bread machine

Whenever I am in a thrift store I see an entire junkyard of automatic bread machines (ABM hereafter). I've always wondered why they are so bad that people give them to Goodwill or whatever.

So I threatened that I would eventually buy one from the thrift store, max $10. No more. I read a few wikis and faqs and found some basic info. Came home with a Welbuilt ABM4110T .

Downside:
It's big: 9"x13"x14" and does 1#-2# loaves.
Had to find a manual online.

Upside:
Dead simple. Dump the ingredients: wet first, dry second, yeast on top
This thing makes great bread from scratch ingredients
Timers, different modes.
Fantastic crunchy crust.

I think the reason people don't use them is that it is easier to buy Wonder bread than to measure and dump ingredients. Plus there's that pesky actual crust... Also, it takes up a lot of counter space. I put it away after each loaf.

I have a gram scale for my homebrewing hobby, so this makes it trivial to weigh out small amounts of stuff. Here is my go-to ABM loaf recipe:

5.5 liquid oz water
1.25 teaspoon butter
2c flour
6.7g sugar
5.8g salt
6.8g yeast

Dump and press the button.