Ack!

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My bread machine’s drive shaft stopped turning! How can I make delicious bread in the machine if it won’t knead the ingredients?

Man, this is a nuisance. It’s apparently belt-driven, so I have to undo the base and see if it’s broken or loose. These things aren’t supposed to happen to a machine which has only been used about 30 times.

12 Comments

  1. You can give up on kneading and do no-knead bread. OR, you can do stretch and fold. OR, you can knead by hand.

    You can buy a stand mixer. Home bakers on the Fresh Loaf website say that the newer Kitchenaids aren’t as good as they used to be, and recommend Bosch or Hobart if you can afford one.

  2. Or I can find a new and inexpensive but better brand-name bread maker. This thing is a Bella Cucina which was bought at Macy’s on clearance. They don’t sell it anymore, nor do they sell spare parts.

    I think the belt has slipped or broken, but it’s under the base and two of the six screws holding it in place require a non-Phillips/non-flat screwdriver. Talk about lousy design.

  4. Huh. No, Harold, they’re odd-looking. They’re notched on either side, so you’d think a flat-blade would work, except there’s a piece of metal between the two notches. I’ve never seen anything like it.

  7. Stretch and fold isn’t that much work. I’ve been making Peter Reinhart’s Struan bread, which requires only a couple of minutes of kneading, and then four rounds of stretch and fold at ten-minute intervals.

  8. Maybe you need to get a Japanese tool set…but I’m with hedera…hand knead the dough…it’s actually a very Zen like activity and it always makes my hands very soft.

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