to the book. She’s found everything from sourdough to cinnamon roll dough recipes online that this machine rocks with making them.
And for the price, this model is actually well built, and does a heck of a job. I’d get one myself if it wasn’t for my mom sending all sorts of breads to me every week.
Tip for those who get a breadmaker: get your breadmaking supplies from CostCo (if you have a membership). You can get a 50lb bag of bread flour for $15 or so, and a giant bag of yeast (a bit larger than a quart sized ziplock bag) for like $5. It’s great, especially if you live in a city with Google Express and don’t have to transport the giant bag of flour yourself!
Still not sure the cheapest solution for powdered milk.
Super fast delivery put mine on my front porch yesterday (Sunday!). Sadly, it was DOA. When I plugged it in the display read “EEE”, it beeped a bunch of times, but wouldn’t do anything else. Some Google searches told me EEE = broken forever.
Good thing Woot has great customer service. They emailed me a return label, and the Post Office is picking it back up today. Very painless! The only bummer is that these sold out, so Woot can’t send me a replacement.
Mine too! This is my first Woot disappointment otherwise been having great luck with all of the products.
I found posts saying that EEE’s were possibly fixable by Cuisinart (as in shipping it to them via their RMA process) but nothing concrete. I guess I’ll contact Woot first. Sadness … I was wanting some fresh banana bread for the weekend!
Just got my bread machine, and there is an error EEE message. I just sent an email. Unfortunately, I am leaving town soon for 2 weeks. Do they email you back quickly? I can’t seem to find a number to call,and this is my first woot purchase.
Edit: Called Cuisinart. They said it was a defected model, and cannot be repaired. So sad that they would even be sent out in the first place. I guess that Woot! does not value their customers.
Thanks for this (and thanks to all who offered advice.
I will admit that I never considered messing with the “recipe”. And I agree about the glutens not forming - I’m sure that’s an issue (possibly the rise time too)
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Definitely the worst Woot! purchase I’ve made. I got the EEE of death; fortunately Cuisinart was happy to provide warranty service, provided that I paid for shipping both ways. That, combined with the price of the breadmaker, was about what it would have cost to purchase a new one (though I’m not sure the warranty would have been worth it, knowing what I now know).
otherwise been having great luck with all of the products.