Battle of the Bread Machines, Day 2

The husband continues his recap of our initial attempts at bread-making.

--The Faudie
It's day 2 of the Battle of the Bread Machines, in which Angela and I test a variety of second-hand bread machines to see if any of them work!

Competitor #2: The Welbilt Bread Machine Model ABM-100-3

The ABM-100-3 is the precursor to yesterday's competitor, the ABM-3600. What the ABM-100-3 lacks in newness it makes up for in style--just look at the crazy illustrations from its owner's manual (which we had to find online, as our Goodwill-bought machine didn't come with one):

Angela had picked up a bag of bread flower from the local HEB, and it was from the side of the bag that we found the recipe for the ABM-100-3's big tryout.

White Bread

1 C warm water (90-110 degrees F)
2 T oil (canola, vegetable, olive)
2 T sugar
1/2 t salt
2 C bread flour
1 T dry milk powder
1 1/2 t active dry yeast

1. Add the ingredients to the machine's bread pan in the order listed.

Yield: 1 lb. loaf

Nutritional Info
Not provided. Oh well.

Doesn't sound like a difficult recipe, does it? We got the ingredients in quickly (using canola oil instead of vegetable or olive, for those who are curious), and the machine started up just fine. Angela opened its domed lid once to scrape the sides of the pan, but other than that, we just sat back and waited...and waited...and waited...and ultimately went to bed. You see, whereas the ABM-3600 took two hours and 40 minutes to prepare a loaf, the ABM-100-3 took four hours. The judges are definitely going to have to deduct points for that.

A bread machine that doubles as a night light

Did we wake up to a delectable loaf of white bread?

Official Results for Competitor #2
No, we did not. Oh, yes, there was bread, and yes, it tasted fine, but I don't think you could call it white bread.

Once again, the bread that had started to rise so tantalizingly ended up falling. The result was a pretty dense loaf of bread, very chewy and with a slightly oily texture. Upon sampling it, Angela and I both thought it tasted like a decent ciabatta--the problem being that we were trying to make white bread, not ciabatta.

If anyone out there has any tips for getting bread to rise (and stay risen), please send 'em our way. We've already done a little research into the matter, and next time we're going to try using fresher yeast, a little less water and room temperature ingredients.

Coming up on day 3 of the Battle of the Bread Machines: Will our final competitor, the Breadman model TL555LC, be able to take advantage of the Welbilt Brothers' weaknesses to become the victor? Or do we have another chewy loaf in our future? Find out soon--well, as soon as the replacement kneading paddle Angela ordered for the machine arrives.