Bread business

Mcooker: best recipes About bread
Written by Evgeny Kozlovsky, 27.04.2004   

Home bread maker

There was a temptation to arrange something like a hoax or a quiz in this "Garden": to tell how Sergey Golubitsky invited me to test a new device, how the device made an impression, how, having left the hospitable house, I first via the Internet, and then - in order to feel - and through Gorbushka - I conducted a serious marketing research, as a result of which I came to the conclusion: a similar device from Panasonic is more to my liking than Seregin LG or the device from Hitachi advised by Siberian friends (in Siberia, for some reason, this the brand has earned recognition and popular love).

But there are more than one model from Panasonic, and it suddenly turned out that the last one is the coolest (although, to be honest, there are fundamental, operationally significant differences not only between models from Panasonic, but also between devices from Panasonic, LG and Hitachi - not so much: LG, for example, has a transparent window through which you can observe the process - but, in my opinion, this process loses the taste of tightness - in the original, on behalf of the god-magician Hermes, the sense of the word ; by the way, there are a few more slightly less eminent manufacturers of similar devices, but we will not compile a catalog and confuse the reader) ... and so, the last, coolest model is in short supply, as in the good old socialist times: you have to sign up in line and wait for delivery ... After that, I wanted to ask the reader a question: how, they say, do you think - what kind of device is this? - and even, perhaps, to assign a modest but pleasant prize to the winner, - but suddenly I realized that since the whole "Vegetable Garden" lies on one magazine spread, and even has pictures, - it is unlikely that my question will puzzle anyone: reader understands what it is about, even before reaching the conditions of the quiz. Oh yeah! This is a bread machine, as the people call it, or - if officially - an Automatic Bakery. Bread Bakery.

“Wow,” you whistle. - Lived! Computerra started writing about bakeries! What's next? Microwaves? Washing machines? Refrigerators? .. Why not? - if an Internet terminal is hidden inside the refrigerator (these are already on sale on Gorbushka), and the actions of the same bread machine make me associate with the notorious phrase "artificial intelligence" much faster, deeper and, it seems, more reasonable than a press release about the next a text or speech recognition system, an enterprise management system or a computer game. There is an opinion among the people that not everyone can bake bread. That this is not the same lighting of matches, which can be taught even to a hare by hitting it on the head for a long time. Indeed: cheese, bread, wine ... well, maybe even olive oil - very ancient and very deep, fundamental phenomena of human culture, in any case - ours, Western, Mediterranean. These masterpieces are thousands of years old, and the technology of their manufacture carries in itself so many subtleties that it is difficult to call knowledge of their more or less complete set even knowledge, but rather intuition! The fact that some, for example, wines cost hundreds of dollars per bottle, is not so much (at least not only) the result of the marketing efforts of sellers and manufacturers, but also a reflection of the artistry of such artifacts. There is also expensive cheese, and deservedly expensive. True, I have never heard of fabulously expensive bread - but here, perhaps, the reason is the difficulty of preserving it for a long time without losing its taste and aroma. By the way, in France, where everything is quite expensive (for example, tap water), the government significantly subsidizes exactly three products: bread, wine and cheese. A good piece of good Roquefort will probably cost less in Paris than in Moscow.Okay, we have a door blue for that case.

I, as I suppose, and most of you, are not an expert in baking, but the general idea that the dough must first be kneaded correctly (from the correct flour: it comes from hard and soft wheat, the difference between which is in the amount of protein; he , in turn, forms the so-called gluten, the basis of the bread, which determines its structure and elasticity), then the right time to withstand the kneading at the right temperature - in order for the yeast to work, fermenting, releasing a complex gas that interacts with the aforementioned gluten (the bread should rise), then - the dough must be baked ... But there is also special baking flour, sometimes whole wheat flour, into which, when milled, bran and sprouted seeds fall, cutting gluten fibers, which makes the bread less lush; coarse flour, fine flour, rye, corn, rice ... The bread maker allows you to experiment to check which bread you like best in what situations - and its capabilities are enough for a whole (even leap year) year of experiments with a margin.

But you don't have to experiment. Just in the evening, fall asleep and fill in the standard (for you; the one that the default bread maker offers, it seems to suit me) set of sources, set a timer for breakfast and always have it with it (and then for lunch and dinner; however, bread and the next day it is very good - unless it exudes a breathtaking aroma) fresh bread: very tasty, fragrant, warm. This bready aroma - which in recent years I have been able to feel it only when passing by a bakery somewhere in the province - contains (for me, at least) that very connection of times and the commonality of Mediterranean culture ...

I remember when, as a child, my parents brought me to Moscow, one of the most vivid impressions (not counting the "doctor's" for two or thirty) was always left by Moscow bread (especially - cakes for six kopecks). Alas, gradually, with the development and overdevelopment of socialism, Moscow bread somehow got worse (although maybe this is just the effect of a passing childhood, when sugar was sweeter, and water was wetter), and the capitalist revolution put people on bread production just from those who no bread to bake. My young lady, for example, once a week went for comparatively edible bread behind the ring, to Auchan, where it is baked, probably, by more powerful, but also not stupid bakeries from some Panasonic or Hitachi. Now the problem has been removed, and, probably, in a year or so, saving on gasoline and bread will cover the not astronomical price of our bread machine: one and a half hundred "green" ones.

A few words about my model: Panasonic SD-253. Small (37x34x26 cm), easily finding a place even in a small kitchen. Power (but probably only at peak moments) - 550 watts. Not heavy (about 7 kg). She bakes bread in three sizes, but a small one for two is enough for two days. The timer allows you to set a delay in the readiness of the bread up to 13 hours, and if you do not press the Stop button when ready, the bread will wait for you in a hot state for another two hours. Liquid crystal display with large, high-contrast digits. In addition to different breads, you can make dough for small rolls and pretzels or for pizza (both of them, of course, will then have to be shaped and baked independently, in the oven, in the old grandfather's way), you can also cook jam. To the right of the display, the operating modes of the oven are listed: Basic, Whole flour, French, Italian, Rye, Pizza, Baking, Gluten-free (for those on a special diet - have not experimented and, God willing, will not be needed) and, finally, Jam ... Further: a so-called dispenser is built into the lid (I would, translating the manual into Russian, call it, perhaps, a dispenser, or - with a bit of humor - a refueller - well, God bless him: the manual was translated passably, by a person, - perhaps without any intervention at all artificial intelligence).If you put nuts, prunes, raisins or something else in the dispenser - these ingredients will be added to the dough at the right time - so muffins, cakes and buns with raisins and nuts are also at your service. The crust can be light, medium and dark - at your choice. Size - small (M), large (L) and giant (XL) (however, all of this is within the main Teflon bucket, it does not vary too much: the minimum amount of flour to be poured is 300 g, the maximum is 600). In the event of a power outage (not too long, up to twenty minutes), the bread will not go bad, there is a special insurance (in earlier models it was not). All modes are set by large buttons and are indicated on the display by corresponding icons. In addition to instructions, understandable even for the very cook who did not manage to rule the state, the manual includes several dozen recipes.1



Now tell me - was it worth describing the Panasonic bread maker in "Vegetable Garden" or should you have preferred one of the following new products offered for "Vegetable Garden" this week:

- pocket sublimation printer from the most famous photo company, similar to those that we first saw with Serezha Leonov and Georgy Kuznetsov six years ago at CeBIT;
- a thousand-dollar video compression and storage device manufactured in Zelenograd - for video surveillance systems somewhere in firms or enterprises, or, say, for recording long car trips - a Linux toy, quite difficult to operate and, although certainly useful - but it seems, not to garden readers, as I understand and feel them (perhaps Leonov will describe it somewhere else in his column);
- computer cases, monitors and uninterruptible power supplies, remarkable among the abundance of relatives exclusively in color;
- a webcam that can rotate on its axis by an external signal?

There was, however, one toy about which I would probably talk more enthusiastically than about a bread maker: an electronic magnifier - but, alas, it has not yet reached Russia. When it comes, I will try to be the first to introduce it to you. And, without a doubt, I will buy myself ("the monkey has become weak in the eyes of old age"), if the price for it is no more than two hundred (well, two hundred and fifty) bucks.


 

I read The Garden to the young lady. She said that I did not write the most important thing: you do not need to think about anything and practically do nothing - I measured out the indicated components with the attached cups and threw them into a bucket, pressed two buttons four times, - and after a few hours the bread maker will beep that bread - ready. That is - everything is well very simple!


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