5 Reasons Why I think YOU need a Bread-Maker!

Last summer, some of my best buds got together and bought me a bread-maker. It took me a total of two minutes to realize that my life, as I knew it, had changed forever and that I had been willingly transformed into a bread-making convert.

By far, my favourite-ever kitchen gadget. Now YOU need one. Here are my top five reasons why:

1. They save you big $$$...


Bread-makers require a minimal investment (about $80 and up, in Canada, if you think of the long-rewards (or they come FREE if you're smart and ask for one for your birthday... That's if you have awesome friends like I do.. who would be equally awesome without the great gifts).



The price of making bread, cinnamon rolls, pizza dough, and all of the other great things you can make in a bread-maker will literally cost you a small fraction of the cost of buying it. I don't know about you, but I end up spending about $3-4 on a loaf of bread at the grocery store. A basic loaf  in the machine will cost you between 50 cents to a dollar.

2. Nothin' like it!

There is nothing like the smell, taste or texture of freshly baked bread. It's just better. 'Nuff said.

3. You'll look like you have mad bread-making skills.

This is a loaf I made for to bring to my grandmother's house. Not that I think this is the best pic ever (actually it was the only one that I had), but it just goes to show that with minimal effort, you can have a really nice looking, but more importantly amazingly tasty product for very little effort. In this case, set it on the dough cycle, braided it, let it rise, and then baked it in the oven with some egg wash. Le voila! Fresh Challah bread.



Try bringing a couple of loaves of bread to a potluck, along with maybe a few cheeses and some pâté, and just see if you don't have a whole crowd of people crowded around your section of the table and chowing down. And then give yourself a pat on the back for all 10 minutes you spend making it.

4. A little comparison... I'll let you decide.

Ingredients in Pom Ultrasoft  Superclub Sandwich Bread

Enriched wheat flour, water, glucose-fructose/ sugar, vegetable oil (canola or soybean), yeast, salt, soybean flour, sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate, mono and diglycerides, acetylated tartaric acid esters of mono and diglycerides, calcium propionate, ammonium chloride, calcium iodate.



Ingredients in my favourite white bread recipe:

Flour, water, salt, yeast



Um... so yeah... there's something to be said for real food. I know what I'd rather feed my family.

5. Mmmm.... Pizza

Pizza dough in the stores have a disgusting mark up. Almost everyone loves pizza, and it can be much cheaper to make at home. With a bread-maker,  dough is maybe 50 cents. It can be frozen, and used for pizza, calzones,  panzerottis, you name it. Not to mentioned it is ridiculous barbequed and made into sandwiches.. more to come on that in the recipe section for sure.

Scroll to the bottom of this dessert calzone recipe I posted for my current pizza dough recipe.

My Bread-Maker

I have a Sunbeam, and I really have no complaints on it. It has tonnes of features and settings, like a time delay so you can set it in the morning and come home to freshly baked bread, settings for darkness, types of bread, and even an Expressbake feature. Needless to say, I am a fan...

But, if you don't believe me, you can check out what the pros think.

PEOPLE ~ BUY A BREAD-MAKER!

Nutella Mascarpone Calzone

I'm choosing this as a first recipe partially because it proves how far the idea of a sandwich can be stretched , and partially because it's just so damned good and easy. Oh, and I must give credit to David Rocco for the general idea. He's so awesome...

THE RECIPE

• Make or buy your favourite pizza dough (see below for recipe)
• Roll out dough to be maybe 1/4 inch thick (it will puff up in the oven!)
• Spread a good amount of Nutella on one half of the dough and mascarpone cheese on the other half.
• Optional: a few handfuls of chopped hazelnuts or other nuts
• Fold over the pizza dough and pinch edges together

Either:

• Brush with olive oil and a few pinches of salt (very interesting)

OR

• Brush with melted butter and a tbsp or two of sugar
• Bake on pizza stone or cookie sheet in a preheated oven at 400°F for about 15 minutes

Pretty excellent with good vanilla ice cream...

Here's my favourite pizza dough recipe for bread machines:

Add ingredients into basket according to your bread machine's directions. Usually the process is: wet ingredients first, followed by dry. Make a small well with your finger in the flour and carefully add yeast to the well.

• 1 1/8 cups water
• 1 1/2 tbsp olive or canola oil
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp yeast

Lock and Load!

Sam LaGrassa's

THE WHAT, WHERE AND WHEN

Hours: Mon-Fri 11:00-3:30
Price: $9.50-$10.50 per sandwich
www.samlagrassas.com

So I pretty much cannot say enough good things about this restaurant. Boston's Sam LaGrassa's boast being the World's Number 1 Sandwich, and I have to admit, they're not far off.

I was lucky to have the opportunity to visit this real winner with my husband and a couple of good friends on a recent weekend excursion to Bean Town, thanks to the likes of the great Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Inns and Dives. It's become a new obsession of mine to try and track down places he's been to whenever we go to the States.

The FOOD!

Ok, so here's the low-down.  While they do have a couple of  veggie options (Vegetarians, any guesses? Yup, portabello mushrooms, roasted eggplant, etc... pretty standard and unoriginal) they are definitely known for MEAT, MEAT and, oh yeah, more MEAT. This is also not a place you go while you're counting points or looking for a nice light snack.

We tried four sandwiches:

* Pastrami Corned Beef Combo:

This was my choice, and in my opinion, the best one out of the four.  The Pastrami and Corned Beef play together very nicely, as both were soft and sweet. Vinegary coleslaw and Russian dressing melted into one sweet pile of goodness with the meat and homemade rye bread that just drips right off the sandwich (and if you're more careful than I am, NOT all over your arms, shirt and jeans) . Nice balance of soft and crunchy.

* Roast Beef Blues

I must confess, I don't actually recall blue cheese as being a noticeable element in this sandwich. Very close contender to my sandwich. What I DID notice pretty predominantly other than it being the ultimate in beefiness, was the lovely horseradish sauce that went along with it. It was just strong enough to "clear your sinuses" as my mother always loves to say, but not at all overpowering. Great choice.

* Triple Club

An excellent sandwich, a combo of turkey, ham, and that excellent roast beef. Topped with Swiss cheese, bacon, lettuce and tomato, and more drool worthy Russian dressing... Just an overall fantastic sandwich, not quite as messy as the Pastrami Corned Beef Combo.

*Aged Black Angus Roast Beef

I would say this is one of the simpler choices that they had. Pretty much great quality meat on a nice fresh kaiser roll. A good way to go if your looking for something easier on the stomach and taste buds.

Pros

• Pretty much every sandwich is bound to be good.


• Fresh, homemade bread with good selection


• Something for everyone


• Great value for the money (10 bucks a sandwich isn't cheap, but it's as big as your head!!)

Cons

• Strange homemade pickles... I love pickles but these were weird.


• Limited seating with certain seats being very drafty.


• Limited hours. But good for them for sticking to it! Business doesn't seem to suffer.

Watch Guy Fieri's visit to Sam LaGrassa's below!

The Best of The Best

Growing up, one of the first jobs I ever had, and maybe what could have been the beginning of my deep rooted sandwich obsession, was working in an Italian sandwich shop for the summer. The best part of the job was that my excellent bosses let us have as many free sandwiches as we wanted, and boy, after eating them every single day for a whole summer, never once did I say, "Hmm... I think I'll having something OTHER than a sandwich today..." Think panninis made with olive bread, cheese bread, herbs and sundried tomatoes... not to mention the most amazing marinated vegetables I've ever had.

That place was awesome, and I would have only ever given it the greatest of reviews, other than maybe the time I had to give my boss Hell for picking up a sandwich off the floor and trying to stick it back into the basket for sale.... Sadly (and I hope not for the bad Karma from trying to sell dirty sandwiches) the restaurant is closed... But in retrospect, it sure was one heck of a place.

This section of The Sandwich Press is dedicated to reviews of various restaurants known to have THE best sandwiches. Reviews are categorized by places I've actually gone to and experienced sandwich heaven (or hell) first hand, and reviews according to others, including info I compile myself. Because of where I happen to live, the majority of my personal experiences will be from provinces and states like Quebec, Ontario, New York and Massechusetts.

If you've been to a place with sandwiches that are tried and true for you, I'd love to hear about them. You can send your questions, comments and reviews to thesandwichpress@yahoo.com .

Front Page News: The Sandwich Press

Hmmm.... So now I have a blog... how 'bout that?

I'll be honest. I'm a total food junkie. With an insatiable hunger to know, talk and think about everything food, I have finally decided to put all of my previously wasted energy into a product that, hey, maybe one day someone will want to read!

Currently a school teacher, I'm one of those who, within an hour of talking to me for the first time, most people comment something like "So, you're really into food, huh?" I'm one of those who ALWAYS wanted to be a cook, but somewhere along the way decided working conditions would be more important than passion for my job in the long run. And, to a certain extent, this all does still apply. But 15 years later, the itch still needs to be scratched, and I'm excited to  start this new project that will let me share my ideas with the World!~ Or at least a very tiny part of it...

So I begin this venture into the world of sandwiches. Where it will take me, who knows... So far, a Sandwich of the Week, and occasional posts of my thoughts on different products, shows, and other foodie news.

Cheers,

Kim