I've been making bread since I was 7 years old, and I always kneaded it by hand. when carpal tunnel syndrome became so intense that it hurt to knead bread, I stopped baking bread and relied on the store bought stuff. Enter Deb (Momto4kids) who had an unused bread machine, like many others here do. She sent it to me and I've made all my bread, buns, rolls, pizza dough for the kids, bagels, you name it. I love the darned thing and use it at least a couple of times a week. It's a Zojirushi and it's been a workhorse, I haven't encountered a dough that it can't knead, even the whole grain types that tend to be substantial. I never bake in it though, I don't mind the holes but I don't like the crust, it seems more like it's steamed than baked. I also always check the dough for hydration, sometimes it needs more flour, sometimes more liquid, depending on a lot of factors. I still check to make sure it "feels right", that's the only way I can manage to make bread. I also make any recipe that suits me, I don't use recipes made just for bread machines. You just have to know how much flour your particular machine can handle and make that much dough. Elery's 9 year old grandson was here from California and stayed with us for 2 days. I let him use the bread machine to make pizza dough and he loved it, said it was the best pizza he'd ever eaten. I didn't tell him about my pizza preferences, just ate his pepperoni and italian sausage pizza and told him it was the best I'd ever had. So I vote yes, drag out the machine and make some dough. Make bagels or pretzel buns or dinner rolls or pizza dough, it doesn't even have to be traditional bread, and it's all better than the stuff you get from the store! Annie

Hi guys! I am shopping for new bathroom towels and kitchen washcloths and I came across these thread from 8 years ago. I can be of help. Long story short, bathroom towels and anything for the bathroom has the ever present band of decorative pattern that runs across the cloth towards each or one end of the towel/washcloth. Those used for the kitchen (or shop/work towels) does not have that band of decorative pattern. It's just a plain, flat canvas of woven terry and double sewn on the four ends of the cloth. They can also be found in the Kitchen section area were as the bathroom towels and such are displayed in the bathroom section. The garden and tools section also sells a different kind of washcloths different from the bath and kitchen. I just figured these out lately too. Hope it helps! ♥

I also use recipes interchangeably and haven't found a recipe that doesn't work both in the bread machine and by hand, as I only use the machine for kneading and then shape and bake in the oven. Everything from Grandma's old Farmhouse White to cinnamon rolls to whole wheat and rye loaves, they all work fine both by hand and in the machine. I agree that you need some more liquid/water in that hard to handle dough. I always check the machine and add more liquid if needed, I'd rather have a bit too much than not enough, I can always knead in a bit more flour if necessary. As plllog mentioned, you can add vital wheat gluten to the rye loaves for a bit more "oomph", rye flour is lower in gluten than wheat flour is. Bread is actually very forgiving, and I mess with it at whim. I want big holes I add more water, a dense loaf needs more flour, a tender loaf wants some milk and eggs, and I go by the way the dough "feels" more than anything. The only thing I've been unsuccessful at is a 100% whole wheat loaf with my own home ground flour. The results were consistent, they were all horrible. I finally just stopped, nothing helped that stuff and although I still grind wheat for flour, I use some of my own flour and some King Arthur flour for a passable loaf. Annie

I'm BAAAACK! Thanks so much for your many good ideas and links. And, yes, I'm thinking more of a grainy, nutty, seedy bread with _some_ softness and some bits of seed/nut and dried ginger or bits of tart dried fruit, but not too much. I thought that I'd never escape Verizon Customer Service Con-Fusion Hell. Now, a neighbor is caught up in their Rabbit Hole machine. Pray for her. (I mean, put down your spatulas, get on your knees, and really pray.). She told me she'd lost her Internet and TV; I offered that was because Verizon gave them to me. Now it's her turn to speak with Any-Which-Way call centers -- all with conflicting advice and opinions and no one overseeing things or lending cohesion to the proffered "information." For about a week I could only get Internet access via an old "smart" phone and slow 4G. And the phone working memory space is lean. Then (now, still) my arm is sore. I think I lifted something a tad (x25) too heavy. My biceps deltoid hoopalongacepts muscle-tendon whatchamacallit is crazy painful. Even reaching for a cup of coffee, or reaching around behind me (for remote) is painful. And today is already too hot for me (Iceland and Northern California sound great). Back to bread (finger typing with sore arm, so please excuse errors): Some of you suggestions look really good. With my sore arm muscle, I truly might need to resort to a bread machine or Kitchenaid with dough hook. For the past year, I've been experimenting with my "lazy-busy-sore-hand" pizza dough recipe: I pretty much follow the Bob's Red Mill Artisan flour recipe for pizza dough, but make it a bit wetter. Then I let it rise at cool room temperature or fridge temp inside a thinly coated EVOO poly bag. When it rises to ~ double, I stretch/fold over the dough. After about 24-38 hours, I use it for pizza dough. Someday, I hope to learn Ann-T's recipe and technique. However, I want to try and not consume too many simple carbohydrates (the type that quickly raise one's blood glucose). I am a lover of things like pies, pastries, breads and cakes, but I am no longer 18, so must pay attention to what I eat. In another week or so, I will try either using my Kitchenaid with dough hook or the bread machine (ack) to make some multi-grainy, nutty-seedy bread. I will report back on how it goes (but don't want to bore the many accomplished bakers here). April was cold, snow, rain and wet. Then I had paper work to take care of. I never got much of anything planted, and now it's very hot (for me) in interior New England. My body hates heat and humidity and is _not_ supposed to be in this climate. Cornwall would be better ;-) Our garden rhubarb is ready and is even starting to bolt. Maybe I can find a way to make a few rhubarb dishes that won't send my body's blood sugar into sustained hyperdrive. I've not gotten any our our rhubarb for three years -- always some volcano, flash flood, or "other" to grab my time. Maybe I can freeze some and use some for a smart tart (galette) or bars.