Battle of the Bread Machines, Day 3

The husband's account of our testing of second-hand bread machines continues.

--The Faudie
The most exciting competition of the summer continues--and we welcome a surprise new competitor--on Day 3 of the Battle of the Bread Machines!

Competitor #3: The Breadman Model TR444

With the Welbilt models ABM-3600 and ABM-100-3 already put to the test and the Breadman model TL555LC still awaiting a replacement kneading paddle, the Battle of the Bread Machines was on hiatus...until I discovered a message from Angela on my voice mail at work.

"All right, I admit it--I'm an addict."

And to what, exactly, is my dear wife addicted? Why, bread machines, that's what! Not that I can blame her for bringing another--our fourth--home. For only $12 and with all parts included, the Breadman model TR444 she found at our local Goodwill was a steal. And seeing as how the Battle of the Bread Machines is still underway, why not allow a new competitor into the contest?

The recipe for the TR444's debut came, oddly enough, from the instruction manual for the ABM-3600.

Pumpernickel

7 oz. water
1 C white flour
1/3 C whole wheat flour
2/3 C rye flour
1 1/2 T butter
1 T dry milk
1 1/2 T sugar
1 t salt
2 T cornmeal
2 T powdered cocoa
2 1/2 T molasses
1/4 t instant coffee
1 t caraway seeds
2 1/4 t active dry yeast or 1 3/4 t quick dry yeast

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

Yield: 1 lb. loaf

Nutritional Info
Not provided. Nothing I can do about that.

About that recipe--instant coffee?! I'm pretty sure that's not the traditional way pumpernickel is made. (For those who are curious, we used Folgers Classic Roast. The crystals were left over from a visit by Angela's father, and it's not like either of us are going to use them to make coffee. Might as well make bread with them.)

Ingredients in need of mixing

The TR444's controls were easy enough to use. I did miss the ability to determine the darkness of the crust, which is something we could do with both of the Welbilt Brothers, but not this machine. The TR444 is also a little noisier than the other competitors, though not unreasonably so.

Official Results for Competitor #3
Three hours and twenty minutes later, we had bread. And the results were distressingly familiar: the loaf fell. We're not sure if this was caused by not reducing the amount of water or by not adding gluten. But something sure caused our loaf to end up half the size it should have been.

This is unfortunate, as the taste of the bread is very, very good. It tastes like genuine pumpernickel, even with the inclusion of the instant coffee crystals. The loaf is just a little dense, that's all.

All this means that there's still no clear winner in the Battle of the Bread Machines. All eyes are now on the Breadman model TL555L--or, at least, they will be, once that replacement kneading paddle arrives--to see if it can emerge victorious!