[DemforBush]

I’ve given thought to buying a bread machine, actually. I can do first rate simple breads - biscuits, Irish Soda Bread, and the like. I think where I go wrong with yeast doughs is A) I’m impatient and B) I like to improvise when I cook, and baking doesn’t tend to reward messing with amounts and ratios of flour, water, etc. in a recipe.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

If you like to eBay, you can find a good bread machine for a reasonable price. Welbilt and West Bend both make a heavy-duty machine that will last forever. The top two brands in name will cost you big money also and my favorite Welbilt outperforms the Breadman that cost much more.

Improvisation works with types of ingredients, say replacing water with milk or sugar with honey, but ratios of liquid to dry will produce questionable results.