In reply to Grace's question about her Breadman machine not producing
results, RisaG asked (in this digest) if Grace was just dumping in
the ingredients and walking away.
This reminded me of our first bread machine, may it rest in
peace. It was made by MGN in Korea. We bought it sometime around
1985. It had a kneading bar that was inserted into the side of the
square vertical pan, like the old Zo machines. We ALWAYS used the
dump and walk away method and nearly always got excellent bread. It
made two trips to LA for heater element replacement before it finally
died after many years of service.
We replaced it with a BBCC-15 Zo and continued to dump and ignore
with great success. But the good times were not destined to last forever...
Every machine since (several models of Zo, Breadman and Regal) has
needed help. We adjust the hydration, sometimes more than once, and
scrape the sides of the pan.
Jeff & Reggie