A few years ago, my Mum and Stepdad bought us a Panasonic bread maker. They’d been using one for a while and whenever we went to stay, waking up to the smell of fresh bread was divine. Apparently it’s one of the top smells to have in your home if you’re trying to sell it! We loved to use it and tried out several bread maker recipes.
Then after months of being under the weather I was diagnosed with a suspected gluten intolerance. I won’t go into details (squeamish!) but it wasn’t pleasant. It put paid to our bread-making adventures, even though there are so many amazing gluten-free recipes out there. We even relegated the machine to our dining room, aka Boo & Maddie’s bedroom, where it’s been sitting gathering dust for too long.
Fast forward and now I’m vegan too – nothing like being a fussy eater to make life interesting. I chose veganism because of my love for animals and it has taken a bit of getting used to, but I was mainly vegetarian anyway. The main advantage is that so far it seems to have alleviated my gluten intolerance. I’ll never go crazy and eat too much bread or pasta, still preferring gluten-free alternatives where I can. But it does mean that we’re excited to bring our bread maker back to life.
Aside from fresh bread for the weekends, I think this focaccia with red onion, olives and rosemary is a must make. The perfect accompaniment for a summery quinoa salad and a cold glass of wine, of course. I’m looking forward to being a little more adventurous and seeing what else we can do with the machine. I know for example you can use ours to make dough for pizza bases which we haven’t tried before. The most recent Panasonic bread maker even has a jam making facility, amazing!
So watch this space, maybe it will be my new therapeutic activity…if I can find the space in our current tiny kitchen to get creative!
Do you have a bread maker and if so, can you recommend any great recipes?
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