It’s the week before Christmas in 2006. My mom is gazing into a whirring, R2D2 lookalike machine on the counter. The kitchen smells like rosemary, a scent that’s wafting generously from the machine as a blob of dough slowly rises inside. Her bread machine, already old at that point and seemingly unbreakable, helps her make countless loaves of rosemary bread, which she will then distribute to our neighbors as a gesture of holiday-induced goodwill.
That iconic scent of freshly baked rosemary bread permeates my memories of the holidays; to this day, I only really cook with rosemary in December. But my mom’s bread-baking wasn’t limited to Christmastime; during the rest of the year, she would make fluffy white bread and yellow-tinged egg bread, whole wheat sandwich bread and braided challah-like loaves we ate plainly buttered so as not to obscure the natural flavor.
She made it all with that machine, the bread machine, an appliance that for decades fell by the wayside. Bread machines rose to popularity in American homes in the 1990s, but they weren’t a long-lived success. Before long, seeing a bread machine in someone’s house was a rare occurrence; my mom may have been one of the few who kept using their bread machines consistently throughout the 2000s. In a 2017 article for TASTE, Tatiana Bautista argued that a widespread fear of carbs during the late ‘90s and early ‘00s led to the bread machine’s demise. The gluten-free movement probably didn’t help either.
But things are changing, and bread machines are becoming relevant once again. During the early lockdown days of the COVID-19 pandemic, many took up bread baking, a notoriously time-consuming project. What else did we have to do besides sit in our houses all day? Our Instagram feeds were suddenly populated with loaves upon loaves of homemade sourdough. People wanted to avoid the grocery store as much as possible, and baking bread at home meant that they had to go food shopping less frequently.
Now, some are back in the office, and for many of us, life has returned to its previously busy pace. What has changed from pre-pandemic times, though, are the prices: everything, including bread, is more expensive now. Here in the Northeast, I consider myself lucky if I can find a decent loaf of bread for under $5.
This confluence of factors may be why bread machines seem poised to make a serious comeback. Earlier this year, The New York Times attributed a new generation’s interest in bread machines to inflation; prices are now so high that some are looking for alternatives more appealing than a sad plastic package of Wonder Bread. Unlike the machines of the past, today’s bread machines are often relatively affordable—you can find them for prices as low as $60 on Amazon—and unlike baking bread completely from scratch, bread machines do a lot of work for you. While mixing and kneading dough and shaping a loaf can take close to an hour depending on what recipe you’re following, bread machines often require as little as 15 minutes of prep time before they do all the rest of the work for you.
Personally, I’m not one for having a ton of kitchen appliances cluttering my counter space. In my mind, most appliances are functionally useless; the same task can be completed on a stove or in an oven. But I have to admit that having a bread machine does make sense, especially considering the rising cost of food. You can have amazing quality bread at a fraction of the price you would pay if you were to visit your local bakery, and it doesn’t even take a significant amount of time to make it, considering that all you really have to do is measure the ingredients correctly before the machine mixes, kneads and bakes the bread all in one go.
Admittedly, the bread machine has not yet achieved the widespread popularity of the Instant Pot or the air fryer, but I want to think it’s getting there. This year, my parents found an old bread machine at a thrift store, packaged it up and shipped it to me. Despite the learning curve, it’s quickly become one of my favorite kitchen tools—I frankly don’t have the patience to make bread from scratch. Now, I’m just looking forward to December, when I’ll follow my mom’s recipe for rosemary bread and my apartment will be filled with that familiar scent from home. I’ll have to make sure to take my neighbors a loaf too.
Samantha Maxwell is a food writer and editor based in Boston. Follow her on Twitter at @samseating.
FAQs
Some attribute the demise of the bread machine to the fact that cooks were just disappointed by their results. Lara Pizzorno, the author of Bread Machine Baking, chalked it up to food snobs who regarded the machine as “the electric equivalent of The Bridges of Madison County” in a 1996 article in The New York Times.
Is it worth getting a bread maker? ›
But what if you love fresh bread but a busy schedule leaves little time for the many steps of mixing, kneading, shaping, proving and baking your own? In that case, a breadmaker is for you. Plus, if you buy a machine with a timer, the bread can be ready and waiting for you in the morning.
Is it cheaper to buy bread or make it in a bread machine? ›
With generic white bread, homemade only saves you about $1.00 per loaf. But for fancier artisan breads, the savings jump to $3.00–5.00+ per loaf.
Is bread from a bread maker healthier? ›
Bread baked in a bread maker is just as healthy as bread baked in an oven. The only cons of bread in a bread maker are logistical, not nutrition. For one, the paddles used to knead the dough leave a hole in the middle of the bread because they are left in during baking.
What is one drawback of using a bread machine? ›
One disadvantage of using a bread maker as opposed to your hands is that the paddles are typically fixed, meaning they remain in the dough when baking, often leaving a hole in the middle of the loaf.
What happens if I use all-purpose flour in bread machine? ›
All-purpose flour has a 9% to 12% gluten content, while bread flour's gluten content falls in the 10% to 13% range. Even if your all-purpose flour lacks gluten, you can still use it in the bread machine. Again, the worst that will happen is that your bread will not rise as much as it would with bread flour.
Is homemade bread healthier? ›
Homemade bread can also be a healthy alternative to store-bought bread as you can control the ingredients that go into the recipe and even find alternatives to help reduce sugar and trans fat. Come on, there is nothing like a slice of fresh and warm homemade bread – especially when you're the one who made it!
Do bread makers use a lot of electricity? ›
According to one site, the average bread maker uses less energy than a coffee maker, coming in at about 9kwh used per month (based on a 600-watt machine that's used an average of 15 hours each month, which seems about right to us).
Is it better to make bread in oven or bread maker? ›
It'll save time and give reliable consistent results every time - perfect if you're not much of a baker. But if you enjoy the process of making dough and creating rustic artisan loaves, you'll be better off baking them in your oven. A bread machine will feel too restrictive for you and won't be worth the counter space.
How long does homemade bread last? ›
Johanna Hartzheim, co-founder and head of product at Wildgrain, a bread and pasta delivery service, recommends eating homemade bread within three days but says it will last up to a week. "The bread will start to dry up and become a bit harder over time, but it takes much longer until it becomes moldy," she says.
Bread flour has a higher protein content (around 13% more), which leads to more stability, form and rise in the dough, allowing it to lift and hold shape. All purpose flour has a lower protein content, resulting in lighter, shorter breads, which makes it an ideal flour for cookies, cakes and more.
What else can you do with a bread maker? ›
15 unexpected uses for your bread machine
- Beef stew. Chowhound. No need to heat up your kitchen for hours simmering your favorite beef stew recipe. ...
- Artichoke dip. Chowhound. ...
- Scrambled eggs. Chowhound. ...
- Risotto. Chowhound. ...
- Mochi. Chowhound. ...
- Meatloaf. Chowhound. ...
- Cranberry sauce. Chowhound. ...
- Chicken and dumplings. Chowhound.
Whether it was the saturated market, the rise of carb-avoidant and gluten-free diets or people losing interest in making the same few types of bread, eventually the sentiment around making bread in a bread machine turned to, True bakers make bread the old-fashioned way — you wouldn't call yourself a chef after ...
Do you really need a breadmaker? ›
And because a bread machine is also more energy efficient than a home oven, creating a lot less heat in the kitchen, it can be an ideal way to bake bread when you're dealing with a warm environment or even if, for some reason, you need to bake bread but don't have access to a full kitchen.
Why is bread maker bread heavy? ›
Possible Cause
If the bread machine pan is not fully engaged in the machine or the paddle is incorrectly seated in the bread pan, this can cause poor mixing of the ingredients and result in a dense loaf. An ingredient error such as too much flour or not using a strong flour can affect the rise and appearance of a loaf.
Is bread making still popular? ›
Yes bread-making is still popular in Goa. The author has described about the existence of time-old furnaces and their still burning fire. The Goan society is still having moulders bread mixers and bakers.
Are bread machines popular? ›
The bread maker — an appliance that mixes, kneads, proofs and bakes bread a loaf at a time — found new fans during the early days of the pandemic, as shoppers worried about food shortages and home bread-baking became a sign of the times. But recent inflation has given the machine another boost.
What can go wrong with a breadmaker? ›
- Too much wet or rich ingredients like applesauce, eggs, fat, etc.
- Too much sugar.
- The room that the bread machine was in was too cold and it affected the baking temperature and so the loaf didn't get baked enough.
- In rare cases the thermostat of your machine is defective and the loaf didn't bake properly.
Too little yeast, your bread won't rise sufficiently; too much, and it will rise and collapse. It's important to watch your dough as it rises and bakes; dough that has risen and collapsed may look just like dough that never rose at all, once it's baked.
