Food & Drink: Lakelands Lékué silicone bread maker

Not wanting to go outside on this cold Sunday afternoon, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try out my Lakelands Lékué silicone bread maker – a Christmas present from Mr GC.

I’ve only tried making bread by hand a few times in the past and it has never turned out very well before, so I didn’t have great hopes for this new toy.

The website states as follows:

Who would think that every step of bread baking could be done in a simple piece of silicone… and what a time and space-saving piece at that! You can weigh out ingredients, knead them together, leave the dough to prove then pop it straight into the oven, all in the same silicone bowl – you can even choose between a round or an oval loaf by closing the clip. Steam circulates within, keeping the dough moist for a golden, even bake with a crusty texture and, of course, your loaf pops out effortlessly once baked.

As I’m not a master breadmaker, I decided to use a pre-prepared breadmix that is guaranteed to work. By doing do, I can test the breadmaker without worrying about getting the recipe right.

First, I weighed the ingredients (flour mix and water) into the breadmaker.

I mixed the ingredients together for about 5 minutes and then left them to rest for a further few minutes before starting the kneading process.

I then kneaded the bread in the breadmaker for approximately 12 minutes, following which I left it in a warm place for 40 minutes to prove. I struggled with this step. At first I had a bit of difficulty kneading the dough in the breadmaker but once I worked out how best to do this, the chore became a lot easier. Unfortunately it did not stop my arm from aching after the first 5 minutes of kneading!