How Does A Bread Maker Work? For many years down the line, bread baking has been beyond the scope of any modern kitchen. Who could dream of ever baking bread in a small kitchen?
If you had to learn anything that pertains to bread making, the next visiting point would have been a commercial bakery.
However, with the invention of this compact yet magical kitchen appliance, you can make bread at a lesser cheaper cost and in the convenient of your own home.
With that said, ever asked yourself what makes a bread machine so distinct? What is so unique about this compact appliance that can serve as a bakery? Most importantly, how does it work?
One incredible thing about the bread maker is that it does all the work for you. It is a compact unit with and one bread capacity oven.
The tin that holds the bread is uniquely designed with an axle that connects the tin to a motor. A waterproof seal is used in between the tin and the axle so as to keep the ingredients intact.
To bake your bread, you start by loading the tin with ingredients. When it comes to bread making there is no guesswork here. You must know the right proportions of individual ingredients.
Once you are done, you pop the tin back into the oven and use the control panel to select one of the various baking programs.
You close the lid and wait for your bread to bake. If you are lucky to have a machine with a transparent glass lid you can watch the process.
Some modern bread machines feature incredible functions such as built-in memory and delayed timer. The built-in memory means a bread making machine has the ability to survive blackouts.
It will proceed with the baking process once the power is back by recalling the last stage. The delayed timer is a great feature when you don’t want to give your machine special attention.
You can set it to delay baking until a given time when you will be awake or nearby. For instance, you can delay the baking time and set it to start in the morning hours so you can wake up to a fresh tasty bread.
Even though bread machines differ in design, their operation mechanism is basically the same. For that reason, most bread making machines share given parts. Some of them include:
- Baking tin – This is where ingredients get loaded
- Power supply lead
- Air vent – Passage for air to the dough
- Exhaust port – allows steam to flow from the tin out via the lid
- Foldable hinged lid
- Plastic casing – Insulates the oven to prevent burns
- LCD display
- Touch-control panel
- Detachable kneading paddle – Clicks onto the axle integrated through the center of the tin
Table of Contents
Baking Processes
Even though a bread machine does the entire work for you, it takes quite some time. Most machines take about 2-6 hours to complete the entire baking process.
These are the processes that happen under these compact beast lying on the countertop:
Ingredients
Even though a bread machine works pretty the same way as someone baking bread, it is more of science, not just a physical process. Introducing correctly measured ingredients is the most important stage.
When you do it the wrong way, the end results turn out to be wrong too. You have to load the machine with the right quantity of flour, salt, yeast, water/milk and let it do its work.
Mixing and Kneading
At a touch of a button, you select a program depending on your baking needs. The first command will be kneading and mixing once the machine starts.
By the use of its dough hook, the machine will start by mixing the ingredients together. It will then allow some 15-20 minutes or even more depending on the model so that the dough rests.
Resting period allows the gluten to develop. Next, the dough hook will begin turning again and knead the dough for about 5-7 minutes.
Rising
Rising is achieved when the internal temperature is raised by the programmed thermostat. The bread will rise for some time in preparation for the baking process.
Baking
The bread maker is equipped with a microchip that regulates the thermostat. Once the thermostat sets the appropriate temperature, baking will begin.
The time taken to bake bread varies depending on the programmed settings of the machine and the amount of heat released ago.
Do you want to buy the best bread maker for your home and kitchen? Just, read our bread maker reviews which will help you find the best one.