Half Baked With Freddles And Squiggles! (Hinari HB174 Breadmaker)

Member Name: Squiggles

Product:	Hinari HB174 Breadmaker
Date:	07/03/02 (2436 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fresh and delicious home baked bread, Simplicity itself to use

Disadvantages: Salt overdose if Fred uses it!

Joint op by Squiggles and flclayson:

Squiggles: Good of you to invite me over for the day Freddles, but what on earth is that smell wafting through the house and tickling my nostrils? Oh the smell Fred, the smell! Such a delicious, overpowering, all-embracing type of smell that you want to wake up to every morning.

flclayson: Hey, just let me shower and freshen up, and you can take the peg off your nose, and come check out the bread making machine in my kitchen. I have always wanted to make you feel like a woman, and this is the time I can turn to
you in my kitchen and tell you exactly what you mean to me. Eggs and chips
please, plus a cup of coffee, and then some ironing, if you don't mind...meantime, let me turn the gorgeous thing on...sorry, I will cut my fingernails next time...

Squiggles (getting busy with the iron and frying pan, the latter shortly to connect with a certain somebody’s head!): Ooooooh, this looks exciting Freddles, a breadmaker eh? Let me take a closer look……

It’s a beautiful pristine white is this Hinari model, the HB174 to be exact. No Fred, I said pristine white, not Christine White, and yes I know you finished with her last week! It does have a very glossy professional look to it, how much did it set you back?

flclayson: It cost me just £39 at Safeways at Crimbo time. Yes, it was Crimbo; you remember me hanging my balls on the tree...? But that’s another story…..

So here we go, making a normal standard white loaf. Ingredients you need
for this are:

Water, strong white bread flour, dried milk powder, salt, butter, dried yeast
and sugar. I use marge (no, not Marge; I finished with her a long time ago) and it doesn't seem to make any difference. You can experiment if you like and see what happens. Then we can make some bread...

Squiggles: Let me check out the recipe book then Freddles after I’ve finish
ed your breakfast, ironing, wallpapering and mowing your lawn. Actually, it’s very comprehensive and easy to follow; the ingredients for each recipe (more of which later) are listed in a left hand column, and the first in the list is the first to go into the machine. It’s very important that you add the ingredients exactly in the order shown in the recipe to get perfect results. And please don’t do what the Freddles did, and measure the salt out over the machine, the top fell off and about a kilo of the stuff ended up in there, doh!

As you read down the list, so you shove the ingredients in. Simple, unless you live in Australia or are called Freddles!

OK, all the ingredients are in the machine, and we can now make a 1.5 lb
loaf (in metric weight, this equals quite a large loaf). Switch machine on, select setting from one of ten settings (more later) and choose whether you want dark crust or light crust. Everything you select is done by one-touch digital push button and is foolproof. If Fred can manage it, then anybody can!

Three and three quarter hours later, as the smell you would die for permeates your kitchen, your mouth salivates at the thought of fresh hot bread. The machine pings when done, and you can tap the finished loaf out on to a cooling plate, rack or whatever, or eat it straight away. Delicious, and you'll soon be doing more!

flclayson: A quick run through on the machine itself: measuring 350x280x230mm (for our English friends, this equals 'medium size') and weighing in at 5.5kg (English = can carry under your arm) it runs off standard electricity and uses 600w max power. On top (no Louise, that is NOT an instruction...yet) you have a viewing window (to check on the progress of your bread) and the control panel. Ergonomically laid out (no Louise, that is not an order either), it's easy to follow, and you don't really need to read the instruction book more than once - unless
you're blonde of course, in which case what are you doing trying to plug the Hinari into the gas fire?

Squiggles (sticking out tongue and making rude gestures with two fingers): The viewing window is part of the flap that you lift in order to gain
access to the breadmaking pan itself. This is where you tip the ingredients and let them get on with the process. If it's just a simple loaf you want, you can let it do its job without intervention.

Some recipes call for human interaction (bad luck Freddles, rules you out for a start!) part way through the process, such as adding fruit etc. The recipe book is detailed enough, listing recipes such as basic white bread, chocolate hazelnut bread, french bread, cheese, onion and herb bread, sundried tomato bread, white bread
rolls, naan bread, floury baps, apple and cinnamon doughnuts, petit breads,
pizza dough, hot cross buns, chelsea buns, bagels, brown bread, granary bread, wholewheat bread, bacon and herb bread, malted tea loaf, rosemary and garlic focaccia bread, brown bread rolls, muffins, pitta bread, brown pizza dough, onion bagels, banana nut bread, nut bread...phew!

And if that's not enough, you can glean more recipes by going to http://www.google.com and tapping in 'bread machine recipes'. The recipe book also lists a handy conversion table - grams, metric, imperial - and has a few blank pages at the back for you to make notes. Every recipe is fully explained and anyone can follow them unless you are as cerebrally challenged as the F word here. ;O)

The User Guide explains the component parts of the machine, in simple
terms, with diagrams making it easy. This takes you through the basic steps of using the machine, but once learned, you won't need to use it again, and it’s that simple. The machine has a timer on it, so you can shove your ingredients in and the machine will make bread ready - say - as you get out of bed in the morn
ing! A great way to wake up. Also there are help and advice sections that guide you through possible mistakes, of which you'll not make many. The machine has an auto lock feature, to keep those tiny digits away from the controls while it's operating. This means little Jimmy can't reset the machine while your back is turned.

flclayson: All in all, Louise, a beautiful little package - and the Hinari is to die
for too! Simple and easy to use, the minimum of fuss, and if I can do it, so can you! Get one!

One last thing: Hovis and other companies do ready mixed bags of flour
that you simply empty into the machine. A little water (always make sure that the water you use is tepid in temperature otherwise your yeast won’t do it’s job properly!), or olive oil etc, and away you go. These 'kits' cost about 70-90p but the results are mouth-wateringly delicious every time. Highly recommended!

Squiggles: It really is a brilliant little machine that makes bread making incredibly easy and the results are delicious. I’m totally convinced, I’m getting myself one of these as soon as I can! By the way Freddles, which orifice did you want this fried egg wedged in??!



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