Breville’s BB280 Baker’s Oven

Let’s start with my stock-in-trade tool – the Breville Baker’s Oven. 

Now, keep in mind that Bev (I just had to name her!) only set us back 80 bux (admittedly on discount), but she’s more a Volkswagen compared with the Ferraris of bread makers. 

It’s capable of cranking out 750gm and 1kg loaves, and of producing consistent dough for oven baking (which I’ve tried several times with OK results). 

It has several advantages: it removes the time-consuming drudgery of bread making by automating everything except popping the making’s into the pan. It also has a useful observation window that allows me to check on progress, especially during the baking cycle.

But Bev has one annoying downside: the mixing paddle doesn’t retract, as they often do on more expensive machines. This tears a gash in the bottom of the finished loaf which tends to waste some of the final result. But more on this soon. 

There are some tricks to using even such a simple machine (which I’ll share along the way), and the ingredients must always go in to the pan in the same order – water, flour, salt/honey or sugar (optional)/egg (optional) and finally yeast. It’s the reverse of hand-rolling. 

Other than that it’s a fully automated snack! Ideal for producing daily bread for school and work lunches. 

And unlike store-bought stuff, I know exactly what goes into each loaf I bake.