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George, who has had celiac disease all his life, may be living happily
without bread and have no use for a bread machine.  However, for those of
us who remember the real thing, a bread machine is by far the best way to
produce a rice-flour approximation.  It works like a washing machine.
After one gets familiar with the machine and a recipe, it takes only 5
minutes to load the machine, and a loaf of bread is ready in about two
and a half hours, during which time one can ignore it.  The better
machines have a cool-down cycle so that one need not even be home to
remove the finished loaf.

One can adjust recipes to one's own dietary requirements.  I can use
eggs, milk, and yeast, and the bread I make at home is MUCH better than
anything I've ordered from ENER-G FOODS or other sources.  It goes stale
quickly, so I slice and freeze a loaf immediately after making it,
thawing what I need in the microwave or toaster.  Good recipes are
available from Red Star Yeast, in Bette Hagman's second book, titled
something like "More from the Gluten-free Gourmet," and from the support
groups.

Xanthan gum--a white powder sold in some health food stores and by
ENER-G, replaces the springiness of wheat and makes bread and some other
baked goods much less crumbly.

I lived without a bread machine for a year after being diagnosed, and I
know other celiacs, men in particular, who have ignored their potential
for many years.  As Peter Hyatt has just noted, this machine is worth the
small amount of time and the $100-$300 dollars for anyone who would like
to eat sandwiches or have some bread to take along to supplement dinners
at other people's homes or restaurant meals. Some of the recipes are good
enough to serve to wheat-eaters.

On Thu, 29 Dec 1994, George Balch wrote:

> Peter, this doesn't answer my question.  WHY must I (or anyone) get one?
> And how much time does it take to bake bread?