I might be slack, but when it comes to the tools of the baking trade, I believe you shouldn’t take short cuts. 

Apart from my el-cheapo machine, all my other tools are cheap, but I always use them to ensure consistency; no guessing (that way I can always replicate what I’ve done).

So here goes.

You’ll need:

* Cooking measuring cups (mine are cheap plastic jobbies)

·         * Cooking measuring spoons (I scored mine at the supermarket)

·        * A weighing machine (mine’s a battery-powered electronic number that can weigh something as light as a cigarette!)

·         * A soft spatula (to work flour in the mixing bowl during those first few minutes)

·         * A hard-edged blade (to level off to level off flour in the cups)

·        *  A cake rack – or two (these keep the hot, finished loaf off any hard surfaces so it doesn’t “sweat” as it cools

Despite what I say to friends, I’ve never been mad keen on cooking. Sure, I’ve cooked many meals over the years – but far preferr sitting down to meals prepared by others. 

My wife, Faye, is a fabulous cook . . . so I rest my case. 

Part of my cooking experience included baking bread when I was a piss-poor university student back in the early 70s. But I frankly found hand-cranking out loaves too time consuming, difficult (it was quite physical and I could never gain consistency) and if I’d had enough loaves, I could have built a garden shed from them. 

My student loaves were nothing short of heavy, dense bricks that had trouble struggling up and over the edge of their pans. 

So, after about six weeks of trying, I gave it a miss – for the next 34 years! 

So why the sudden change? Simple! It’s called a Breville Baker’s Oven (Model BB280). 

Late last year, Faye and I had gone shopping for a new bed for our youngest daughter, Amelia, but came home with the Breville instead. We’re a bit like that when we go shopping for gadgets. 

Besides, a friend had bought one several years ago, and as she’s as disinclined to cook as me – and her bread-making results were always yummy -  we had a fair idea of what was involved. 

By then, we’d also planted our first veggie gardens around our inner-city home in Sydney, and figured we wanted to know exactly what other things we were eating. We had looked at the price of flour and yeast, and compared these with finished supermarket-bought loaves, and the cost savings were compelling. 

The $A80 discount price on the Breville made it a no-brainer! 

Now, my British mate, Rich, who lives with his wife, Liz, and young kids – Fred, Arthur and Georgina – in Vancouver, has also bought a break maker. But he’s been hand-cranking loaves for years and is yet to be convinced of the results he’ll get. 

You can find Rich’s blog here -http://forthedough.posterous.com/ 

We’ve decided to discuss and share bread making, recipes, techniques, history and tips, and other mate stuff from both sides of the wide Pacific. 

So . . . Hop in, sit, buckle down, shut up – and hang on!

Oh . . . and feel free to comment along the way. We’re fully expecting to pick everyones’ brains as  we share our experiences.