Bread mix

Flour, water, yeast, sugar, oil or other fat, salt, that is all you need. It makes you wonder what goes in this. It is just a clever way to double the price of flour.

Does everyone have a gas oven ? Or is this bread "baked" in a microwave ?

jacqueline, it says on the packet 'home bakery' - it's for using in one of those automatic bread-making machines. You put the stuff in, switch it on, and a few hours later you have a loaf of fluffy bread (with a hole in the bottom where the mixer thing goes).

What happens to it on Day Two??????

"Baking" bread in an "electrical" machine ? Wouldn't that be more like "zapping" it ? But then again, we're talking about that soggy white stuff, not "baguettes"...

This is hilarious!

Just add water and yeast. Great - It's a bag of flour?

This is hilarious! Just add water and yeast. Great - It's a bag of flour?

Don't have a bread maker at home? I do, and with regular bread mixes you also need to add eggs, milk and butter or oil. This mix has all that included so it might be okay. Am going to try and pick up a packet and give it a go.

Don't have a bread maker at home? I do, and with regular bread mixes you also need to add eggs, milk and butter or oil.

I used to have a bread maker (It died after 20 years) and now I make bread by hand (You can make a lot more, so it's more efficient) and an ordinary loaf of bread does not need eggs. The bread maker recipes always said to add milk/powdered milk, but I never put it in a plain loaf, only in baps and 'fancy' sweet breads. A bit of oil gives the bread a good crumb and keeps it fresher longer.

I suppose bread mixes, cake mixes, whatever mixes are OK, but I'm sure they work out a lot more expensive than digging the ingredients out of the larder.

Don't have a bread maker at home?

No, actually I don't. I make it by hand and I use flour, water, yeast and a pinch of salt. I wouldn't by a pack of pancake mix either, you are just paying for someone to put extremely cheap ingredients in a bag and charging triple the price. If you like the convenience of it then good for you :)

Those mixes are good for starters when you first get a bread-maker. Bit more than just flour in them. Drawback the mixes are pricey and make only a "small" loaf.

My bread-maker(bout 5000yen) can bake a double loaf, comes with about 60 recipes for various breads(i.e. you add the dough ingredients and it will knead, rise and bake it for you). Baked a double-loaf of Rye-bread a bit earlier(total cost about 230Yen for a 500gm loaf)). Cheese-fondue for supper

Easy to use and cheaper than buying shoku-pan from the super. Also safes me time as I can concentrate on other house-hold chores.

You could probably bake it in a rice cooker

A rice cooker won't mix, knead and raise the bread.

zichi, I can't see folk mixing and kneading bread on a worktop if they can't even get the ingredients together and need to rely on mixes.....tiny flats may be sans oven, but it's almost unheard of these days for a house not to have an oven, even if it's only a tiny electric oven-plus-microwave.

The automatic bread makers are a lot cheaper and take up less space than the old ones. The one I bought over 20+ years ago cost 36,000 yen. It was a huge thing and basically just baked a loaf of bread, or prepared the dough if you wanted to shape it into rolls or a pizza base. It didn't handle wholemeal well, the main reason I ended up making my bread by hand. The ones they have today are much, much cheaper and come with lots of different courses for different types of bread.

Why the trouble? If you eat this kind of bread, you could as well eat pure sugar.

tiny flats may be sans oven, but it's almost unheard of these days for a house not to have an oven, even if it's only a tiny electric oven-plus-microwave

A "microwave" is not an "oven" is a glorified way of zapping food to heat it up. I have one but I'd never use it to "try" to make my "gratin" or roast beef/lamb/pork... and we live in a fairly big independent house... (NO oven)

Jacqueline, I didn't say microwave, I said electric oven-plus-microwave. They 'do' gratins, biscuits, pies and even small amounts of bread just fine. Good for people who don't have the kitchen space for an oven and a microwave. My kids had a small one each as students, I have a full-size one that caters for a family. It also has automatic settings that combine oven heat and microwave, plus a grill. I can 'zap', roast, grill, bake and casserole in it. Couldn't imagine being without it.

I guess I'm not surprised... British "cooking" has it's very own reputation... (BTW, my "microwave also says "oven" on it and it's even quite big !) However, there's no way I'd ruin my "roasts" in it ! I also teach cooking but we "rent" a kitchen at the "Community Centre" here for my classes.

I guess I'm not surprised... British "cooking" has it's very own reputation...

Well I'm surprised at the back-handed insult.....didn't expect that from you, Jacqueline......

I'm not talking about a microwave that just says 'oven' on it, I'm talking about a proper oven that also has microwave capability. I've used a few of them over the past 25 years and have never ruined a 'roast' or anything else.

An electric oven plus microwave bakes, I've used them since I arrived here. How long have you had it, and are you sure it doesn't bake?? I wonder because you say it's big. I include below, a link to several by Sharp.

I've used nothing but Sharp electric 'oven renji' since I came to Japan. Most houses (unless you build it that way) aren't set up for gas ovens. I attend a cooking school in Kobe, and all the ovens (20 of them) there are these Sharp 'oven-renji' types, and cream puffs, assorted cakes (I can't recall how many of the36 cakes in the course need an oven off the top of my head), 45 kinds of breads, roast meats, and macaron are baked in them. The microwave function is just used to melt butter, or make quick custard.

They bake and roast just fine, there was no need to take a swat at Cleo, she knows what she is talking about. You push the 'microwave (renji)' button to use the microwave, push 'oven ichi-dan' or 'oven ni-dan' to turn on the oven function and have a temp range from 110C to 250C. Most can be set to proof bread as well (40C). The microwave function is not activated during baking.

http://www.sharp.co.jp/products/kitchen/oven/prod01/

Gas might be more common in Europe, but In the US and other countries a large electric oven is the norm. You might take a closer look at yours. I can't see it saying 'oven' and not being one as 'microwave' is 'denshi renji', they aren't called 'ovens'.

Bread baked in an electric oven-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62021477@N00/sets/72157629213462175/

@Himajin :

Thank you for the information ! I wasn't trying to be "nasty" it's just that I was told it was an "oven" as well as a "denshi renji" when it was bought. Apparently that was wrong information and it doesn't really have a separate "oven" function. You are also right that in Europe, we prefer gas ovens to electric ones - the "taste and texture" just aren't the same. My apologies to Cleo-san and thanks to you for the enlightenment. I stand corrected.

Goodness ... if baking a bread is that troublesome, better visit the bakery ... variety of choices and good too ! of cause, i do admit nothing better than home baked ... Anyway, there is a will there is a way ...

Hai,please help me to choose an oven.which one is better,the gas oven or the electric oven?thanks