When I first received my bread machine on Christmas morning last year, I was nothing more than confused. At first, ripping off the red penguin wrapping paper of the heavy box on my lap, I was heavily convinced I had received a very heavy Easy Bake Oven. I found out, relatively quickly, that was not the case. So, in order for you to understand my confusion, let me do a little bit of a rewind before this moment.
In November, I was approached by my mom one night on what I wanted for Christmas; I did not have much to say. She is someone who is dependent on going into people’s homes for work and having to stop working completely when lockdown restrictions were put in place, I did not really want to say anything at all. I did not want to burden her with any more requests for books (as I did last year) because I knew I would not read them right away and they can be very expensive. Even after her reassuring me that whatever I wanted the price tag was not an issue, I still did not want her to spend a lot on me.
Furthermore, I have also reached the age where I do not really need a lot. Since I started working at the age of 16, I’ve always had a job up till 2020, so when I saw something I liked, whether be clothes, books, self-care products, food, or whatever else, and if I had the money for it then I would have just bought it myself. So that year I asked for the usual, socks, pajamas, sweets, a Christmas Barbie (I am a collector), and a few things to improve my baking game. Things that I would actually use on a daily basis that would not sit unused in the back of my closet or take up space somewhere indoors.
When I read the box and understood that what I had was indeed a bread machine, my first thought was it was just going take up space in the basement or in the empty bedroom unused. I was correct for a few weeks because much like any another university student, everyday feels like the movie Groundhog Day, writing note after note, attending zoom after zoom, reading after reading, it feels like you cannot get a break. So everyday when I would come downstairs and see this bread machine sitting in my kitchen, I would tell myself I do not have time to mess around with it. But I knew I should not let my mom’s money go to waste. So, one day I really needed a break so I went downstairs, found a recipe for pizza dough, threw all the ingredients in and I waited. The amount of stress of I would normally have when it comes to making pizza dough is normally high because I am so concerned on getting it wrong and having to start over and losing time for school. When my dough came out, it was a relief on how much time I saved by using my bread machine. If I was not gifted a bread machine last Christmas, I would be spending so much time on the making and cleaning aspect of the dough and the toppings that I would get behind on work. With the bread machine and its easy clean up, its the perfect in-between of supossedly having all the time in the world because we are all home and having no time at all because school demands our attention 24/7.
Sure, the machine took the fun out of being physically involved in creating something that you can be proud of, but it eliminates a lot of unnecessary stress. You never have to stress about something you spent hours on completely failing and you have to start over, or having to worry about the pile of dishes you need to take care of.
You can now have a fresh loaf of white, whole wheat, cinnamon raisin, banana, blueberry, gluten free, what-ever flavour your heart desires, bread within hours. With the machine I have in particular, on top of making bread, I can make pizza dough and the dough for bread sticks. The bread machine I have has a removable basket that takes 5 minutes tops to clean. This machine is heaven and when the world slowly starts to return to a pre-2020 pandemic normal, I will definitely bring this machine to where I end up living whether it be in Waterloo/Brantford or somewhere else. I will say that there will be trial and error, things won’t come out right, but once you get the hang of it and find out the combination of ingredients that work, it is smooth sailing from there.
To conclude, in this era of trying to be more socially conscious of where our money goes and trying to live more sustainable lives, this is a perfect machine to have in your home. Sure, you have to pay a lot up front for the machine and the ingredients, but its a long term investment that’s worth it. For me, my bread machine not only became this stress-free device I can use to get away from school for a little bit and reward myself with something delicious that I made, but I am also understanding what I am putting into my body on a daily basis. When making bread or dough you can use ingredients you understand, know what ingredients are going into your body, and you can make bread products suitable to your eating habits. Just speaking for myself, I did not really care about the ingredients that went into the bread I bought at the store. Bread is bread right? With my bread machine I am taking back what I allowed convenience to do me during quarantine, which was my health. No more worrying about if a corporation is putting the right ingredients in their products for me, or not being able to buy the bread that I want, I have it all at home. If buying a bread machine after this article interests you, I would highly suggest doing your own research in what bread machine works for you. If you do not have the budget right now, I would highly suggest the next best thing, shop locally. If that is not an option either, just do a little research on companies that you see at your local grocery store and see what type of products are best for you.
Just as a little side note, If you are interested in what bread machine I have, I got the Kuraidori, three pound, Stainless Steal Horizontal Bread Maker. So if you want my particular one I believe you could probably get it online or at your department store.