Back when we still lived in the States, sometime in the mid-90’s, Feyma and I made a trip up north to visit my grandmother. She lived in Port Townsend, Washington (where I was born), which was about 4 to 5 hours drive from our home. While visiting with my grandma, she served us some bread, and it was delicious. Honestly, it was the best bread I had ever tasted in my life, and Feyma loved it too. Of course, I asked grandma where she got the bread! She told me, quite simply… “I made it in my new bread machine.” Hmm… “bread machine,” I asked her, “what’s that?” Before that I don’t think I had ever heard of a bread machine before.
So, it didn’t take long, and we bought a bread machine of our own and started making some sinfully delicious recipes for different types of bread. While in the States, we used it from time to time, but not that often. When we moved to the Philippines, in 2000, though, we found that we used our bread machine every single day. The fact was, we could not purchase the types of bread that we enjoyed, especially in a small town like GenSan, where we were living at the time. By using the bread machine, we could try all different kinds of recipes, and enjoy the results! In the Philippines, especially ten years ago, almost all of the bread available was sweet, and did not fit western tastes.
After only 6 months to a year, our bread machine got fried. One of our maids plugged it into the wrong voltage, which is a common problem if you have appliances from the States here. So, we were without a bread machine, and had to suffer with the locally available bread, which was not too satisfying.
Over the years, and especially since we moved to a larger city, Davao, we have been able to find much better breads in the stores, and we have generally been satisfied with what was available. Then, about 6 years ago, we saw a bread machine for sale in a local appliance store, and bought it! It was the proper voltage, 220v, so that was no longer a problem to watch out for. Again, we were enjoying wonderful breads that we made to our tastes, and we really enjoyed it. That lasted for about 2 years, maybe 3. Suddenly, a part was either missing, or broken, I really don’t recall which. So, we put our bread machine into storage, missing a part, and it was thus useless.
About a year ago, a good friend of mine, Bobby Timonera was visiting. Bobby had gotten me started on the hobby of roasting green coffee beans, something that I really enjoyed. While visiting, Bobby told me that he had found the perfect companion for his self-roasted coffee. Hmm… I was intrigued, and he went on to tell me that he found this strange contraption and bought one… a bread machine. He had never heard of it before, and he started telling interested friends that a bread machine was kind of the American version of a rice cooker. Every Filipino had a rice cooker, and every American had a bread machine! Well, I explained to him that was not necessarily the case, but it was a good thing to tell people! Ha ha… Anyway, Bobby was telling me about how his freshly made, still hot bread was just such a perfect companion to his premium coffee… he was making my mouth water, and I started realizing how much I missed my home made bread from the machine! Bobby told me that you could usually find bread machines in the Philippines on eBay.ph.
We never bought one on eBay.ph, just didn’t get around to it. Then, last week, a very close expat friend of mine, Mike, who lives in Glan, Sarangani, near GenSan posted an article on his blog about how he has a bread machine and makes specialty breads for his own consumption. The bread sounded so good, Feyma and I were drooling over it. If you make bread, be sure to go check out Mike’s recipe for a bread that is great for tropical areas like where we live.
So, as Feyma and I were talking about how much we missed the good bread that we could make at home, we decided to go ahead and buy a new machine. We went and looked at eBay, and found three machines available, ranging from P2,000 to P2,500, but they were all used. We were not sure we wanted a used bread machine. I told Feyma to have somebody go get our broken bread machine, and I wanted to have a look at it.
As I studied our bread machine, I could see that some kind of connector was missing, or had been broken. It basically hooked two different metal pieces together. I thought about it, and how we might be able to fix it, and it struck me. It looked quite simple to me, that we could just get those two pieces welded together, and the machine would be like new again. To test out my theory, Feyma and I taped those two pieces together to try it out temporarily. It worked fine! So, Feyma took the two pieces to a little shop just a block or two from our house, the man welded the pieces together, and we were ready to go. The cost of the repair… P40. Actually, the guy told Feyma that it was so simple, she could just pay whatever she wanted to pay, so Feyma gave him P40, which was probably a lot more than he expected.
That was last Friday. Since then, we have been making at least 1 loaf per day, and sometimes 2 loafs of bread per day in the machine, and it works like a champ!
Hello Bob, very nice turn of events. Good that you were able to have the bread machine w/o buying a new one. What kinds of bread do you make? Are they hard to do? Pardon my ignorance, but you still need a separate oven right? What about the cost of flour?
Thanks!
Hi roy – We make different types of bread in the machine. Feyma made pizza dough in it over the weekend, and a delicious home made pizza! It is very easy to make bread. You just put all the ingredients in the machine, push the button and it is mixed, kneaded and baked in the machine. After you put in the ingredients and push a button, in 3 hours or so, you have a loaf of bread! The oven is built right into the machine!
I am not sure what the cost of the flour is, Feyma handles all that. But, it is much cheaper to make the bread than to go buy a loaf of bread at the store, and tastes way better too.
Bob;
Ya killin’ me, first milk, now bread. I’ll bake bread every 6 months or so using the stoves oven. It’s so much work and it makes the house so very hot. After reading this I now am forced (thank you my friend!) to hunt down this thing called a Bread Machine.
We had a great bakery owned by a guy from France, and I’d drive down to his place in the morning for a cup of espresso and fresh hot bread. He had to leave the country for a job, and his family closed the place and sold all his equipment.
Now it’s off to the mall I go, cuz’ like you, I want a new one.
P.S. Remember my article “They can fix it!” I guess it’s true. You’re a lucky, lucky guy!!!
Hi Paul – I was thinking about you and your “They can fix it” article when I got that machine fixed! And, just P40, can you imagine?
Seriously, Paul, the money that you spend to buy a bread machine will be a good investment, I am sure of that, because you will get a lot of enjoyment from the finished product!
Bob;
I’m not joking, hot fresh bread is better than strawberry shortcake with whipped cream on top too me. I will find one, if I gotta’ call the states and have one of my brothers send one. How big is yours? Will it fit on the counter top? And thanks for a great idea; I’m so glad I read LIP everyday!
Hi Paul – Oh yeah, it fits right on the counter top. Maybe it’s about 14″ wide, 8″ deep and 12″ tall or so would be my estimate. I was just looking on eBay Philippines and found two units that are listed as in “brand new condition” – I don’t know, does that mean that they are brand new, or just “as new”. You could check with the seller. You will find one here, and one here. I think the same person is selling each one.
reminds me of another place to hit in Manila, I think its called “Bread Talk” around Green Belt….fantastic bread place.
I use to have a bread machine that I’d have in use during showings on houses that I flipped…I swear that it helped me sell em faster !~
Hi Brian – Feyma used to bake cookies whenever we had a house showing! It does work miracles!
Hi Bob – Wonder how much bread (foodstuff not moola) is too much?
The old naval punishment of putting an errant seaman on “bread & water” wasn’t for ease of serving someone in the brig or for incurring hunger on reduced rations. Its purpose was to “plug” the seaman up and make his life miserable (intestine- & colon-wise) so that he wouldn’t want to repeat his errors again.
Flour products in excess do have an effect similar to concrete mixing, and nearly the same results. 😉
I guess “moderation in all things” is the way to go. 😀
But, boy, you make me want to go out and get a bread machine!
Hi Paul – I did say we have been making a loaf or two per day… remember, we have 10 people living in the house. I don’t think we have gone overboard, and am not concerned about any “concrete” effects. 😉
Bob
Thats kind of a neat “Homy” thing to do bake your own bread.
What about the buying from the vendors that roam the streets in the early mourning shouting”Pandasal” or has that become a thing of the past.
Any symptoms that PaulK speaks of could be easily cleared up by a dose of some unsanitary street vendor food products im sure.LOL
Hi Neal – If you like the flavor of the locally made bread, sure, why not go for it. I am really not a big fan, though…. perhaps eating cement would be preferable! 😉
Hi Bob,yes there is nothing like home made fresh bread.my brother has tried acouple different kinds of the bread machines,he also likes to bake different kinds of breads,but as good as it is I think there is nothing like moms bread made from scratch.my mom showed my wife how to make bread and rolls what a treat,hot rolls and bread.
she bakes bread for her family in samar,doesnt last long they love it to.
Hi wayne – I’m glad you enjoy your mom’s bread! I am sure it is very good.
Hi Bob- When we sent our personal belonings to the Philippines we included a bread making machine (Morphy Richards)brand.Since we arrived in 2008 we only ever used it once as the first attempt was not what I’m used to as I love bread.The machine lay gathering dust until a friend who owned his own bakery back in the UK gave me his recipe for bread making.He told us the secret of making good bread is to use cold flour.He told me to store the flour in the refridgerator as it works better cold.Not to argue with an expert only yesterday we decided to make our first loaf using the new recipe.
For those wishing to try it here it is.
500 Grms of white flour.
300 Mls of water
2Tbs of olive oil
2Tsp of salt
11/2 Tsp of yeast
Take 50Mls from the 300 Mls water making sure its luke warm add the yeast and also 1Tbs of sugar.Mix together and allow to stand for 5 to 10 minutes.
Place the flour,water(250Mls,olive oil and salt in the breadmaker making a well for the yeast mix.
Add the yeast and switch on.
We substituted 50Mgs of white flour for 50 Mgs whole wheat flour(450/50)and the bread was delicious.Our adviser says instead of whole wheat you can use oats as used in making porriage which gives the bread a rougher texture.I will try this the next time.
Hope this information will get some of you started along with Bob enthusiasm for home made bread.
Incidentally when in Davao last month we visited Makro and they have some lovely Wholemeal bread for sale there, in fact we brought it back to Talakag.
Kind regards and happy baking.
Jim.
Hi Jim – Thanks for sharing your recipe, I’ll tell Feyma to give that a try and we can compare the results. We have tried a lot of different recipes over the years. I’d say all of them are good, some are preferred more than others! 😉
Bob;
My friend is a baker and said the same thing about cold flour, he also said to rub Olive Oil on the top to get a nice crust.
Interesting, Paul. We never refrigerated our flour before, but now Feyma said she is going to try it! Hmm… olive oil! I can see our bread making reaching new levels!
Hi Bob,
God I swear I can smell the bread baking as I type this.
You can be sure I will be bringing my trusty bread machine with me.
I have a hard time eating the sponge breads that seem to be so popular right now.
I prefer what my Mom used to call “door stop bread”
Think and dense and yummy.
Thanks for the article…..I have just gone to the storage room and dusted of my machine.
Ty
Hi Tyleen – If you bring your bread machine when you move here.. you won’t ever regret it!
Bob can you buy the proper baker’s flour, or ‘strong’ flour? I don’t quite understand the difference but it is not the same as the plain flour they sell for cakes and cookies and the like. In Australia you can buy it in supermarkets as bread flour, along with all kinds of prepared bread mixes, but I’ve never seen anything like it here.
Hi Ken – You can get pretty much any kind of flour here, but they use different names. I notice that my friend, Mike, whom I mentioned in the article uses flour called “3rd class” flour for his bread. Feyma has experimented with different types of flour and has found one that works good for us too.
Hi Bob;
I’ve called and been to over ten stores in search of the elusive thing called a “Bread Machine” when I asked for it they showed me toasters. Then it came to me in a flash, I have a daughter working in Singapore, where all things are available and 220 volts to boot. One phone call later and within the month I might have a Bread Machine”. See the monster you created? (lol) But, thank you for the GREAT suggestion!!!!!
Hi Paul – I hope your daughter comes through with the goods for you! It sounds like you’ve been on a quest! I bet you can just taste that good homemade bread already!
Hi Bob-An update on our bread making.Yesterday we made another loaf and reduced the wholemeal flour content of the recipe by 25gms.
So it was 275gms white flour and 25 gms of wholemeal flour.The end result was a much lighter loaf more airiated and delicious.
Happy baking.
Regards.
Jim.
Thanks for the update, Jim! I’ll pass this along to Feyma.
I used to have a bread machine made really good stuff. Had a lot of good recipes in the book too. It had a good red onion recipe we liked as you know cooking onions makes them sweet, so it was a bit sweet. My favorite was a half whole wheat bread with honey you just replace half of the white flour with whole wheat and the sugar with honey.
One secret to really good bread is the honey it gives it a different texture and improves the taste. Many of the more expensive brands of bread in the US use it.
I haven’t seen whole wheat flour available here though maybe I haven’t looked hard enough.
John H
Hi John – I’ll have to try that honey tip, sounds good! You can find whole wheat flour here, but you have to search for it, and buy up a stock when you do find it!