Sideways News

Hi Fuzz56. I'm not so sure about breadmakers, having only used them a couple of times: you get good results with decidedly less elbow grease, and they help you save on packaging and so on as well. Because they're so functional it's well worth trying any recipes for spelt flour and/or rye that the breadmaker came with: getting these to work when making bread by hand can be quite frustrating. Caraway seeds are also great to add to any bread which is a bit more textured: anything from half-and-half white and wholemeal upwards, for extra flavour.

If you bread machine has a dough-making function (doing the kneading without cooking the loaf) then you can make white or wholemeal dough, remove it, split it into small lumps and roll them out into small, thin ovals for pitta bread. Once you've part-baked these in the oven, just wrap them in a clean teatowel as they cool, to keep them soft: make sure you use strong flour to keep them supple and easy to open, once they've been reheated and have puffed up.

Finally, I'd also recommend making bread by hand every now and again: it's very therapeutic!

I had a neighbour who made her own bread by hand nearly every day for her family of five. She had very overdeveloped forearms. I have noticed this effect occasionally with masseuses and facialists too. Not a look the ladies want to go for really. Great tips though for using the breadmaker machine to best effect.

Listen, we guys don't care about these things and don't even notice until you ladies point them out. Anyway, I have noticed Madonna's arms are quite wobbly when she waves, so if she can't do it no-one can.