<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Thanks to all who answered my questions about bread machines vs. food
processors and electric vs hand crank pasta machines. Sorry the summary
took so long; I continued to get responses trickling in for quite a long
time after I posted.

Here I have just listed highlights of the bread machine/by hand comments.
If anyone wants a full text of all the comments, let me know and I can get
that to you.

Carma in Phoenix (US)
[log in to unmask]

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BREAD MACHINES
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While a few of the respondents were very enthusiastic about their bread
machines saving them time and labor, the great majority of those who
responded said they either couldn't get good results from bread machines
(everything from gooey crusts to "nothing but bricks") or they preferred
having more control than the machine allows, using either a food processor
(with or without dough hook) to mix the dough, or just doing it the
old-fashioned way, by hand. A couple use their bread machines just for the
dough cycle, removing it after it is mixed and doing the rest manually.

Here are some of the tips given for getting a good loaf:

* I have a bread machine which I use only on the dough cycle. I find that by
transferring the dough to 10 small (3"x5 and 1/2") bread pans and letting
it rise again before baking it in the oven as opposed to making a large
loaf in the bread machine, the bread tastes better, is lighter, rises
better, etc.

* My son will not eat bread from a bread machine! I make him GF buns with a
Kitchen Aid mixer and muffin top pans.

* Use small baking pans, rather than the large for baking the bread, as
the gluten free dough works better in a smaller pan.

* I've had much better results mixing my bread in my bread machine and then
removing it, putting it in pans and letting it rise and bake in the oven.
Try using 2 small pans rather than 1 large; it seems to make a
difference as well.

* I don't use a bread machine as I can bake 3 loaves of bread in the time
a bread machine bakes one.  I use my Kitchenaid mixer to make a double
batch of Bette Hagmans French Bread Recipe and then put in in 3 loaf
pans, or 4 pizza shells, or some buns.  Works great.

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PASTA MACHINES
==============
Most of the respondents did not make their own pasta but were happy with
store brands of readymade pasta. There were few remarks on this topic
(other than "I'm happy with ready made so I never tried making pasta");
here they are:

* I have an atlas (hand crank) I think it cost all of $25 and will last my
lifetime and my daughter's.  You can buy a professional electric motor
to crank it.  It is very strong.  the extruder models are not top rated
and are made of plastic.

* I love my pasta machine.  I had one of the hand crank models, and had
very little sucess.  The kind that mixes and extrudes the noodles is the
best.

* We have a crank pasta machine, and I find it useless with gf dough.  I
just mix my dough, roll it out, and cut the pasta shapes by hand.  I've
never tried an electric pasta machine.

* With regard to pasta, I find that the pasta machine I have
doesn't work with GF pasta (I only make egg pasta, to my
own recipe).  I have a simple hand tagliatelle cutter,
which I find is ample for most of our needs (usually pasta
with a sauce).  My home-made pasta is usually cooked in 2
minutes and puffs well in cooking.  Maybe the form is a bit
"samey" but it all tastes good so who cares?

* One of our members makes pasta regularly by hand with the cutting
and all.
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END OF SUMMARY
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